Obsessed with bold and colourful prints and patterns, it was only a matter of time before the husband-and-wife design duo took the Orient Express (err, Tikka Masala Air in this case) to mine the rich and pungent palette of the slums and spices of India for design ideas. Getting to Mumbai from London does take something like 10 hours, and I hear smoking opium on-board is totally allowed, so it’s not surprising that Eley and Kishimoto’s airline attendants’ apparel made almost as much of an impact on their A/W 09 line, titled “Jet Set Masala”, as the in-flight microwave curries.

With MIA blaring, the models-cum-flight attendants strutted around in bowler hats and modernised 60s suits, totally ignoring stray requests for extra blankets.  The outfits showed a remarkable range of dizzying patterns and were paired with really cool giraffe-print tights. I don’t want to turn into Vogue.com here, so just look at the photos further down. I will say one last thing though: Pierre Cardin used to design Air India uniforms in the ’60s – FACT – and EK just totally kicked his octogenarian ass.

NICOLE KAI and BENSON