A pick out of Kimono’s spring-summer 2004 closet.

Dandy is how he used to be known. But with the shame going out of looking good, a new word had to be coined to give him the mark of respect he deserves. Fashion gurus the world over came up with the Metrosexual Man. Think David Beckham. Think Jude Law.

Everyone has, by now, heard of the Metrosexual Man. But for those who have had their heads buried in fashion-desert sands, he is, roughly, a heterosexual unashamed of flaunting his sense of style, not embarrassed to admit enjoying a good shop-athon.

Now, the stage is set for the Contrasexual Woman, believes designer Kiran Uttam Ghosh. At the heart of her spring-summer collection 2004 is a woman comfortable with herself.

The Calcutta-based designer, whose creations were splashed all over Saturday’s Miss India 2004 pageant, has put together a range for her Kimono label that “is wicked; never vulgar; is seductive; never shameless”.

While the word “contrasexual” generally means either a man with strong feminine characteristics or a woman with a dominant masculine side, Kiran’s interpretation goes a step further.

“The Contrasexual Woman is a woman comfortable with the male side of her world, so inherently a part of the world she lives in, and so is also comfortable with her femininity. Very simply put, the Contrasexual Woman wears her sexuality on her sleeve and her femininity on the fall of her skirt,” she says.

Think Catherine Zeta-Jones. Think Ally McBeal.

She sees no problem taking on a man in his domain, but still wants to look good while she does it.

So, this season, Kiran has toyed with chiffons and mals, and other “soft flowing drapes and fabrics”, in creams, beiges, blacks with “a few accents of bright colours”.

“The palette is vast. Powdery pastels jostle for space with candy couture”. There are “virgin whites” and “belligerent blacks”, too.

The fabrics “flirt” and, while she describes it as “girly”, it also has “grace”. There are flowing skirts, mother-of-pearl, pretty dresses and languid saris, halter necks and off-shoulder tops.

“It’s dark on one side, bright on the other. It’s glamorous, yet grown-up. Part antique, part attitude,” the creator explains.

And whether this confident, feminine lass who oozes oomph will survive the style stakes or not, she has “caught the imagination”, concludes Kiran.