KOLKATA - Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, star cricketer Virender Sehwag and film actors Rituparna Sengupta and Sameera Reddy will be among the showstoppers at the second Emami Kolkata Fashion Week, beginning here Wednesday.

Sarod players Ayan Ali Bangash and Aman Ali Bangash, model-cum-Bollywood heroines Amrita Rao, Rimii Sen, film actor Neil Nitin Mukhesh, starlets Sophie Choudhury and Neetu Chandra, as also Brazilian model Giselle Monteiro will set the ramp ablaze during the five-day event.

Works of several weavers and over 40 fashion designers will be showcased during the extravaganza that opens with the creations of Ritu Kumar, while Manish Malhotra’s designs bring down the curtains.

The KFW-II has ‘Earth Couture’ as the theme celebrating India’s ethnic roots, in view of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation declaring 2009 as “The International Year of Natural Fibre”.

Sixteen of the participating designers are taking part in a fashion week for the first time, said promoters Mindscapes Maestros managing director Yudhajit Dutta. There will also be a committee interacting with buyers, some of whom are expected to fly down from foreign soils.

“Last year, we had two buyers from abroad. This year, we are hoping to have 10-12,” Dutta said.

“The designers who took part in the maiden chapter of the KFW have told me that it was a success, and they had a good market for their products after the event,” he said.

A day after KFW-II ends, there would be a fashion exhibition to be thrown open to the public.

Dutta said the opening edition had a budget of Rs.5 crore, with the figure likely to grow by 20 percent in the coming show.

The country’s top models, among them Indrani Dasgupta, Sapna Kumar, Joey Matthews, Lakshmi Rana, Noyanika Chatterjee, Neha Kapur and Candice Pinto, will sashay down the ramp showcasing the creations of the designers who include Bangladesh’s Bibi Russel.

Narendra Kumar, Rocky S., Anita Dongres, Wendell Rodricks, Zubair Kirmani, Satya Paul are among the other eminent designers participating in KFW-II.