If Katrina Kaif and Vidyut Jamwal walked the ramp for him at the ongoing edition of Delhi Couture Week (DCW), many big names from filmdom were present and they were mesmerised by his design aesthetics.
From filmmakers Karan Johar, Madhur Bhandarkar, Satish Kaushik to newcomer Alia Bhatt to Hrithik Roshan's wife Suzanne - they all were occupying the front seats Saturday and cheered for their favourite designer.
Karan, who was sitting next to his protegee Alia, who is making her debut in his directorial venture "Student of The year", said this was Malhotra's best show ever. "The show was fantastic and I think this was Manish's best show ever.
I think what he presented today was spectacular, " said Karan. Alia said: "This is my first fashion show that I attended in my life and I am just mesmerised with the collection. I love Manish's clothes. It was just beautiful."
Vidyut Jamwal of "Force" fame kicked off the show, while Katrina was the showstopper for Malhotra's autumn winter 2012 collection. He showcased 20 select couture items; an exquisite collection that boasted of diverse timeless vintage styles dominated by extensively embroidery, applique work and floral techniques. Pink, coral, deep red and mango yellow dominated the colour palette.
Explaining the motivation behind his creation, Malhotra told: "I have drawn inspiration from the classic styles of the 1960's and the 1970's of India. The collection is soft, elegant and vintage, reminiscent of the timeless beauties of the era."
The designer, who styled Narghis Fakhiri's look in her debut movie "Rockstar" and designed some of the exotic outfits using Kashmiri embroidery for her, worked with the same technique to add elegance to his collection.
Some of the dresses that wowed the audiences, which had Bollywood celebrities, high profile ladies from the capital's page 3 circuit and fellow designers, were long 'achkans', heavily embroidered lehengas and heavily embroidered saris. "I have used some of the embroideries from Kashmir including tilla and zari work, " he said adding since "Rockstar" it has been more than a year that "I have been working with these embroideries".
"The collection has been enhanced with tilla work from Kashmir and antique zardosi embroidiery, " he added. Flaunting a heavily embroidered long jacket teamed with shimmery pajama, Vidyut scorched the ramp and Katrina spelled magic when she sashayed down in an ivory-colour lehanga with red-pink border, choli and dupatta.
Malhotra praised his showstopper saying, "Katrina is someone who is very charming and beautiful. She looks great in Indian clothes. Also, she likes old world charm and that's what she represented though my collection."
When asked Katrina will she choose to wear the designer's creation at her wedding, she said its too early to comment upon it. "How can I answer that when I know time changes every second. It's not the right time to talk about whether I will take Manish' clothes or not as I have no idea where will he be during my wedding time. Yes, I love Indian clothes and I like the elegance attached to it, " she said.