The event took place at The Collective, Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj on the 20th of November 2010.

Turning up early, @akanksharedhu and I were afforded a view to the entire two floors of the store. The guests had only started arriving.

The Collective houses a multitude of brands in the store – clothes as well as accessories – for men as well as for women. Since we didn’t want to miss the action and guests were now starting to walk in with more frequency, we stuck to the upper floor. In most of the cases, I will leave you to enjoy the visual treat rather than bombard with commentary. The bags were quirky and lovely.

The bar looked cosy and lovely and most of the guests milled around it throughout the evening. They were being served Four Seasons Red wine, Pinky Vodka, and other options included white wine, Black Dog Whisky and probably some more that I didn’t catch the names of.

A Master Tailor from the house of Armani had been flown in to custom fit tuxedos for the guests – the party was to celebrate the fittings, which had already happened during the day.

I quite liked the interior lights above the staircase. Would be nice to know who did the interiors for the store.

Some of the collateral specific to this event.

We were graced by a lady-singer – it was a Jazz group – again, would be lovely to know names. I’m hoping to identify some of the guests as well in the coming days – will update accordingly.

I am a huge fan of Rohit Bal’s stuff. It’s like he spews magic.

The lady-Jazz-singer. Loved her voice, the choice of songs as well as the hand-accessory!

There were some really good snacks – vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian. I liked the Broccoli shoots! Again, would be nice to know who was managing the catering.

The lovely store managers with Vinita on the extreme right.

The Master Tailor.

Anindita, who manages various Armani brands in India and a couple of mannequins on the ground floor of The Collective.

Chetan Seth, India’s so-called Cigar Baron, looking dapper in the OG jodhpuris.

As an overall impression, this event was well-managed from all aspects except temperature control – yes New Delhi temperatures have dipped but both @akanksharedhu and I were sweating in our t-shirts and jeans. I’ve never bought anything from any of the Armani brands and won’t be able to tell cotton from polyester either! The store was well-laid out with multiple brands to choose from – lovely people all around – from the food tables, to the bar, the store employees and the general junta that had turned up. A fairly relaxed evening with none of the usual drunk behavior. We were both shocked to see a couple of really badly dressed guests though. I don’t want to show crass stuff on my blog so I made it a point not to take a picture of the said-guests. Shudder.