As she walked the ramp flaunting a Shantanu Nikhil attire, exuding elegance and panache, everybody at the city five star here on Saturday knew the night belonged to one Sushmita Sen.

"She's always been the real diva; the beginning of the Indian women being perceived in a certain different way, " said Shantanu, describing the 1994 Miss Universe.

"Just look at the way she carries herself in the public, addresses the media. There's so much dignity in everything she does, " added Nikhil. And the praises kept flowing in.

The night was that of the 6th edition of the Blenders Pride Fashion Tour, a fashion extravaganza that came to the City of Joy after scorching the ramps in Chandigarh, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Mumbai, and is headed for Bangalore later this month.

On Saturday night, apart from Sushmita, Tollywood's own Rituparna Sengupta also stormed the runway for designer Raghavendra Rathore who had cooked up a collection 'to highlight cuts that are from the far east, to rediscover shapes that are new to our origins'.

Speaking of the eastern region, Rathore said, "A common notion is to frown upon the kind of reception that fashion gets here in this region, but if you ask me, the east is actually doing quite well. Anamika [Khanna] and Sabyasachi [Mukherjee] have actually made Calcutta fashion more famous than Indian fashion."

And indeed all four designer units lined up for the night, that also included Rahul & Gunjan and Asmita Marwah apart from Rathore and the Shantanu Nikhil duo, seemed pretty thrilled to present their designs for the 'traditionally rich and very intellectual yet slightly conservative' fashion connoisseurs of the city.

The two-day Kolkata leg of the fashion tour will continue on Sunday as designers Mandira Wirk, Surily Goel, Nandita Mahtani and Wendell Rodricks exhibit their themed collections.

But for all the glitz and the hoopla surrounding the event, the designers aren't apparently totally happy with the way Indian fashion industry is progressing.

"It's a messy situation really, everything is helter-skelter. Firstly there's an acute dearth of awareness among people, even those who deal with the industry" said designer Asmita Marwah who showcased a ''very holiday-ish collection, fit for cruises and with lots of Bohemian and Mediterranean inspirations".

"I don't understand why we shouldn't rule the world with the kind of cultural backing we have and the level of craft work that people here are capable of. Fashion in India should be more organised, we should have more unity, " she said.

Even though they 'somewhat' agreed with her, but designer duo Rahul & Gunjan said they saw the situation in a less ominous way and to some extent they even 'love the challenges of catering to an audience with very distinct demands and sensibilities'.

"If you look at the last few years, we have come quite a way as an industry even though it is challenging, the best thing is that Indian clients are open to experimentation which we think creates a lot of potential, " said Rahul.