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OCTOBER 2014 ` 150

eLLe beauty awards 2014

ShRaddha

Kapoor the sweetest

Say hello to your new

thing

beauty

favourites

Music special bold, edgy, exciting Bollywood’s SOUnD OF nOw

Jackie or Janis

Edie or Twiggy which

’60 s girl are you?

Extra!

Knee-high boots

solo earrings novelty bags

couture watches …and a whole lot more in our accessories edit

New Delhi: The Emporio. Mumbai: Taj Hotel Colaba - dior.com

www.chanel.com

CHANEL BOUTIQUE - THE IMPERIAL, JANPATH, NEW DELHI 110 001 - TEL : 011 - 41 11 68 40 or 44

Mademoiselle 2014 Collection To find your nearest store visit

www.thepureconcept.co.in

M AT S YA matsyaworld.com

Matsya Studio B-81, 2nd Floor Naraina Industrial Area Phase-II New Delhi-28 For private appointments & business enquiries write to us at [emailprotected] or call us at +91 9999016771

Premier Outlets NEW DELHI: Bombay Sapphire MUMBAI: Roopkala CHENNAI: Moksha KOLKATA: Krishna Fashions, Onaya AHMEDABAD: Asopalav CHANDIGARH: Poshak HYDERABAD: Neerus Emporio JALANDHAR: Polki LUCKNOW: Sindh - The Wedding Galleria LUDHIANA: Polki SURAT: G3 TRIVANDRUM: Parthas VADODARA: Thakur G

E L L E contents ®

VOL 20 NO 10 OCTOBER 2014

__ ACCESSORIES REPORT From luxe trainers to miniature trunks — all the add-ons you’ll need this season

106 __

FUN & GAMES The wackiest little gems from F/W 2014 runways. By Malini Banerji

108 __

ELLE STREET Off-the-ramp head-turners from Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive

110 __

THE WISH LIST If Santa’s listening, these are the wardrobe additions we’re pining for

114 __

WORK SPY The swish ladies at Peepul Consulting show us how to make a great first impression

116 __

WHY YOU SHOULD BE WEARING… PAULA CADEMARTORI Her eponymous label is a champion of complex geometry and vivid colours. By Nidhi Jacob

118 __

BEWITCHED Bulgari’s serpentine dazzlers are timeless celeb favourites. By Nidhi Jacob

120 __

WOOL STREET How Chanel’s classic bouclé tweed jacket kept up with the times

122 __

SWING THIS WAY As fashion goes retro, we help you find your ’60s alter ego. By Nidhi Jacob

124 __

HEEL HIGH British shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood’s creations have become modernday Manolos. By Zoë Wolff

128 __

STAGE RIGHT Despatches from the front row of Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive. By Nidhi Jacob

134 __

FASHION UPDATES Style buzz, fresh picks and shop talk

HOW TO WEAR

44 __

VOICES

50 __

ELLE MAIL

55 __

EDITOR’S LETTER

56 __

BEHIND THE SCENES

60 __

ELLE ONLINE

edits 66 __

HOW TO WEAR The statement skirt and thigh-skimming hemlines, plus new ways to colour-block

E L L E OCTOBER 2014 |

ON THE COVER: Embroidered crêpe-wool dress and patent leather boots; both Gucci. Crystal metal cuff, Mawi at Le Mill PHOTOGRAPHS: FARROKH CHOTHIA STYLING: NIDHI JACOB CREATIVE DIRECTOR: PRASHISH MORE MAKE-UP & HAIR: SUBHASH VAGAL MODEL: SHRADDHA KAPOOR

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E L L E contents ®

Vol 20 No 10 octoBER 2014

244 REIGNING BEAUtY

198 __

HOW I MET MY MOTHER’S LOVER A writer remembers the significant other in her parents’ marriage. By Radhika Mehra

200 __

STILL LIFE Why spells of nothingness are good for you. By Cheryl-Ann Couto

202 __

BIG NOISE AR Rahman is a legend who consistently refuses to be defined. By Aishwarya Subramanyam

206 __

SOUND MACHINE Get to know Amit Trivedi, Bollywood’s one-man hit factory. By Deepa Menon

210 __

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL These early entrants are bringing young energy to Bollywood music

214 __

PLAY IT AGAIN The formula that lends Bollywood earworms their potency. By Vatsala Chhibber

216 __

RHYME RIOT Bollywood’s new poets explain the story behind their words. By Nirmika Singh

218 __

ELLE FICTION AWARDS 2014 Read the runner-up entry

224 __

THE BRIT PACK On the trail of three Indian-origin labels — Mawi, Nom De Mode and Ashish — as they take on London Fashion Week. By Zoey Goto

230 __

ROLLING IN THE DEEP A glimpse into the mind of the notoriously reticent designer Arjun Saluja. By Anand Bhushan

fashion

features

238 __

THE GOOD GIRL Meet the ’60s-inspired, Factory Girl version of Shraddha Kapoor. By Cheryl-Ann Couto. Photographed by Farrokh Chothia. Styled by Nidhi Jacob

143 __

RADAR Books, movies, art, pop culture and people to keep your eye on

244 __

168 __

ELLE SPECIAL Acts to match your groove at Bacardi NH7 Weekender

REIGNING BEAUTY Lisa Haydon transforms into a warrior princess in dramatic couture. Photographed by Jatin Kampani. Styled by Malini Banerji

180 __

LORDE ALMIGHTY The impulsive 17-yearold has everyone around her on their toes. By Jessica Pressler

258 __

186 __

FAMILY LIFE Naseeruddin and Vivaan Shah talk movie business and father-son realities. By Deepa Menon.

SUPER BOLD Are you brave enough to wear the season’s brightest colours, prints and textures? Photographed by Thomas Whiteside. Styled by Anne-Marie Curtis

270 __

190 __

CAPTAIN AMERICA These IndianAmerican women are powering US politics

COME UNDONE Evening sheer gets a creepy-cool yet romantic do-over. Photographed by Tarun Vishwa. Styled by Karuna Laungani

196 __

FAT CHANCE The dating adventures (and misadventures) of a big girl. By Ameya Nagarajan

282 __

BOY, OH BOY Laddish classics with a waifish grace make the new dandy. Photographed by Michael Sanders. Styled by Micaela Sessa

E L L E OCTOBER 2014 |

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295

E L L E contents

EllE BEAUtY AWARDS

Vol 20 No 10 octoBER 2014

beauty 295 __

ELLE BEAUTY AWARDS These winners merit a spot in your vanity case. Photographed by Jignesh Jhaveri

336 __

BACKSTAGE BRIEF We tell you how to re-create Varun Bahl’s girly-grunge look

340 __

SAFE FORMULA Why the anti-chemical, pro-natural stance is not as foolproof as you’d imagine. By Ridhima Sapre

344 __

STIR CRAZY Obsessed with health food? You might be suffering from orthorexia. By Anuradha Anupkumar

350 __

LifestyLe

GOOD AS GOLD Breaking down the complex fragrance of Indian sandalwood. By Divrina Dhingra

388 __

356 __

ON THE SHELF We’re digging Louboutin’s deep rouge nail colour and Marc Jacobs’ new beauty line

CROSS CURRENTS A look inside architect Niels Schoenfelder’s weekend retreat. By Celia Barbour

392 __

364 __

REAL DEAL How to work the season’s most daunting runway trends — think neon manes and dark lips. By Jahnavi Prasad

CITY OF OLD The author compares the Peshawar of her imagination with the real deal. By Kamila Shamsie

394 __

366 __

BEAUTY UPDATES News, reviews and best buys

FOOD CRAWL The world’s best chefs are plating up bugs, and it’s a good thing too. By Sonam Savlani

398 __

eLLe Campaign

ON FIRE Super chef Massimo Bottura on marrying tradition with evolution. By Sonam Savlani

400 __

SOFT FOCUS Brighter is better, trust neon pastels for home improvement

374 __

SAvE THE DATE Let’s talk about breast cancer this month — we count the ways

402 __

376 __

LEAP YEAR We look back at the milestones that mark our progress against breast cancer

NATIONAL TREASURE Egypt is firmly footed in its past to survive its present. By Vatsala Chhibber

404 __

378 __

THE SWITCH How overcoming breast cancer changed one woman’s reality. By Sophie Beresiner

LIFESTYLE UPDATES Top tables, design ideas and travel hacks

408 __

HEADY MIX ELLE and Jabong’s do was a riot; we take you behind the scenes

A GOOD SCARE A suspect lump turned this writer into an awareness junkie. By Cheryl-Ann Couto

410 __

ADDRESS BOOK

412 __

ASTRO

382 __

NOW WE KNOW Six cancer survivors share their greatest lessons

414 __

NUMEROLOGY

384 __

JUST CAUSE Tommy Hilfiger and Naomi Watts join the battle against breast cancer

416 __

ELLE LOvES Anya Hindmarch’s imperial bag reminds us why breakfast is always a good idea

380 __

E L L E OCTOBER 2014 |

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ELLE ®

vice-chAirperson KAvItA BHARtIA

group puBlisher & ceo ARCHAnA PIllAI

editor AISHWARYA SuBRAmAnYAm

puBlisher GAuRAv mASHRuWAlA creAtive director PRASHISH moRe

fAshion director mAlInI BAneRjI

MAnAging editor SoPHIA Ann FRenCH

AssociAte editor CHeRYl-Ann Couto AssociAte feAtures editor SonAm SAvlAnI feAtures writer vAtSAlA CHHIBBeR fAshion editor nIDHI jACoB Bookings editor PARul meneZeS fAshion stylist ARuSHI PARAKH Junior fAshion stylists AKAnKSHA KAmAtH, neHA SAlvI AssociAte BeAuty editor RIDHImA SAPRe BeAuty writer jAHnAvI PRASAD digitAl editor SHRutI tHACKeR digitAl feAtures writer SneHA SADARAnGAnI

chief finAnciAl officer tAKeSH mAtHuR advertising sales & marketing

Advertising director PRIYADARSHInI KoHlI regionAl MAnAgers vInItA KARunAKARAn (south), senior Advertising MAnAger (north) mISHA BAntH AssociAte Advertising MAnAger (north) vAeBHAv BADAl deputy Advertising MAnAgers SHuBHAm De (west), SHAlInI KoCHAR (north) AssistAnt Advertising MAnAgers PAm WAnGmo, KAjRI SHARmA (north), SAnjAnA lunIYA (south) MArketing MAnAger RutumA WADKAR AssistAnt MArketing MAnAger RuCHItA SHAH senior MArketing executive ZenoBIA junGAlWAllA deputy systeMs MAnAger SAnDeeP PASBolA operAtions AssistAnt nISHA BHAtIA CirCulation

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generAl MAnAger BHARAt S RAWAt senior Art director PRABAl GuHA nIYoGI Art director ReSHmA RAjIWDeKAR

senior officers DeePAK GIte (west) PRAKASH v (south), RAvI KumAR (north)

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volume 20 no 10 Printed and published by Archana Pillai on behalf of Ogaan Publications Private Limited, and printed at Rajhans Enterprises, 134, 4th Main Road, Industrial Town, Rajajinagar, Bengaluru 560044 and published from 501 Nirman Kendra, Off Dr E Moses Road, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai. Editor Aishwarya Subramanyam. Processed at Reproscan. Distributed in India by IBH Books and Magazines Distributors Ltd., Krishna House, 3rd floor, Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, Senapat Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013. Copyright © Ogaan Publications Pvt. Ltd., 1996. Regd. Office: H-2, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi 110016. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction strictly prohibited. Elle does not take responsibility for returning unsolicited publication material. Elle is a registered trademark.

ELLE

VOICES october 2014

DIVRINA DHINGRA

The fashion and beauty writer reflects on how she came to associate the scent of sandalwood with loss, in Good As Gold, page 350.

“I have a soft spot for woody and oriental scents, but I also like green notes. The perfume I love at the moment is Santal Blush by Tom Ford.” @divrina

“My interview with Arjun Saluja was lighthearted — his evolution as a designer is almost Sufi-like. His strong and oddly elegant aesthetic makes his pieces immediately recognisable.”

JIGNESH JHAVERI

The photographer specialises in food and still-life images. Sample? The ELLE Beauty Awards, page 295.

“I really enjoyed creating the right environment for the products and shooting in high-speed (to capture motion).” @jiGneshjhaveri

@anandBhushan

AMEYA NAGARAJAN

KAMILA SHAMSIE

An editor of young adult books at Penguin Random House India, Nagarajan gives us the skinny on dating as a big girl in Fat Chance, page 196.

@aMeyann

ANAND BHUSHAN

The fashion designer turns writer for ELLE with Rolling In The Deep, page 230, where he interviews fellow designer Arjun Saluja.

E L L e october 2014 |

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“My fondest memory of Peshawar is walking down the steps cut into the wall of the world’s deepest excavation trench at Gor Khatri. Peshawar has been continuously inhabited for at least 2,500 years, and as you climb down, you descend through time.” @KaMilashaMsie

NAINA.CO (ANAND BHUSHAN)

“The best thing about dating as a fat woman is that, because you’re not a ‘pretty girl’, people notice more about you. You’re allowed to have a personality.”

The Pakistani author's latest book, A God In Every Stone, is set in the Peshawar of her imagination. In City Of Old, page 392, she finds the real thing.

TARUN VISHWA The fashion photographer makes evening sheers creepy-cool and romantic in Come Undone, page 270.

ELLE

VOICES october 2014

“The location of the shoot, a run-down copper factory with burnt walls, fit the mood perfectly. Light passing through the cracks of the ceiling added an eerie touch.”

SUBHASH VAGAL

The hair and make-up artist, and champion of luminous skin, works his magic on cover girl Shraddha Kapoor in The Good Girl, page 238.

JATIN KAMPANI In Reigning Beauty, page 244, the fashion photographer finds that new-season couture and warrior princesses go together. “The weather was against us but we improvised and shot in bursts, between bouts of rain. We wanted Lisa [haydon] to look like someone out of The Lord Of The Rings. The weather helped create powerful images too, sending dark clouds into our frame.” @jaTInkaMpanI

“I wanted to create the look of a modern warrior with an anime feel. I made the look more pronounced, using coloured extensions and sculpted shapes.”

“It was most exciting to create the ’60s look for Shraddha, since we haven’t seen this on her before.”

@UrbanChokra

ZOEY GOTO The London-based journalist reports on the Indian designers at London Fashion Week (LFW) in The Brit Pack, page 224. “It was fascinating to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at being a designer at LFW and the hard work that goes into creating that moment. From a style perspective, I am a complete magpie, so I loved the Mawi collection, which is all bright and pop.”

E L L e october 2014 |

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CLINT FERNANDES

The hair and make-up artist imagines a modern-day warrior in Reigning Beauty, page 244.

E L L E MAIL ELLE Fiction AwArds 2014

Divya Karthikeyan @divya_krthk

eLLe TweeTS Want to have a little chat or show some love/loathing? Tweet at us @ELLEINDIA

jodi@thejodilife We are loving Dries Van Noten on Elle India’s September cover. @elleindia @neelamkg #colour #print Saher Bhaloo @SaherBhaloo Inspiring openness in discussing #mentalhealthinindia. Time to break the silence @deepamenon_ @ELLEINDIA

subscriber’s copy

Find out who made us LOL

www.elle.in

@Thank you @deepamenon_ for your timely and heartwarming piece on depression and @ELLEINDIA for publishing it. #mentalhealth

september 2014 ` 150

model of the moment

neelam gill

beauty craze monster lashes!

ELLE GrAdUAtEs

fiery lips! glitter nails!

fall fashion

Young designers storming the big leagues

The 36-yearold virgin and why she still says no

rave prints feathers & fringe

Couture kiCks shouty bags

A–Z of trends from

SEP14cover.indd 1

NewYork, London, Milan, Paris & Delhi 25/08/14 6:39 PM

Lavanya @lavsmohan Apart from all the routine fabulousness, the September issue of @ELLEINDIA is full of some wonderful reading.

Rasna Bhasin @srasnabhasin First 2014 September issue out! How stunning does @ NeelamKG look in @DriesVanNoten? Loving it @ELLEINDIA #fashion

} NEW SHOES

eLLe MAiL Got something to say about the issue (or life in general)? E-mail us at ellemail@ ogaan.co.in

Loved reading the story behind Jeremy Scott’s appointmentas the creative director of Moschino. The most exciting thing about the brand is that it uses humour as its mainstay, and Scott has taken it to new heights. — MAMTA PAL, HOOGHLY

} SPIRITED AWAY five letters published in the november issue will win a gift hamper from l’orÉal paris

It’s always wonderful to be in the midst of nature; thank you for introducing me to 25 picturepretty escapes with home-like comforts (even better actually) in Happy Place. — SAuMYA MArwAH, New DeLHi

} EYE CANDY

Please include your address and telephone number. Incomplete letters will not be entertained. Six letters published in this issue have won a gift from Accessorize.

The fashion section of the September issue was like a kaleidoscope — each page revealed a fascinating combination of colours, patterns, and textures, especially Hit Parade.I was also inspired by This Is Paris;it is heartwarming to see how Indian women have successfully carved a niche for themselves in an alien country. — SuMAN SHAH, MuMbAi

} LUCKY STRIKE

Ihave been reading ELLEfor about 13 years and I always find something interesting in every issue. ButThis Is Pariswas surreal because I am moving there next year forfurther studies. Ifound the article extremely inspiring and also well-timed. It almost seems like a serendipitous message for me. — TASNeeM MukADAM, MuMbAi

} HOPE SPRINGS

10 Things They Don’t Tell You About Depression was a very relevant article. This is a problem that plagues both successful personalities as well as the common man. The tragic death of Robin Williams may well be a turning point for those suffering from depression, and hopefully move them to get the right treatment. — ANiTA rANA, New DeLHi

} FLOWER POWER

Amanda McCracken hit the bullseye with her story Virgin Territory. What women really need, apart from selfconfidence and self-reliance, is the freedom to make their own choices. — rAjeSHwAri SiNGH, New DeLHi

E L L E OCTOBER 2014 |

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Autumn Winter 2014 COLLECTION

Metamorphosis, an Hermès story

« Oxer » bag in mat crocodile, taurillon Clémence and Barénia calfskin The Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi, Horniman Circle, Mumbai Hermes.com

ELLE october

EDITOR’S LETTER

tarun vishwa (main); prabal guha niyogi

’ve never thought of myself as vain, having grown up with the understanding that one mustn’t look too closely or for too long in a mirror (this is really excellent advice). But I was tested when a few weeks ago, after a violent illness, and a nuclear counter-attack by broad-spectrum antibiotics, my hair started falling out. Every day it would come off in fistfuls, leaving half of what was there the day before, making my eyes well up. My health was slowly on the mend, but my usually stubborn, curly hair was defeated. I first got a close crop, and when it kept falling out, I took a buzzer to it. It wasn’t easy, not one bit. You know what made me feel better? Beauty stuff: mascara and eyeshadow and kohl and concealer and lipstick; creams and lotions and rediscovering the magic of coconut oil. What’s in our vanity (the beauty box) doesn’t just lead to vanity (the vice), it might also help us feel more like ourselves. By voting for the ELLE Beauty Awards — see, there is a point to this story — the most democratic in the industry, thousands of you tell us every year which products have made you feel more like you. Together with the favourites from ELLE beauty editors across the world, the winners of EBA 2014 are this year’s superheroes. Talking of which, don’t miss Captain America, our story on the Indian women in American politics who are rattling the establishment; and our ‘pink pages’, which celebrate breast cancer awareness month and ELLE’s consistent commitment to the cause. Plus, the Bollywood music special, featuring an exclusive interview with the legendary AR Rahman, a candid chat with legend-in-the-making Amit Trivedi and a look at the next generation of musical talent. And finally, you will adore cover girl Shraddha Kapoor as she shows off the season’s massive ’60s trend with swing and her irresistible sweetness. But I’m perhaps most delighted of all to tell you that this issue of ELLE wears a brand new look! Creative director Prashish More (that’s him grinning in the photo) has crafted a cleaner, cooler, much more fun visual identity for the magazine, setting the tone for the future. After 12 years at ELLE, Prashish understands better than anyone the constancy of change, and he has injected our pages with fresh excitement about fashion, tying in ELLE’s digital presence seamlessly. Tweet, insta, mail or snail and tell us what you think. And do wish me luck, will you, as I experiment wildly with scarves atop my head.

#EllEoCtobEr

AishwAryA subrAmAnyAm @OTHERWARYA [emailprotected]

E L L e october 2014 |

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Look out for these digital bookmarks, which take you off the page to other stories you might like. Bonus: the links are clickable in our digital edition!

E L L E EDITS

BEHIND THE SCENES makING THE CoVEr

Taking a leaf out of Edie Sedgwick’s style book, chandelier earrings were the order of the day.

On our beauty board: the Saint Laurent girl — graphic eyeliner, clumpy mascara and a dash of white.

Gold-plated crystal earrings, ` 65,265, Dolce&Gabbana

The retro extra on the set with double duty — handsome prop when the lights are on and coffee table when the lights go off.

SHRADDHA WITH THE TEAM

THE PLAYLIST

We peeked into Kapoor’s beauty kit and it had Chanel Chance, Batiste Dry Shampoo, Carmex Lip Balm, M.A.C Powerpoint Eye Pencil in ‘Engraved’ and Bobbi Brown Concealer.

Chanel Chance, ` 6,450 MUNKEE.SEE.MUNKEE.DOO

The Beatles: ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ The Rolling Stones: ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ The Supremes: ‘Baby Love’ Janelle Monáe feat. Erykah Badu: ‘Q.U.E.E.N.’ Beyoncé feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘Flawless’

Welcome to The Factory, where Bollywood’s sweetheart turns into our ’60s muse

GUCCI

Follow @kapoorshraddha for regular Insta-updates on her popping and locking, b-boying prep for her next project, ABCD2.

Movies on our cover girl’s radar: Mary Kom, Margarita With A Straw and Finding Fanny. Running theme: strong-women roles.

Knee-high and patent leather — these boots were made for minis.

E L L e october 2014 |

Shift dresses, psychedelic prints and polo necks — off-the-runway and on to our racks.

www.elle.in

IMAIMAXTREE.COM/ALESSANDRO LUCIONI (RUNWAY)

The original hipster/ arty intellectual Andy Warhol and his kooky muse Edie Sedgwick are the stars of the moodboard.

Patent leather flat boots, price on request, Giambattista Valli

EMILIO PUCCI

SHRADDHA KAPOOR

E L L E ONLINE W h at ’ s n e W o n

MAKING of THE CoVER

ELLE tV

News, trends, insider info — this is your daily dose of ELLE fashion

blog

beauty

catwalk

subscriber’s copy www.elle.in

fresh new look

Kapoor the sweetest

Say hello to your new

thing

beauty

favourites

Music special

wills lifesTyle india fashion week spring/ summer 2015 Front-row despatches and minute-by-minute updates, live from fashion week

whaT elle wears Get some office inspiration right here

OCTOBER 2014 ` 150

eLLe beauty aWards 2014

ShRaddha

bold, edgy, exciting Bollywood’s sounD oF now

Jackie or Janis

Edie or Twiggy Which

’60 s girl are you?

Extra!

Knee-high boots

solo earrings novelty bags

couture watches …and a whole lot more in our accessories edit

instant access download ELLE INDIA TO YOUR iPAD, iPHONE AND ANDROID NOW

The new meTallic How to wear the hottest make-up trend of the season

The exTras Young accessory designers on our radar

E L L E OCTOBER 2014 |

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farrokh chothia (ShraDDha kaPoor); iMaXtrEE.coM/aLESSaNDro LUcioNi (rUNWaY); SaMir raNa (StrEEt StYLE)

Watch our gorgeous cover girl work that ’60s swing at ELLE.in/shraddhakapoor

ELLE

edits

top tRENDS, MUSt-HAVE pIECES AND StYLE UpDAtES We’re loving pint-sized bags that pack a punch.

jens mauritz

‘Mini Fiamma’ bag, price on request, Salvatore Ferragamo

It’s all about the extras this month — snazzy sneakers, ’60s boots, state-of-the-art watches and leopard-print satchels. Plus, new-season trends to try, from graphic colour-blocking to the mod mini FOr DetaiLs, see aDDress BOOK

E L L e october 2014 |

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how to wear the statement skirt

Day

Show some skin by pairing a crop top with the voluminous skirt. A tote bag will haul around your daily essentials.

Full circle Cotton crop top, ` 4,500, Frou Frou by archana rao. Faux leather skirt, ` 13,875, nachiket Barve. Leather pumps, ` 68,000, Jimmy Choo. Acetate sunglasses, ` 18,900, alexander mcQueen. Leather tote, price on request, Burberry. Metal cuffs, both prices on request, outhouse. Metal tassel bangle, ` 1,050, Pipa+Bella.

Give this dramatic separate a new spin

on rack, from left:Cotton trousers, ` 4,990, marks & spencer. Knit jumper, ` 5,990, Gas. Velour coat, ` 7,990, Zara. Quilted silk scarf, price on request, Chanel

E L L e october 2014 |

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PHOTOGRAPHS: PRABHAT SHETTY; STYLING NEHA SALVI; SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: PRABAL GUHA NIYOGI; MAKE-UP AND HAIR: SUNITA BRACE; MODEL: MARKETA/ANIMA CREATIVE MANAGEMENT; ASSISTED BY: APARNA PHOGAT (STYLING), TRISHA (HAIR)

E L L E EDITS

Clothing

Home

Accessories

Photo Credit: Sarang Sena

Khan Market

Meher Chand Market

Hauz Khas Village

Shop Number 8, First Floor Khan Market, Delhi 110003 Tel: 01141757701

Shop Number 115, Meher Chand Market, Delhi 110003 Tel: 01149050848

Shop Number 13A, Inside Lane Hauz Khas Village, Delhi 110016 Tel: 01146061397

[emailprotected]

www.manandesign.com

mananshop

E L L E EDITS

HOw TO wear THe sTaTemeNT skirT

PHOTOGRAPH: PRABHAT SHETTY; STYLING NEHA SALVI; SENIOR ART dIREcTOR: PRABAL GUHA NIYOGI; MAKE-UP ANd HAIR: SUNITA BRAcE; MOdEL: MARKETA/ANIMA cREATIVE MANAGEMENT; ASSISTEd BY: APARNA PHOGAT (STYLING), TRISHA (HAIR)

Night

Keep the outfit monotone with hints of embellishment. Go for fancy flats in the evening instead of hobbling around in heels.

Lace blouse, ` 17,000, Hemant & Nandita. Faux leather skirt, ` 13,875, Nachiket Barve. Silk jacket, ` 4,800, Charu Parashar. Leather loafers, ` 33,000, Tod’s. Leather mini bag, ` 88,500, Jimmy Choo On rack: Jersey and faux leather bomber jacket, ` 13,000, Hemant & Nandita

E L L e october 2014 |

www.elle.in

Clockwise from far left: Cotton shirt, ` 7,000, hemant & nandita. Leather and crêpe dress, price on request, Gucci. Leather heels, price on request, Jimmy Choo. Cotton socks, stylist’s own Woollen dress, price on request, Kenzo. Silver gold plated earrings, ` 3,290, amrapali Knit jumper, price on request, Kenneth Cole. Jacquard skirt, ` 3,990, Zara. Woollen pullover, ` 83,292, michael Kors. Leather boots, ` 74,000, tod’s

VaLENtINo

how to wear the mini

photograph: praBhat ShEttY; StYLINg: NEha SaLVI; SENIor art DIrECtor: praBaL gUha NIYogI; MaKE-Up aND haIr: SUNIta BraCE; MoDEL: MarKEta/aNIMa CrEatIVE MaNagEMENt; aSSIStED BY: aparNa phogat (StYLINg), trISha (haIr)

E L L E EDITS

Mad for mod

Go ’60s glam with thigh-skimming A-line dresses and super-short skirts From left: Satin top, ` 16,000, munkee.See.munkee. Doo. Cotton skirt, ` 3,999, marks & Spencer. Acrylic sunglasses, ` 790, aldo

Set off shorter hemlines with ladylike accessories.

Crêpe top (part of set), ` 12,000, akaaro by Gaurav Jai Gupta. Woollen coat, ` 1,66,584, michael Kors. Leather bag, ` 1,17,000, tod’s

E L L e october 2014 |

www.elle.in

From left: Woollen jacket, ` 18,000, Munkee.See. Munkee.Doo. Leather mini bag, ` 77,000, tod’s Lycra dress, ` 10,200, reboot by anuj bhutani. Leather sling bag, ` 8,299, charles & keith. Leather cross-body bag (worn as clutch), price on request, christian louboutin

Rock solid

Contrast neutrals with brights in geometric patterns for an upgrade on fashion’s favourite graphic trend Use neutrals like grey or camel as a base to show off your brights and pastels.

clockwise from far left: Woollen sweatshirt, ` 9,990, huemn by Pranav Mishra and Shyma Shetty. Crêpe palazzos, ` 6,900, Farah Sanjana. Leather platform sandals, ` 6,499, charles & keith Crêpe dress, price on request, Dior. Poplin and mesh bomber jacket, ` 10,500, lovebirds Cotton coat, price on request, Dhruv kapoor. Cotton trousers, ` 6,000, Surendri by Yogesh chaudhary. Leather flatforms, ` 8,200, lovebirds

E L L e october 2014 |

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PHOTOGRAPH: PRABHAT SHETTY; STYLING: NEHA SALVI; SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: PRABAL GUHA NIYOGI; MAKE-UP AND HAIR: SUNITA BRACE; MODEL: MARKETA/ANIMA CREATIVE MANAGEMENT, AVA/INEGA MODEL MANAGEMENT; ASSISTED BY: APARNA PHOGAT (STYLING), TRISHA (HAIR)

SATYA PAUL

how to wear colour-blocking

E L L E EDITS

EMANUEL UNGARO

micro trend dark sheers

Embroidered lace dress, price on request, Burberry

KENDALL jENNER

Acrylic sunglasses, ` 48,265, anna-karin karlsson

Shadow play Come co*cktail hour, choose delicate tulle, lace and organza in deep hues

MUMBAI

LONDON

Embroidered tulle skirt, ` 36,000, BcBG max azria

Peek-a-boo lace and flowy sheer have long been celeb favourites, balancing elegance with a sexy, barely-there feel. Add street cred to an evening look à la Kendall Jenner — wear a bralet under a sheer tee and finish off with tailored pants. Or work old-world charm in an embroidered midi dress: Simone Rocha’s runway version is perfection. Givenchy’s see-through floorlength dresses too risqué for you? Opt for a layered tulle skirt instead.

Lace booties, ` 71,360, nicholas kirkwood

Lace and cashmere scarf, ` 83,867, Valentino

Tulle skirt, ` 83,988, salvatore Ferragamo

Organza and tulle shoe,

` 4,345, accessorize E L L e october 2014 |

www.elle.in

PHOTOGRAPHS: IMAXTREE.COM/DAVIDE GALLIZIO (BACKSTAGE), VINCENZO GRILLO AND SAMIR RANA (STREET STYLE); INPUTS FROM AKANKSHA KAMATH

Embroidered lace dress, ` 1,55,309, simone rocha

Sky fall

This five-pointer is style heaven The runway stars have spoken. Stella McCartney prettied up creepers with a dusting of star-shaped cutouts, Matthew Williamson piled them on for a twinkling mass of jewellery and Diane von Furstenberg sent a sweeping, star-spangled maxi down the runway.

Leather and wood flatforms, ` 62,120, stella mccartney

ELLE PICKS Are you a guardian of the galaxy? You need the clothes! Head to ELLE.in/ milkyway

Wool cardigan, ` 38,900, marc cain.

E L L e october 2014 |

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PHOTOGRAPH: FARZAN RANDELIA; STYLING: AKANKSHA KAMATH; SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: PRABAL GUHA NIYOGI

micro trend star motifs

E L L E EDITS

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E L L e october 2014 |

Gi est, requ igh-top sneakers, price on

www.elle.in

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PHOTOGRAPHS: IMAXTREE.COM/VINCENZO GRILLO ANd SAMIR RANA (STREET STYLE); INPUTS FROM AKANKSHA KAMATH

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Switched to sneakers yet? Chanel’s tweed lined with metallic panels should convince you, or how about Dior’s pump/embellished sneaker hybrids sitting atop thick rubber soles? Paint splatters, clashing prints and luxe trimmings should seal the deal.

Le at h

ACCESSORiES THE REPORT

E L L E EDITS

ACCESSORiES thE REpORt

E L L E EDITS

Leather and metal hard-case bags; both prices on request, Louis Vuitton

Shrink wrap

Miniature trunks are

Nicolas Ghesquière’s debut show at Louis Vuitton made a strong statement with its tech fabrics in ’60s shifts, moulded leather and handbags with single handles. Our favourite moment, though? The vanity case-meets-boxy clutch — the ‘Petite Malle’.

E L L e october 2014 |

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BEATE SONNENBERG

the It bags of the season

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Leather shopper, price on request, Gucci

Leather and fur boots, ` 1,73,125, Emilio Pucci

GIAMBATTIsTA VALLI

ABRAHAM & THAKORE

Speckled and striped surfaces prowled the runway — ladylike luxe at Giorgio Armani, urban couture at Giambattista Valli and understated sexy at Abraham & Thakore. New to the wild party? Try a pair of coloured leopard loafers or a cow-print belt that is not at all a comment on your belly.

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www.elle.in

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E L L e october 2014 |

are the new neutrals

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PHOTOGRAPHs: IMAXTREE.COM/ALEssANDRO LUCIONI, GULsHAN sACHDEVA (RUNWAY); INPUTs FROM AKANKsHA KAMATH

Leather and fur gloves, ` 1,00,000, Dior

ACCESSORiES THE REPORT

E L L E EDITS

ACCESSORiES THE REPORT

E L L E EDITS

Glitter bomb Sparkly surfaces plus mirror finishes

Marc Jacobs set a high-octane tone with long glitter dresses grazing the runway. Jonathan Saunders followed with shiny nude numbers and midi skirts, finished off with all-over crystal pumps. And Saint Laurent took it up a notch with high-top sneakers and Chelsea boots that had a generous smattering of sparkle. But we declare the hero of metallic texture: Dior’s low-heeled metallic shoes and 3-D sequinned little bags.

‘Diorissimo’ bag, ` 4,60,000, leather and metal pumps, ` 1,25,000; both Dior

E L L e october 2014 |

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PHOTOGRAPH: PRABHAT SHETTY; STYLING: AKANKSHA KAMATH; ART DIRECTOR: PRABAL GUHA NIYOGI

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THE NEw CHELSEA THE STOMPER Holographic leather boots, ` 38,500, MICHAEL Michael Kors

THE QUIRKY Embroidered leather boots, ` 62,349, Sophia Webster

THE MAXIMALIST Embroidered booties, ` 1,46,918, Emilio Pucci

THE LACE-UP Leather and suede booties, ` 35,000, Tommy Hilfiger

THE CUT-OUT

THE ’80S REDUX

THE SPACE-AGE

THE SCARLET

THE MULE

Cut-out suede boots, price on request, Donna Karan New York

Leather and metal boots, ` 1,53,184, Moschino

Leather flat boots, ` 99,969, Roland Mouret

Wedged leather boots, price on request, Prada

Leather mule boots, price on request, Alexander Wang

E L L e october 2014 |

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PHOTOGRAPHS: IMAXTREE.COM/VINCENZO GRILLO AND SAMIR RANA (STREET STYLE); INPUTS FROM AKANKSHA KAMATH

Leather boots, price on request, Sportmax

PARIS

Buckled and over the knee, Moschino’s runway boots gave us vivid flashes of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Sophia Webster keeps things girly-pretty, while Roland Mouret’s sleek, velvet thigh-highs are all about comfort. How high (or low) will you go?

MILAN

MUMBAI

NEw YORK

LONDON

ACCESSORIES THE REPORT

E L L E EDITS

ACCESSORIES THE REPORT

E L L E EDITS

3. 4.

Solo act

The single earring needs no plus-one Why do two, when one will do? Parisian designers stayed true to that maxim this fall with Louis Vuitton, Isabel Marant and Céline sending models down the runway in finger-combed hairdos and a solitary chandelier earring. elle PiCKS Looking for 'the one'? You may just find a partner for your ear at ELLE.in/ singleearring

Leather and wood flatforms, ` 00,000, Stella McCartney

1. Metal earring, ` 2,500, Monday Edition 2. Metal earring with crystal, price on request, Black Muse 3. Metal earring, ` 5,000, Monday Edition 4. Geometric metal earring, price on request, Louis Vuitton 5. Metal link earring, ` 1,290, Zara 6. Rhinestone earring, ` 3,510, Vintage Hollywood 7. Moonstone earring, ` 53,950, Delfina Delettrez Fendi for Fendi 8. Metal and rhinestone charm earring, price on request, Céline

E L L e october 2014 |

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PhotograPh: Woo Chang Won; Styling: hong yelim

there’s an air about it

www.atmospheredirect.com AHMEDABAD: +91-79-26927799, BANGALORE: +91-80-41120820, CHENNAI: +91-44-42068303, DELHI: +91-11-41553233, DUBAI: +971-4-3374301 GURGON: +91-124-4101782, HYDERABAD: +91-40-65987360, KOLKATA: +91-33-22833578, LUDHIANA: +91-161-5050084, SINGAPORE: +65-6838 0976, MUMBAI- BANDRA: +91-22- 65215340 COLABA: +91 22 2283 1877

E L L E EDITS

ACCESSORiES thE REpORt

Cashmere scarf, ` 23,066, the Elder Statesman

Spiked wooden bangle, price on request, Alexander McQueen

Leather clutch, price on request, paula Cademartori Leather cutout shopper, ` 3,850, Aldo

The ouTLaW (1943)

Studded suede boots, ` 58,000, MiChAEL Michael Kors

bandidas (2006)

Ranch dressing

Fringed edges, cowboy boots and wide-brimmed toppers are riding high Metal and leather boots, price on request, Versace

WiLd biLL (1995)

All you need is some reel-life inspiration to make the utilitarian style of the Wild West work for you. Cue Jane Russell’s breakthrough role in the 1943 film The Outlaw, or Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek’s gutsy gig in Bandidas (2006). On the runway, Cushnie et Ochs topped off evening dresses with cowboy hats, while models at Mara Hoffman were all ready for a photofinish in prints celebrating the rodeo spirit.

Felt fedora, ` 16,577, Rag & Bone

Don’t know what ‘buckaroo’ means? You need our list of must-watch westerns on ELLE.in/cowboy

Fringed suede booties, price on request, Christian Louboutin

E L L e OCTOber 2014 |

True GriT (2

www.elle.in

010)

Fringed leather tote, ` 1,15,675, Marni

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eLLe LoVes

Low down

Slip into ’60s cool with of-the-moment ankle boots

The Swinging London set and Beatlemania brought fame to the low-heeled, ankle-hugging boot: the Chelsea. With everyone from Gucci to Valentino embracing the best of the ’60s, it’s making a comeback, complete with revamp — think square-heeled, in powder pastels and with metal trimmings.

Leather and metal boots, price on request, Gucci

ELLE PICKS Want more options? The best ’60s ankle boots of the season are at ELLE.in/chelsea

Leather boots, ` 46,000, tod’s

E L L e october 2014 |

www.elle.in

PHOTOGRAPH: FARZAN RANDELIA; STYLING: AKANKSHA KAMATH; SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: PRABAL GUHA NIYOGI

ACCESSORiES thE REpORt

E L L E EDITS

E L L E EDITS Leather shopper,

ASHLEY GREENE bURbERRY

on e ic ara r ,p M ag ax b M er t, th es a u Le eq r

Two-tone leather shopper, ` 82,420, Rochas

Size matters Stow your essentials in a roomy tote or pack light in compact mini messengers – either way, you’re right on trend

ELLE PICKS

Tasselled leather tote, ` 1,29,949, Anya Hindmarch

p Le ri a M ce th ic on er ha r b el eq ag K ue , or s s t,

GUCCI

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Undecided? See the season’s most toteworthy pieces at ELLE.in/ bestbags

Leather tote, price on request, Marni

Woollen tote, ` 40,000, Tommy Hilfiger

E L L e october 2014 |

www.elle.in

CATE bLANCHETT

PHOTOGRAPHS: IMAXTREE.COM/ALESSANDRO LUCIONI (RUNWAY); INPUTS FROM NEHA SALVI

If you like to carry your whole world around in your bag, functional maxi totes with their larger-than-life personality are made for you. Looking to downsize and rest those shoulders and arms? Putting a dainty spin on the utilitarian bag, mini messengers are having a major style moment.

MARC bY MARC jACObS

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ACCESSORiES THE REPORT

` 47,370, Moschino

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Soar high on the wings of these most precious pieces The wings of Icarus, butterflies and the feathers of a bird have all provided inspiration to jewellery designers this season. These beautiful gold-and-diamond pieces with richly hued precious stones have set our hearts aflutter.

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D E L L e october 2014 |

Met al ea rri ng s, ` 9 .533,

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E L L E EDITS

E L L E EDITS ACCESSORiES WATCHES

Art show

Couture dials to start

countless conversations

A fine blend of enamelling, etching and precise, modern techniques of watchmaking make these timepieces heirloom-worthy.

‘Big Bang Gold Caviar’, Hublot

AISHwARyA RAI bAcHcHAN

Diamond-studded watch, Chopard

‘Métiers d’Art Fabuleux Ornements’, Vacheron Constantin

UMA THURMAN

‘Ladymatic Diamonds and Pearls’, Omega

‘Rose Passion’, Piaget

‘Dior Grand Soir N°27 Origami 33MM’, Dior

‘Mediterranean Eden’, Bulgari

ALL PRIcES ON REqUEST

100

E L L e october 2014 |

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iNPUTS FROM NEHA SALVI

TAyLOR SwIFT

‘Les Indomptables de Cartier’, Cartier

E L L E EDITS

Malini Banerji

ashion is having a playful moment. Fall/ Winter accessories took ordinary everyday elements and used them to create covetable extras — with a touch of whimsy and a whole lot of glorious eccentricity.

SUPERMARKET CHIC

ELLE piCKS Tickled? Find the silliest, cheeriest accessories of the season on ELLE.in/happy

Chanel and Anya Hindmarch took the mundane out of grocery shopping; only Chanel could have classed up a ho-hum milk carton by going luxe metallic, then embellished with pearls and crystals, and Anya Hindmarch celebrated the smaller things with her snack-inspired line of leather clutches.

Jeremy Scott married fast food with fashion for Moschino, with his by-now famous McD accessories — like this quilted red bag emblazoned with a golden arch, on a plastic serving tray. And Kate Spade looked East for inspiration with her little Chinese takeaway box bags. Yum!

Glitter leather loafers, ` 13,390, Chiara Ferragni

COMEDY HOUR

ANYA HiNDMARCH

Satin box bag, price on request, Chanel

106

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

New cult favourite Oscar Tiye injected Disney humour into their super-stylish heels with Minnie-Mouse ears. French footwear designer Pierre Hardy brought the quirky with his stellar ‘Oh Roy !’ sandals — large doe eyes (in patchworked suede and yearling) gazed up shyly at you from the tops of leather pumps. As for Chiara Ferragni’s sparkly gold or silver loafers with winking eyes — we’ll take one of each!

E L L e october 2014 |

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KENZO

A far cry from her pink metallic unicorn fantasy bag, which inspired childlike wonder, queen of quirk Sophia Webster’s signature speech bubble bags had plenty to say — especially her sassy ‘Bitch please’ version. Slogan bags by Charlotte Olympia followed; we love the GIRLS ‘Pandora’ clutch box and the ‘There’s no business like shoe business!’ metallic envelope bag. Kenzo and 3.1 Phillip Lim also got our attention with their fun, chatty versions. Leather clutch, ` 28,620, Yazbukey

ALL HAIL THE KAISER Usually it’s Karl Lagerfeld’s designs that cause retail frenzy, but this was a case of designer turning muse. Fendi’s Karlito — a furry bag charm designed to look like the fashion house’s creative director — became the star of the label’s F/W runway. Even Turkish designer Yazbukey (with his strange but alluring finger clutch) paid tribute to Lagerfeld with a clutch that had the designer’s face on it.

iMAXTREE.COM/ALESSANDRO LUCiONi (RUNWAY), DAViDE GALLiZiO (BACKSTAGE)

The season’s wackiest accessories both pleased and teased, says

LOUD AND CLEAR

FENDi

KATE SpADE

Fun & games

MOSCHiNO

CHANEL

MALINI BANERJI FASHION DIRECTOR

3.1 pHiLLip LiM

‘Pandora’ clutch, ` 85,420, Charlotte Olympia

E L L E EDITS

navdeeP kaur, 26, assistant designer

ELLE

street reAl people › reAl style

They may be behind the scenes at Lakmé Fashion Week, but their looks deserve a place on the frow Photographs SAMIR RANA

Cropped chambray shirt, printed scuba skirt; both Dhruv Kapoor. Patent leather pumps, Zara

Printed cotton dress, Bungalow 8. Leather sandals, Aldo. Leather satchel, Marc Jacobs

Ruffled georgette blouse, Giambattista Valli. Skater neoprene skirt, Kenzo. Acrylic clutch, Chanel

#ELLESTREET Were you spotted by our style shutterbug? Find out on ELLE.in/street

Meghna Bhalla, 32, fashion consultant

108

Priyanka gill, 34, entrepreneur

E L L e october 2014 |

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aKanKSha Sharma, 22, student

Chingngam Shimray, 24, student

Printed cotton dress, thrifted. Leather bag, vintage

Cotton jacket, self-designed. Cotton shirt, Forever 21. Faux leather leggings, Vero Moda. PVC shoes, metal necklace; both The Source

Printed cotton dress, twill jacket, acrylic sunglasses; all Zara. Wedged canvas sneakers, Nike

Oversized poplin shirt, printed cotton trousers, leather flatforms; all Lovebirds

Chandni Sareen, 24, stylist

amrita Khanna, 35, designer

E L L e october 2014 |

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elle team picks new-season edit

E L L E EDITS Sonam Savlani

The wish list

Asso c i At e F e At u r es ed i tor

nidhi jaCoB FAsh i on ed i tor

Quirky, comfy, normcore — we chose our favourite things for the month

“I’m a sweatshirt hoarder and the one neutral I’m missing is camel. Check!”

“It has a wear-with-everything quality about it, which speaks to the utilitarian in me. Ideally, I’d pair it with a loose racerback.” ‘Buzz’ necklace, ` 18,190, swarovski

ShRuti thaCkeR

Sophia ann FRenCh

di gi tAl e d ito r

“This piece has everything I love about Kenzo — the iconic eye print on a bag that can fit your whole world in it.”

MAnAging editor

Cotton-blend jersey sweatshirt, ` 14,906, acne studios

“I’m a sucker for monochrome allegories, and this clutch goes with everything in my wardrobe — dualities notwithstanding.”

Leather tote, ` 42,211, kenzo

Perspex clutch, ` 74,155, charlotte olympia

Fringed leather sandals, ` 52,195, sophia webster

Leather sandals, price on request, marni

Ridhima SapRe

aiShwaRya SuBRamanyam

Asso c i At e B e Au t y ed i tor

edi to r

“I’m kind of obsessed with Sophia Webster and her brand of crazy at the moment, and this pair of sandals ticks so many boxes. Brights! Leopard! Fringe! Metallic! Plus, flats.”

Satin and twill pleated skirt, ` 97,973, Roland mouret

“They’re the perfect shade of red, they’re comfy, and I love the way their clunky-ness makes my superbroad feet look almost petite.”

CheRyl-ann Couto Asso c i At e ed i tor

malini BaneRji FAs h io n d ir ecto r

“Sexy heels from my new designer crush — Oscar Tiye. It’s playful and fun, and I love that only the back has details — those quirky Minnie mouse ears!”

110

Leather heels, ` 37,923, oscar tiye

E L L e october 2014 |

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“I’ve been — unconsciously and uncharacteristically — adding structure to my wardrobe, which is usually more whimsy if not just downright odd. See why this Roland Mouret skirt is the perfect pick for me?”

E L L E EDITS

SPY

R WO

The first rule of good PR is to make a great impression — the ladies at Peepul Consulting show us how it’s done

“

My style is best described as Parisian with hints of bohemian chic

Senior account Manager

“

Cotton T-shirt, Topshop. Cotton jacket, Abraham & Thakore. Jersey skirt, Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna. Canvas shoes, Converse. Metal strap watch, Marc Jacobs. Metal and stone bracelet, Caitanya

With all the travel my job demands, I like to keep All Stars handy

Srimoyi Bhattacharya Managing Director

Silk dress, Crazy Heart. Cotton cape, Tilla. Leather kitten heels, Sigerson Morrison. Metal earrings, Suhani Pittie. Beaded necklace, Simona Bassi. Metal and stone cuff, Isharya. Metal and stone ring, Swarovski

Samantha Furtado

#ELLEWORKSPY Does your office make the cut? tweet to us @eLLeinDia with photos, and this could be you (use the hashtag)!

114

Senior account Manager Jersey jumpsuit, thrifted. Denim jacket, Old Navy. Metal strap watch, Fossil. Metal charm bracelet, H&M

E L L e OCTOber 2014 |

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PHOTOGRAPHS: SUSHANT CHHABRIA; STYLING: AKANKSHA KAMATH; MAKE-UP AND HAIR: SUNITA BRACE; ASSISTED BY: TRISHA (HAIR)

KritiKa Sharma

Manini Mehrotra Senior Account MAnAger

Cotton T-shirt, Mango. Embroidered skirt, Nachiket Barve. Suede pumps, Dior

“

For days when we have client meetings, I keep it strict with a pencil skirt and pointy pumps

“

raaShi Malhotra DigitAl MAnAger Cotton T-shirt, thrifted. Leather jacket, cotton and elastane skirt; both Zara. Silver rings, vintage

MouShMi Bhatia Account MAnAger

Cotton shift dress, Kenzo. Leather loafers, Tod’s. ‘Spiral’ bangle, Swarovski

Sneha Bhandari

Senior Account MAnAger Embroidered cotton dress, Rahul Mishra. Leather satchel, Salvatore Ferragamo

“

I love a dash of bohemian in my look, either with tie-dye and ikat fabrics or with layered jewellery

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E L L E EDITS INSIDERS’ CHOICE

A shortcut to getting papped? Carry a Paula! The proof is at ELLE.in/ paulabags

lEAF GREENER

why you should be wearing…

This fashion-insider favourite will convert you from basic black, says Nidhi Jacob

PATTERN PLAY A Cademartori bag can be spotted from a mile away, thanks to its complex geometry, vivid colours and combined surfaces, all integral parts of the brand’s DNA. “I try to create very recognisable pieces,” she says. Sporting textures like fringing, patchwork polka dots, braiding, raffia and metallic studs in every colour of the rainbow, her bags brim over with cheery personality.

THE GALLERY Focusing on artisanal elegance, the F/W 14-15 collection is a reflection of Cademartori’s love for art and beauty: “I took inspiration from Art Nouveau and the hypercreative personality of Anna Piaggi.” Boasting chromatic colours accented by candy pops, ’30s-inspired thread embroidery, mixed leather appliqué, laser cuts and Plexiglas studs, the line is glamorous, functional and luxurious.

SHOP IT NOW

‘Petite Faye’, ` 90,600

Buy Paula Cademartori online at Matchesfashion. com, Farfetch.com, Luisaviaroma.com and My-wardrobe.com

‘Petite Lisa’, ` 95,370

CALLING CARD

pARIs

CHIARA FERRAGNI

NAtAlIE joos

PAULA CADEMARTORI

mIlAN

ANNA dEllo Russo

Cademartori finds that delicate balance between the technicality of industrial design and decorative fashion. Her signature is a Pi symbol-inspired buckle. “I don’t like to show off; I’d rather have the kind of luxury you find in details, and that is why I chose to create an evocative buckle as my logo,” she says.

‘Anna’, ` 69,550

‘Petite Clara’, ` 65,570

‘Caroline’, ` 1,05,310

‘Alice’, ` 1,25,185

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ImAxtREE.Com/vINCENzo GRIllo ANd AlEssIA GAmmARotA (stREEt stylE)

#EllEstREEt

In 2005, Brazilian-born Paula Cademartori moved to Italy, the country of her father’s family, to pursue her dream of a career in accessory design. A diploma in Fashion Accessories from Istituto Marangoni later, Cademartori found herself assisting in the Versace leather department. Finally, in September 2010, she decided to launch her eponymous label with industrial design, art and a passion for Italian workmanship at its core.

Every street-style star worth her salt has been papped toting a Cademartori bag at fashion week(s). An instant hit with editors, stylists and superbloggers, the standout pieces have a sense of exclusivity, given the sheer variety there is to choose from — a primary colour-blocked ‘Petite Sylvie’ for one, a dotted ‘Tatiana’ for another.

E L L E edits

Bewitched

michelangelo’s ‘the fall and expulsion from garden of eden’

Mixing mythology with fine jewellery, Bulgari’s line of dazzlers has

TWIST AND TURN

Nidhi Jacob starry-eyed

‘Ultimate Temptation’ necklace, price on request

A strong theme in mythology (often associated with eternity and knowledge), the serpent has played muse in jewellery design from the beginning of time. However, in medieval Europe, tainted by a negative connotation (a nod to the devil!), the symbol was notably absent. Finally, in the mid-19th century, it made a comeback through the Art Nouveau movement, inspired by the interpretations of the Renaissance period.

Deep-rooted in heritage, made with the highest Italian skill and worn by some of the world’s most beautiful women — in its 130th year, Bulgari’s Serpenti collection is still something of a mystical force.

kate bosworth

richard burton and elizabeth taylor

THE CONNOISSEUR

‘Serpenti Tubogas’ bracelet, price on request

TIME AFTER TIME From its inception in 1884, Bulgari has played with the rigid boundaries of fine jewellery. Continuing in founder Sotirio Bulgari’s footsteps, the designs have a confident language, which comes with many signatures. The rounded cabochon-cut coloured gems for instance, are embedded in the brand’s DNA, as is the serpent motif, interpreted through their iconic, coiled tubogas.

Elizabeth Taylor is known to have some of Bulgari’s most stunning pieces, including the Sautoir necklace and ring, gifted to her by Richard Burton on her 40th birthday. Her love for Bulgari baubles is unparalleled, with her husbands often resorting to the jewels as a therapeutic influence on their relationships. Burton is supposed to have famously said, “The only word Elizabeth knows in Italian is Bulgari.” Cue collective envy.

carla bruni-sarkozy

Bulgari opens its flagship India store at Delhi’s DLF Emporio this month.

dita von teese

STAR QUALITY From fashion It girl Kate Bosworth to powerhouse performer Naomi Watts, the timeless creations of the Italian luxury giant have found favour with every kind of personality.

naomi watts

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Wool street

The birth and rebirths of the pioneering, much-loved Chanel bouclé tweed jacket COARSE MATERIAL Chanel set about softening the inherent roughness of tweed and moulding it for fashion: “I’m most at ease in an old suit, but not in those heavy, rough materials. In fact, it was me who taught the Scots how to make lightweight tweeds!” Modernising the weave through the years, she played with textile innovations, combining wool with cotton, silk or even cellophane — a characteristic retained by Karl Lagerfeld to this date.

BORROWED FROM THE BOYS Jersey, raised hemlines and costume jewellery were some of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s best ideas, but the tweed jacket remains one of her greatest legacies. It all began when, annoyed by the lack of comfortable womenswear in the ’20s, Chanel set about deconstructing then beau Hugh Grosvenor’s (the Duke of Westminster) wardrobe, to suit her personal style.

NEAT TRICK

eLLe geeK Do you speak Chanel? All you need to know about the fashion legend on ELLE.in/coco

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The design of the jacket held several winners — pockets, braided trims and a metal chain hemmed on the edges to maintain the straight fall. Lagerfeld (who took over the creative reins of the French design house in 1983) loved the simple concept of Chanel’s tweed jacket so much that he maintained the style in every show — haute couture and RTW.

FRESH TAKES In the S/S 2008 haute couture showing, Lagerfeld erected a giant concrete sculpture of the jacket, almost as a statement declaring how the classic is mouldable but eternal. He paired the jacket with flared jeans in the S/S 2008 RTW show, created matchy skirtsuits dusted with pearls for S/S 2010 Haute Couture, Indianised the jacket with a Nehru collar for Pre-fall 2012 — and because one jacket wasn’t enough, he made a three-piece, oversized suit for F/W 2014-15.

Cotton blouse, ` 4,000, abraham & thakore. Tweed jacket, ` 5,27,100, chanel. Denim jeans, ` 14,990, diesel. Leather loafers, ` 47,000, tod’s

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text: nidhi jacob; PhotograPh: FarZan randeLia; StyLing: arUShi ParaKh; Senior art director: PrabaL gUha niyogi; ; MaKe-UP and hair: deViKa heroor ModeL: ieVa KUZMa/inega ModeL ManageMent

classic update chanel tweed jacket

E L L E EDITS

Believe us, we sincerely care for your comfortable living Available at all leading home furnishing stores across India (Shop Online: www.byadab.com)

+91 9818133733

A creation of abhinav & aditya BED LINEN I BATH LINEN I HAND CRAFTED

E L L E EDITS

SWING THIS WAY While fashion wigs out over everything ’60s, Nidhi Jacob decodes the cool cliques of the era. Which one is your jam?

PARIs

#EllEsTylIsT Know your vibe? Follow us on Instagram @elleindiaofficial to get head-totoe looks for every ’60s girl.

THE HIPPIE

JACKIE KEnnEDy OnAssIs

Your friends would describe you as a walking contradiction — fun–loving and serious, ladylike and youthful. You wouldn’t bat an eyelid over the sudden appearance of 10 guests, angling for a dinner invitation. You can pull off the Chanel suit-and-pearls ensemble without looking stuffy. You know pastels can be powerful because Jackie O. You make it a point to study the culture and customs of the place you’re about to visit and your idea of exercise is a toss-up between a leisurely canter on your favourite horse and alphabetising your library.

FlOREnCE WElCH

JAnIs JOPlIn

gUCCI

KATE MIDDlETOn

TIPPI HEDREn

MAsABA

THE LADY

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You’re happiest breaking society’s norms, i.e. everything square. You hate the idea of footwear or anything that interferes with your feet touching dewy grass. Your clothes are a mix of DIY tie-and-dyed, painted projects and ethnic symbolism. Your go-to accessories are fresh flowers. You attend every music festival in the hope that it will be your ‘Summer of Love’. Scott McKenzie’s ‘San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)’ is your life anthem. You love John Lennon’s idea of world peace as much as you despise beauty-pageant stereotypes.

IMAXTREE.COM/vInCEnzO gRIllO (sTREET sTylE), AlEssAnDRO lUCIOnI AnD sHIvAJI JUvEKAR (RUnWAy)

Loving the comeback of the A-line dress, the low-heeled boot and psychedelic prints? You have shows like Miu Miu, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Masaba to thank for the retro re-haul. The coolest, most rebellious decade of the century has so much more to offer than just shrunken clothes. From the free-spirited festival regular to the prim-and-proper lady, find your ’60s alter ego right here.

You prefer an Italian-made scooter to a motorcycle because your spiffy duds are less likely to get dirty. Your record rack is filled with soulful bands like The Who, The Kinks, Small Faces and The Rolling Stones. You own at least five Mary Quant minis that you pair with go-go boots or flat shoes and you wear them in colour-blocked, geometric-patterned perfection. You have a sharp-edged, short mop of hair on your head — perfect to show off your disco-ball earrings. You are the original connoisseur of coffee-shop culture, where allnighters were made easy with jukebox tunes.

KAlKI KoeChlIn

vAlenTIno

THE MOD

TWIGGY

AUDReY hePBURn

SAInT lAURenT

THE BEATNIK

nICo & The velveT UnDeRGRoUnD

Your dream career is creating art with your friends. Your living room is a makeshift film set/art gallery/ recording studio. Your personal style is an alluring mix of girly frocks, shiny trinkets and sexy, dark tights. You want your eyes to do all the talking so you’ll set off your peepers with a too-long blunt fringe or chunky eyeliner. You turn everyday objects into collector’s items. You start all conversations with an Andy Warhol quote and Edie Sedgwick and Nico are your idea of It girls. You’re used to having songs written about you.

eDIe SeDGWICK

BoB DYlAn loUIS vUITTon

IMAXTRee.CoM/AleSSAnDRo lUCIonI AnD ShIvAJI JUveKAR (RUnWAY)

THE FACTORY GIRL

You are constantly on the road, in search of hipsterdom, trying to live the Jack Kerouac life. Spouting poetry and playing an obscure instrument are on your list of extracurricular activities. Your wardrobe could be confused with a dancer’s uniform — leotards, polo necks, ballet flats and a colourless palette. Your life is a global confluence KRISTen STeWART of European staples like Breton stripes, a floppy beret and dark sunglasses for your body, and African/ Asian religious philosophies for your mind. You use the word ‘beatitude’ a lot without expecting people to understand. Your highranking priorities include collecting books and spiritual enlightenment while a roof over your head is the least of your worries.

AnDY WARhol

Chloë SevIGnY

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E L L E EDITS

heel high British shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood is discovering what it’s like to be the new millennial must-have, says Zoë Wolff

On Emma Roberts: Silk taffeta dress, Dior. Suede and patent leather booties, Nicholas Kirkwood. Gold and diamond earrings, Anita Ko. Gold bracelets, Lana Jewelry

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Photograph DANIELLE LEVITT

Styling SARAH SCHUSSHEIM E L L e OCTOber 2014 |

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he first women’s shoe Nicholas Kirkwood designed was a pump in purple patent leather with a seethrough section, secured with a bow made of laces that he wired up to create the illusion of a corset. The year was 2002, Kirkwood was studying footwear design at London’s Cordwainers College, and the pumps were for a friend — an ex-ballerina with unusually small feet. “I’ve been trying to get them off her for the archive,” the designer said over tea at a hotel in Marais, Paris, where he was exhibiting his fall collection. “I think I’ll have to trade her for 12 pairs of new shoes!” It’s hard to imagine anyone turning down that offer. Over the past decade, the 34-year-old British designer has emerged as the modern answer to Manolo and Louboutin. Kirkwood brings to our arches the hand of a sculptor and the mind of an inventor, and he renders his creations in distinctly avant-garde dimensions. He has designed wedges that resemble Frank Gehry’s ‘Wiggle’ chair, embellished his popular four-inch platform stilettos with frills, crystals and hammered gold, and even used a Keith Haring ‘Radiant Baby’ to cantilever a pair of heels. His innovations are undeniably theatrical, but they can be practical, too. “It’s not just a purist, modernist project, you know?” the designer says of his architectural pedestals. “There is a femininity that brings a certain humanness and warmth to it.” Kirkwood caters not just to party-talk spectacle but also to how a woman wants to feel when she walks — empowered and individualistic. His vision of sexy has earned him such devotees as Cate Blanchett, Beyoncé, Alexa Chung and Miranda Kerr. He has teamed up with fashion houses like Fendi and Paco Rabanne and developed capsule collections for Rodarte and Erdem, among many others. His shoes complement modern trends, and as a result of their cool quotient spikes, we can officially call them Kirkwoods. The designer’s ascension from provocateur status — earned in 2008 when he introduced his inverted platforms, which appear to have a backward-facing sole under the toe — to that of bona fide marketplace contender is what attracted LVMH to his business. Last September, the French luxury conglomerate purchased a majority stake in the then eight-year-old label for an

undisclosed sum. “As a small company, we were growing quite rapidly and very much walking in the dark,” admits the designer, whose modesty belies his entrepreneurial ambition. “Now we’re putting a structure in place.” Commercial scale hasn’t diluted Kirkwood’s reverence for craftsmanship. “I’m always looking for the newest technology while keeping in mind old hand-making techniques that are fading away,” he says. Laser-cutting, foiling and 3D printing are essential to his wizardry; Kirkwood loves a challenge. For his F/W 2010-11 Rodarte runway collaboration, he imagined a melted candle-wax heel that would actually flicker, so he ripped out LED units from lighters, and put them inside the heels. A fan of Victoriana, he recently made a version of his signature round-toe slingback sandal with a Swarovski pearl platform so that it looks as if you’re standing on pearls; in another design, the pearl is hidden inside the heel. Kirkwood basically stumbled into his career. The son of a British army colonel, German-born Kirkwood would find his gateway to the fashion world through Philip Treacy. After graduating from Central Saint Martins, Kirkwood began an internship with the famed milliner. Treacy whisked him off to parties, and between those and working in the shop, young Kirkwood found himself immersed in the potential of accessories. He launched a men’s collection last year and plans to venture into bags in the near future, but for now, women’s feet remain his primary canvas and major selling point. American Horror Story starlet Emma Roberts is just one member of his burgeoning audience. “I love that his shoes are girly, but with an edge. They make me feel like I can runway walk at a party! I’m short [5’2”], and his heels give me the perfect height and don’t kill my feet after a few hours of dancing,” she says. Kirkwood offers a self-assured prediction about “all these young women who,” as he sees it, “still want to buy into exclusivity but desire something of-the-moment, if not ahead of the curve.” So they naturally look for a younger designer, and that’s where he comes in. Or as he puts it: “That’s where my future lies.” MAKE-UP: DAWN BROUSSARD/THE WALL GROUP; HAIR: CHRISTIAN MARC/ THE MAGNET AGENCY; MANICURIST: LISA POSTMA/TRACEYMATTINGLY.COM; PRODUCTION: GLAMPR.COM; ASSISTED BY: MARK-PAUL BARRO

Available online at Nicholaskirkwood.com, Net-a-porter.com and Selfridges.com.

Suede and pearl booties, ` 58,130

Velvet loafers, ` 43,100

CATE BLANCHETT Printed suede and metal pumps, ` 46,100

jESSICA ALBA

BEYONCÉ

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E L L E EDITS

easton pearson

huemn by pranav mishra and shyma shetty

7 9

Clothes that spoke poetry, a dramatic India redux and some big surprises — this fashion week had major talking points. Sanjay Garg’s first-ever runway show with minimalistic, silken Indian pieces and Varun Bahl’s sidestep from couture with his texture-heavy diffusion line were signs of the winds of change coming. What caught editors' eyes: this year’s ELLE Graduates, Ragini Ahuja at Ikai with metallic leather patchwork forming a defiant XL, and Ilk by Shikha & Vinita, with their chambray bomber jacket and sari pairing; meanwhile, Pranav Mishra and Shyma Shetty of Huemn went Insta-viral as they opened with a Charles Bukowski mugshot print. Anita Dongre’s finale looks had a modern take on the lehenga (lose the choli, add a white shirt) and Manish Malhotra brought a fresh perspective on Bollywood glamour with rosette crowns and murky greys. Australian label Easton Pearson’s first showing in India was all about kooky styling and girly clothes, and Nupur Kanoi surprised us with her departure from past collections, offering an almost monastic, pared-down line this year. As for drama? Amit Aggarwal sent alien-like beauties down the runway wearing sculpted acrylic — a couture collection fit for the future.

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shivaji juvekar

nupur kanoi

ikai by ragini ahuja

anita dongre

manish malhotra

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amit aggarwal

Nidhi Jacob brings the front-row view at Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive — from standout shows to bandbox-fresh talent

THE BIG BUZZ

STAGE right

4 8

sanjay garg

2 3

ilk by shikha & vinita

varun bahl

GO FRESH

E L L e october 2014 |

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ikai by ragini ahuja

lovebirds

sanjay garg

gaga by tanya sharma

river island

lovebirds

Young ’uns and firsttimers grabbed eyeballs with beyond-their-years design skills. Lovebirds and Selvage by Chandni Mohan played with volume and cuts, Armaan Aiman and Poco & Jacky showed their love for leather, Rouka by Sreejith Jeevan worked with traditional textiles and Ridhi Mehra sent out a line of supereasy Indian garb.

dhruv kapoor

drvv by dhruv kapur

armaan aiman

akaaro by gaurav jai gupta

miss selfridge

STEP UP

Designers brought their A-game to shoes this season. Chunky soles were big at Armaan Aiman, Dhruv Kapoor and Ikai by Ragini Ahuja. Akaaro by Gaurav Jai Gupta, Lovebirds and Gaga by Tanya Sharma tried different levels of the wedge shoe. Taking the comfortable route, Sanjay Garg and DRVV by Dhruv Kapur created luxe flats.

rouka by sreejith jeevan

ridhi mehra

armaan aiman

poco & jacky

vaishali s

sanjay garg

krishna mehta

HIGH tImE Two much-coveted high-street brands made their presence felt. River Island showed off easy everyday layering, with a print focus, while Miss Selfridge made their first appearance with ladylike dresses and flapper-inspired evening maxis.

selvage by chandni mohan

soumitra mondal

prama by pratima pandey debashri samanta

anavila misra

y ile t db ke n tex hy c a t i r b ed ea n is le dulg la’s otto o y t i Z t HI dern s ers in Anavboxy, ceffort ta’s W n k o n , g E m si in ck ed a AVg thaton, den — thth thi edicatri Samaro byiped E Wrovin aditi tatio ed wi rg’s d bash Aka n, str P h tr en styl Ga , De and ove ric erimaris njay aves line o -w i p ex en s , Sa k we ven tud s s lin use e sil , wo ta’s is. y blo ergis eav Gup sar k en tif-h Jai d sil o av e m ur h us Ga d cr n a

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VAAnI KApooR

pRIyAnKA cHopRA KRItI SAnon

SHRUtI HAASAn

VARUn bAHl

RIVER ISlAnd

pAyAl SIngHAl

mAlAIKA ARoRA KHAn

JAcqUElInE fERnAndEz

AnJU modI

mAnISH mAlHotRA

KAREEnA KApooR

SHEHlAA by SHEHlA KHAn

SonAAKSHI RAAJ

E L L E EDITS

STAR wARS

RIdHI mEHRA

nARgIS fAKHRI AnUSHREE REddy

SHIlpA SHEtty KUndRA bIpASHA bASU

KonKonA SEn SHARmA

ESHA gUptA

AnAVIlA mISRA

VIKRAm pHAdnIS

IlEAnA d'cRUz

nEHA AgARwAl

ARpItA mEHtA

mASAbA

Inspiration was running high as muses descended on the runway. Priyanka Chopra pulled off a frothy ’20s do in Varun Bahl’s sequinned jacket, Shilpa Shetty and Esha Gupta showed their curves in Masaba and Neha Agarwal respectively and Kareena Kapoor brought the week to a dramatic finish in a metallic Manish Malhotra ensemble.

lISA HAydon

PLAYLIST • ‘Des

SAnJAy gARg

asaba • ‘Down @M The BA R AB oa by d’ b ia’ Mi M ranav shra and yP Sh ym nb m

www.elle.in

SHIVAJI JUVEKAR

oot by Anuj Bhutan Reb i• @ ‘M u 2C C y ever Gon N ‘ • n y t a Sle et Sh e a b Quirk ox • ‘F @ l D hu i A ja

dRVV by dHRUV KApUR

ri Jaan’ from C Me I ai

AmIt AggARwAl

Ragin by

AARtIVIJAy gUptA

• ds

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Bengaluru-based Ashwati Ramesh created buzz with her first stint at Lakmé Fashion Week. With her doe-eyed look, Ramesh shifted gears between fierce (in Amit Aggarwal's statement gowns) and scrubbed clean (DRVV by Dhruv Kapur’s androgynous look) effortlessly — making the 20-year-old ping on our radar.

eh Hai Mu i • ‘Y m no b Ka

NEW GIRL

Poco & Jac tein @ ky • fels ‘ M a saf mm Ge a by Shadow’ by Fi n s’ k arm @ ‘W Hu e

tin at ion d n e a g L a y ard @ b ’ o c s i L ov D eb m ir oo r t e t i n K @ e N e sh r u F p ur by p’ b less’ y Bey aw

FASHION UPDATES STylE bUzz, FrESH PIckS & SHOP TAlk

e l l e trending HELLO TOKYO Nicola Formichetti takes his baby Nicopanda (an offbeat line of accessories and clothing with plenty of street-cred) up a notch. The project that started out as six-piece-something capsule collections introduced every week on his website now goes full-force with a complete 32-piece collection for men and women. Think triple doses of Harajuku cuteness. Neoprene, ruffled shirts, lace and mesh tutu skirts, baseball hats in powder pink with pearl strings attached, round up the new and improved Nicopanda.

nicola Formichetti

tv talk

mawaru penguindrum paranoia agent

Brush up on your anime IQ with this iconic mustwatch list.

puella magi madoka magica

Nicopandastore.com

LOvES

STARTING POINT Mary Katrantzou officially makes a first-time foray into luxury bags with her F/W 2014-15 collection. The line has three key styles, including a doodled tote and vintage camera bag do-overs.

Prabal Gurung had a surprise in store — he took to designing shoes for his Spring/Summer 2015 show!

Prabalgurung.com

September 2013

#ELLEARCHIVE We’ve always been suckers for warrior-like jewels.

WARRIOR PRINCESS

Amrapali’s new Dark Maharaja collection plays into this season’s love for folkloric fantasy. The limited-edition collection, inspired by armoury and swords, comprises hard-edged ear cuffs and a necklace, ring and bracelet in silver, finished with rubies and diamonds.

Marykatrantzou.com

Phoolwari Cottage, Juhu Church Road, Juhu, Mumbai

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BAGGAGE CLAIM New bag brand on the block Java Plum strips down to the basics with all-essential duffel bags in canvas and colourful leather. With enough space to fit your whole world in, plus mini utility pockets for all the extras, there’s nothing dull about simplicity here Javaplumleather.com

And speaking of functional fashion, Viari is another one to watch out for. Designed by British designer Silas Grant, and made in Chennai, these bags are inspired by iconic cities — the Oxford collection is preppy, while the Manhattan range has a cool and groovy vibe, and the Santorini line is perfect for that beach-y get away. 4 B, Prakash Building, 269 C, Linking Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai

jAvA pLum

LABELS TO KNOW

ALiA BhATT iN STudENT Of ThE yEAr (2012)

KJO did always know how to add oomph to his on-screen divas’ looks with the right pick of clothes. Check out some of his iconic female leads…

SPINNING YARNS KArEENA KApOOr KhAN iN KABhi KhuShi KABhiE ghAm (2001)

rANi muKErji iN Kuch Kuch hOTA hAi (1998)

viAri

In a world of alternate resources, Levi’s takes to churning out a collection made with handspun fabric. The Khadi Collection comprises all the brand’s time-tested essentials — the 5-pocket jean, the ‘Trucker’ jacket and the ‘Barstow Western’ shirt. The best part? You feel special wearing a piece that has the name of the weaver and the city that it was made in. Probably enough incentive to invest in these wardrobe essentials? 21, Skyzone, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Your guide to working the Canadian tux!

COOL COLLAB

vERo ModA x kARAN johAR Bringing together two distinct worlds of haute couture and high street, Karan Johar takes to the designing hot seat for Vero Moda. The result is Marquee, a three-part collection infused with kaleidoscopic patterns, futuristic shine and pale neutrals lined with embellished detail. Strap on your party shoes for this one! Ground Floor, Mangalmurthy Apartments, Linking Road, Santacruz (W), Mumbai

Leather Chelsea boot, ` 62,910, Rupert Sanderson

Take your cue from on-trend celebrity couple Kimye and definitely go matchy-matchy.

Work Martin Sheen’s badass vibe in Badlands (1973) by trying indigo denim and leather accents.

E L L e october 2014 |

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Studded satin clutch, price on request, Carven

Make like Leandra Medine and add a little spunk with chambray patchwork and embellishment.

Add cool accessories to your uniform. Choose a cheeky version of the Chelsea boot and a pop-coloured clutch.

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#SHOPNOW After nine years of indie-cool retail, eclectic concept store Bombay Electric goes online. If you can’t physically make it to the curated space in the quaint lanes of South Mumbai, click away on their website for hand-picked selections from labels like Manish Arora and Ghee Butter (their in-house label).

COOL COLLAB

Bombayelectric.in

priya kishore

ALDO RISE + OSTWALD HELGASON We love it when Aldo ties up with offbeat designers for their premium retail line, Aldo Rise, each season (read as: slightly pricier, but ah-ma-zing new finds for your accessory wardrobe). New on the cool list is tongue-in-cheek designer duo Ostwald Helgason. As part of the collaboration with the label, Aldo Rise introduces little satchels in mixed media, using tweed and patent leather, booties with gold block heels and mini messengers in yummy colours.

“We’ve curated a new vocabulary rooted in my vision of the Indian New Wave. The result is a high-energy online space, designed to leave you buzzing,” says Priya Kishore, CEO of Bombay Electric. Plus she picks her fave find — a vintage brass tiffin box. “Tiffins are the new handbags,” she says. We couldn't agree more — think about all the neatly stacked compartments!

NEW OPENING

PARTY STARTER

In the offing is a collab with Pippa Middleton’s favourite New York-based designer Misha Nonoo, coming up next season.

London’s Dune opens shop at mega mall Palladium in Mumbai. Head there to pick from rows and rows of strappy evening numbers — think, rhinestoneembellished Mary-Janes and co*cktail-ready pointy pumps, finished off with a little sparkle. Palladium, High Street Phoenix, Senapati Bapat Marg, Mumbai Leather flats, ` 2,480, Asos.com

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Fringed leather flats, price on request, Marni

Leather flats, ` 37,165, Alexander Wang

Studded leather flats, ` 43,030, balenciaga

While we’ve got our love for party shoes sorted, we’re eyeing another super-cool, of-the-moment micro-trend — chunky-clunky sandals. E L L e october 2014 |

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pippa middleton

FASHION UPDATES STylE bUzz, FrESH PIckS & SHOP TAlk

E L L E TRENDING

FASHION UPDATES STylE bUzz, FrESH PIckS & SHOP TAlk

e l l e trending

Diamond rush Classic Bollywood meets jewellery giants in Forevermark’s latest collaboration. Designer Manish Malhotra tries his hand at jewellery by partnering with Anmol Jewellers. The result? A cascading pair of chandelier earrings, reminiscent of Malhotra’s iconic designs. We catch up with the designer to celebrate the effort. elle: have you always been interested in jewellery? Manish Malhotra: Always! When I started styling costumes in the ’90s, jewellery was a huge part of the look, and I remember that all the top heroines had a very limited choice (largely silver) available to them. Back then I would add beads, break two to three earrings to create something new — that’s the level of interest I’ve always had in jewellery. Even when I was at Sheetal Design Studio, and hadn’t started my brand yet, I thought of launching a jewellery label. I used to go to Seepz, which is the jewellery hub in Mumbai. I also went to Vicenza, Italy for a jewellery fair (that’s when I learnt about power setting).

StaR line-up

Standout Forevermark collabs of the past

2013

WaRiS ahluWalia — ‘Southern Star’ pendant GaReth puGh — ‘Promise’ necklace Waris ahluWalia

elle: so how did this collaboration come about? MM: I work very closely with Anmol Jewellers, so when they approached me I was thrilled! Forevermark is a global platform, given their collaborations with international designers, and I’ve always wanted my culture and design philosophy to go places. This also finally gave me the opportunity to pick up where I left off — an inroad into jewellery design.”

Gareth puGh

2012

Rachel Roy — ‘Evil Eye’ body chain Rohit Bal — ‘Promise of Peace’ necklace Stephen WeBSteR — rachel roy ‘Temptation of Eve’ brooch

elle: What was the inspiration behind the collection? MM: For me, it was about sticking to my design philosophy, which is very Indian and old-worldly. It was my interpretation of the vintage opulence of well-travelled aristocracy from the 1930s and 1940s. It has an Indian flavour but is still very modern (the big and bold shape is very today).

rohit Bal

stephen WeBster

— arushi paraKh

#ARTgeek

We’ve got the lowdown on the coolest Instagram accounts to follow. Opening Ceremony dishes out illustrated advice @openingceremony for the fashion week novice, while Kalen Hollomon does @kalen_hollomon crazy collages, doused in faded filters. And Copylab is cleverly retouching iconic paintings with an OTM fashion accessory. A Chanel backpack on a Neoclassical nude? See it to believe it.

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BeHIND THe SCeNeS

@copylab

Ritu Kumar launches a video campaign, ‘Many Hands Make Beautiful Work’, as an ode to the artisans in Kolkata that create the label’s timeless collections. Using a modern medium to support the age-old handicrafts of Indian tradition, the 30-second snippety videos will leave you smiling. Ritukumar.com/beautifulhands — aKanKsha KaMath

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raDar

NAMES TO KNOW, CULTURE FIXES AND ALL THINGS ZEITGEISTY

Tale spin

Hajra Waheed is using forgotten stories and repurposing leftovers to create a new reality

one to watch

NICK BOSTICK PHOTOGRAPHY

n 2011, Montreal-based artist Hajra Waheed came across a news story that remained stubbornly lodged in her head: 166 pilgrims from Bengal went missing en route to Saudi Arabia for the Haj — it was linked to a rampant begging racket. Intrigued, she pieced together her own narrative about “the missing and the missed” in Sea Change, an ongoing project that debuted at the Experimenter gallery in Kolkata last year, and chronicles the disappearance of nine characters. “It’s like a visual novel revealed over a period of years,” says the 34-yearold. Through field notes, Polaroid-ink collages, two-generation-old postcards and other left-behinds, Waheed unravels the life of ‘Character One’, a geologist on a quartz-hunt. Her ‘journaling’ style of creation possibly stems from a childhood spent developing a cryptic visual language. “I was raised in a gated community [headquarters of the ARAMCO oil corporation] in Saudi Arabia, with strict regulations around the civilian use of photo and video equipment,” she says. “Secrecy and isolation were themes that influenced my play.” This month, Waheed will present a “plot development” in Sea Change at the Frieze Art Fair in London, and a new life story rooted in reality at the Montreal Biennale. KH-21, inspired by the HEXAGON programme (20 spy satellites launched between 1971 and 1986), is a mixed media installation that nurses its own enigma. “It’s about an ex-flight engineer who drags in something from the sky; viewers will be unable to decipher fact from fiction.” — VATSALA CHHIBBER

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E L L E RADAR

Free agent

Nimrat Kaur enters the murky world of

Homeland and warns that she is not to be trusted We’re going to love to hate her.

“Tasneem Kureshi is Carrie Mathison’s counterpart in Pakistan’s ISI. Her actions stem from a sense of patriotism. She wants to get the job done, and doesn’t care how she goes about it. I don’t agree with her choices, but there’s an excitement in playing someone like that.”

She got real lucky.

“I happened to be in London, on my way back from a film festival in Slovenia, when I heard about the casting call. I believe somebody was already finalised for this part, but they were looking to recast.”

She doesn’t die till the end (maybe).

“I was signed for five episodes, then it went up to seven, and now I know I’m there till the end. I learned of this when HBO offered me another eight-part series, and the Homeland team told me I was needed there.”

She’s breaking new ground.

“I’ve almost signed Saurabh Shukla’s Barf with Rajkummar Rao, and Nikhil Advani’s Airlift with Akshay Kumar; it’s set in the ’80s, when Indian citizens in Kuwait had to be evacuated because of the siege. I want to expand the audience The Lunchbox exposed me to.” Season 4 of Homeland airs on Star World Premiere HD, starting October 6 at 9.00pm

SHOW GirlS The comedy duo takes on the pits and peaks of spotlight-adjacent life Their band name, Garfunkel and Oates, pays tribute to two of pop’s best-known second bananas, but big-on-YouTube duo Riki Lindhome, 35, and Kate Micucci, 34, have graduated from “the middle class of show business” with a self-titled musical sitcom about a pair of joke-folk singers balancing their ambitions with being single, edge-of-millennial women in LA. elle: You’ve been actors for a decade almost. Why form a comedy band?

#ellePlaYliSt Never heard of Garfunkel & Oates? Go listen to their most howlarious songs NOW on ELLE.in/gpluso

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kate micucci: Riki was making a short film during the [2007-’08] writers’ strike, when no one had anything to do, and she asked me to help her write songs for it. We had so much fun that we decided to team up. riki lindhome: I think we both wished we had the kind of voices that could make it on Broadway, but sadly, we don’t. We have the kind of voices that can make it on YouTube.

that we’re the only girls because we can tackle issues that guys can’t.

>> OtHer ODD cOuPleS Tina Fey & amy Poehler

elle: right, like your song ‘29/31’, which enacts the inner monologue of two women on either side of 30. rl: We also have an episode in which I get my eggs frozen. That actually happened last year. We were on the road, and I was shooting up hormones. km: And I’m diagnosed with ‘Peter Pan syndrome’. I always think that I have plenty of time for everything, and then the reality doesn’t quite match up. I was so inspired by Riki freezing her eggs. In fact, I’ve got to call the doctor! — lauren Waterman

The BFFs will co-star as estranged sisters in the comedy The Nest. ilana glazer & abbi Jacobson

Co-creators and co-stars of web series Broad City, which went primetime. KrisTen Wiig & annie mumolo

elle: Did you spend much time checking out your predecessors? rl: Absolutely! We wanted to learn from them, and also figure out how we were different. km: It’s awesome

The Oscar-nominated cowriters of Bridesmaids are teaming up for another comedy about best friends.

E L L e october 2014 |

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bikramjit bOSe (nimrat kaur); eliSabetH caren (kate micucci & riki linDHOme)

— SOnam Savlani

E L L E radar

Girlfriend, please

Chetan Bhagat’s new book was India’s best-est-seller even before it came out. Suck it up, he’s a socio-cultural juggernaut. Here’s the proof

Half Girlfriend (HG)

MOVIE STAR

A Bihari boy and a Delhi girl are wedged apart by his poor English. Bhagat says a ‘half girlfriend’ happens when “you are close to a person but not quite in a relationship.” The book is already up for a movie adaptation by Aashiqui 2 director Mohit Suri. Expected sales in the first year? Three million – perfectly achievable.

3 IdIoTs (2009)

Bollywood’s highest grosser is based on Five Point Someone. Bhagat bellyaches about not getting enough attention. Last time he felt that way?

KAI Po CHE (2013)

BOOKS

FASHION MUSE BFF Masaba Gupta fetes HG with a limited-edition line. He tweets: “In a world’s first, a book inspiring a designer collection.” Prabal Gurung, Olympia Le-Tan, Arjun Saluja, please sit down.

CHET T AN BHAGA

TWITTER GOD Devotees: 3.09 million Incarnations: sy Sas al i r “Couples sending vibrations and soc tato n heartbeat sensations to each me m co other. Ahem. #applewatch” “Announcement. 10am. 5 Aug 2014.” (Ominous HG teaser.)

olyMPIA lE-TAN’s FAIry TAlE BooK CluTCH

ArjuN sAlujA’s s/s 2013 CollECTIoN INsPIrEd By jEET THAyIl’s NArCoPolIs

PrABAl GuruNG’s FAll 2011 rTW CollECTIoN INsPIrEd By GrEAT EXPECTATIoNs’ MIss HAVIsHAM

ion ivat

Mot u gur

No idea

Muslim youths

Stealth marketer

“When you have colourful wings, the world will try to clip them. Make sure you fly high enough before you open them.”

“3 million. Thank you. For listening to me, bearing my stupidity and making me a part of your lives. Stay strong, fight your demons,everyday..”

Gay people

2 sTATEs (2014)

Alia Bhatt, the film heroine of his autobiographical book, makes Bhagat moony, and he declares her his movie muse.

KICK (2014)

Bhagat makes his screenplaywriting debut. 1 meelion Kick puns and bhai ‘usfies’ follow.

ble Hum ty Dei

“I think if a hot girl wore a dhoti, a pub would be mad to not allow her entry.”

pAGE-TURNER

OMNISCIENT ACTIVIST

Minority struggles are CB’s kryptonite

Engineering students

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Adapted from Bhagat’s 3 Mistakes Of My Life and early indication of his NaMo leanings.

Non-English speakers

HG addresses the propensity of “elites to mock everyone else who is trying to learn English to do well in life”. Ask if his work has made him a victim of this caste system too, and he says, “A few hate tweets does not mean the literary community is against me. Reports of the criticism are greatly overblown.” E L L e october 2014 |

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Half Girlfriend (rupa Publications) is out this month.

E L L E radar

1970s

1981

Westwood and lover (Sex Pistols’ manager) Malcolm McLaren run SEX, the iconic King’s Road shop and bolt-hole for the proto-punk movement. When the Pistols explode, her strappy, hyper-zippered, numbers they wear, go big. But she turns away when punk becomes mainstream.

1990

Westwood is awarded British Designer of the Year at the Royal Albert Hall. She wins again the next year.

Grand dame

As her biography hits shelves this month, we doff our hats to the colourful life of Vivienne Westwood

Her London Fashion Week F/W show sees a model come down the catwalk wielding a sign in support of Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

2011

2008

Her F/W campaign is shot in a Nairobi slum in partnership with the ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative. The bag collection gainfully employs thousands of marginalised Kenyan women who handcrafted and modelled it.

1992 W

NSF

She shows up at Buckingham Palace to receive the OBE from Queen Elizabeth II — knickerless.

2003

Westwood grabs headlines when her male models wear fake breasts under cashmere sweaters and polo necks at her F/W show in Milan.

2005

German photographer Juergen Teller unveils pictures of Westwood — nude, save for a slick of red lipstick — at his Men And Women exhibit.

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She covers Tatler magazine dressed as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, with the words, ‘This woman was once a punk’, infuriating the Iron Lady.

At her Red Label S/S collection at London Fashion Week, she supports her favourite cause by walking out in a ‘Climate Revolution’ T-shirt, stripy hot pants, and an inked-on black eye and moustache.

2013

BOOKS

2014

1989

Westwood’s compelling journey as one of the most iconic fashion designers of our time is documented by British actor and biographer Ian Kelly, replete with heartfelt testimonials from family, lifetime associates and (celebrity) friends.

2012

Her F/W catwalk debut, ‘Pirate’, updates early-era styles — frilly shirts, baggyat-the-bum pants — marking Westwood’s penchant for adapting historical clothing for the modern day. Her epic pirate boots are seen here too.

With British civil rights group Liberty, she launches a line of T-shirts bearing the slogan ‘I AM NOT A TERRORIST, please don’t arrest me’ to defend the fundamental law of habeas corpus.

Vivienne Westwood’s eponymous biography (Pan Macmillan) is out this month. E L L e october 2014 |

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1993

Naomi Campbell makes fashion history by toppling off the designer’s five-inch mock crocodile platforms at Paris Fashion Week.

E L L E RADAR

Stage fright

THEATRE

Director Akarsh Khurana is staging a meta reinterpretation of Nikolai Gogol’s farcical take on corruption, The Government Inspector. “It's performed like a theatre troupe doing this classic play and bumbling through it, blurring the lines between the actors’ issues and the characters’ issues,” he says. The Government Inspector premieres at Jagriti Theatre, Bengaluru, on October 17

MOnO TOnE It takes a single actor to tell powerful stories at the Going Solo International Theatre Festival

If These spasms Could speak A Scottish play that explores the relationship between the physically disabled and their bodies.

“I grew up in quite a poor family in the north of England, and what we lacked in money we made up for with imagination — my twin brother and I were constantly acting out sci-fi adventures in the park behind our house.”

“As the [youngest ever] director-in-residence at the National Theatre Studio [London], I would find myself directing brilliant actors who’d been working longer than I’d been alive! I had to quickly man up and get on with things. It also helped me understand that groundbreaking ideas don’t happen — it’s about creating the right conditions for creativity: safety, collaboration and the freedom to explore.”

He has a long-distance relationship with India.

don’T Wake me A true account of a mother fighting convention for her son with cerebral palsy.

Going Solo International Theatre Festival is on from October 9 (Delhi), October 13 (Kolkata), October 16 (Bengaluru) and October 20 (Mumbai). Goingsolo.in

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His life has been about make-believe.

He was the boy who grew up too soon.

prIvaTe peaCeful A reminiscent last night spent by a WWI soldier fated for the firing squad.

shyloCk Shakespeare’s knave gets his say in this comedic analysis of the complex Jewish merchant.

Associate director of Curve Theatre, Suba Das, is an unconventional Asian voice on the UK stage, who likes to startle his audience

“I’ve directed plays by two incredible Mumbai playwrights, Purva Naresh (OK Tata Bye Bye) and Ayeesha Menon (Pereira’s Bakery At 76 Chapel Road). Sometimes, India can be represented stereotypically and it was fantastic to work with plays that look at issues of gender and sexuality and religious clashes. We were also able to offer our cast of young South Asian actors a

E L L e october 2014 |

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richer range of roles to play — politicians or even sex workers. It is, sadly, still quite rare to see South Asian actors in the UK tackling varied roles.”

He messes with his audience.

“For my first professional production, Medea, at Theatre Royal Stratford East, we presented this epic Greek tragedy in a modern and slightly confrontational way. We removed all seating, and flooded the stage with sand and rubbish. Audiences had to pick their way through and figure out where to sit; the story then unfolded all around them.”

He’s retelling a classic tale of drunkenness.

“Abigail’s Party is the hilarious, awkward tale of a drinks party gone wrong (which we can all sympathise with), and one of the best plays of the 20th century. This is Curve’s firstever production in-the-round, with the audience surrounding this perfect replica of a 1970s living room on all sides. The play will really become a voyeuristic, uncomfortable experience for the audience as this party from hell unfolds — a bit like being stuck in a flyon-the-wall comedy-drama like The Office.” Abigail’s Party premieres at The Curve, Leicester, on October 17. Curveonline.co.uk — VATSALA CHHIBBER

PuKAAR nEwS (SuBA DAS)

DOUBLE ACT

ISHAN KHOSLA DESIGN

GET THE ESSENCE OF CONTEMPORARY DESIGN AND TRENDS AT INDIA’S DEFINITIVE DESIGN WEEK

13–15 February, 2015

13–14 February, 2015

9–15 February, 2015

Exhibit ID showcases the best of home decor and design from across the world. Listen to inspiring speakers from the global design industry at ID Symposium. Installations, events and special treats: design democratized across the city at ID Satellite.

February 2015 New Delhi www.IndiaDesignID.com

E L L E RADAR

GO FISH Artist Hema Upadhyay returns after a 10-year hiatus with a show that tackles urbanisation and migration — and it will force you to do a double take. Don’t miss her nod to Japanese legend Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave Off Kanagawa’, an intricate collage made on a painting, with strips of text on migration cradled by the waves.

UNTITLED (1962)

All you need to know — and say — about the seminal colourist in five minutes

ART

Do say: The

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Guggenheim is hosting an epic exhibition on Gaitonde this month. Follow it up with: Painting As Process, Painting As Life is a retrospective dedicated to painter Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde (1924–2001) — “Gai” to his friends, Gaitonde to the rest of us. Most importantly, it’s the Guggenheim’s first museum exhibition on the artist. It’s set to travel across the USA, Europe and India through 2016. Do say: He was (briefly) part of the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG) in the ’50s, but cut away to remain independent. Neat backstory: He was with the Progressives for a short period. But then he carted off in his own direction. If the PAG was looking to Europe for inspiration, he was looking at New York. He had his first solo in NYC in 1959 and bagged a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1964; American painter Mark Rothko was an influence. Drop the words: “Figurative” — early Gaitonde, till about the late ’40s. “Non-objective” — early ’60s onwards. Steer clear of “abstract” — he positively hated the term.

Elaborate with: He graduated

from Sir JJ School of Art in 1948, after which he drifted away from the figurative forms he used to create. German expressionist artist Paul Klee became a huge influence for his inventive use of lines and watercolours on small canvases. By the ’60s, he started employing palette knives, paint rollers and torn bits of paper to make “non-objective” (abstract) works. Do observe: He never titled his paintings. And add: Gaitonde was bracketaverse. He even refused to explain his paintings. Don’t call him: Prolific. Because: The artist only made five or six paintings a year, and was known to destroy his works. Do say: He’s an auction favourite. Use these numbers: He set a world record for modern Indian art when a 1979 work sold for $ 3.7 million (`23.7 crore) at Christie’s first auction in India last year. Also, in June 2013, a 1962 work called ‘Painting No 1’ went for over $ 1 million (`6 crore) at Sotheby’s, London, topping the Modern and Contemporary auction. In both cases, it made double the pre-sale estimate. vS Gaitonde: Painting As Process, Painting As Life is on from October 24 to February 11, 2015, at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York. Guggenheim.org

HAMMER TIME Swot up on the three big-ticket works at Sotheby’s inaugural India Week ‘Blue Painting’ (1982) by tyeb Mehta estimate: £ 6,00,000 to £ 8,00,000 Made in a time of political unrest, it explores themes of dislocation. It’s from the collection of Masanori f*ckuoka, founder and director of the Glenbarra Art Museum, Japan. ‘ProPhet i’ (1952) by akbar Padamsee estimate: £ 1,50,000 to £ 2,00,000 Padamsee moved to Paris in 1951, where he was reunited with SH Raza and Souza — founding members of the PAG. It’s telling of his influences: Picasso and Chagall, and African masks. ‘row of houses’ (1957) by francis newton souza estimate:£ 2,00,000 to £ 3,00,000 Souza captures the grim London-scape from his visit in July 1949. (The city was reeling from the aftermath of WWII.) The bold black lines are typical of his works of the time.

Sotheby’s India Week auction is on from October 2 to 8. Sothebys.com — SONAM SAvLANI

E L L e october 2014 |

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ANIL RANE (SOLOMON R GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION)

Cheat sheet: VS Gaitonde

Fish In A Dead Landscape is on till November 10 at Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai. Gallerychemould.com

E L L E RADAR

Memory lane

ART

ArtistVivan Sundaramrevisits the life of his aunt and iconic Indian painterAmritaSher-Gil “I first got a sense of the artist my aunt was when I went to art school. We had her paintings at home, but my mother would never speak of her much. As Amrita went from student to artist, my mother studied music but sensed that her older sister’s drive far exceeded hers; my mother was not so sure of herself, which was their form of sibling rivalry. “Amrita was freespirited. It’s not easily explained why she wanted to marry her first cousin, but she had many open relationships with men and women. She came from a bourgeois westernised family, and mostly led a private life in colonial Shimla and remote Gorakhpur, with her uncle. They were industrialists but had remnants of a feudal family and Amrita tried to get her nieces out of purdah. In 1941, the 28-yearold moved to Lahore, a centre of artistic and political activity, where she passed away days before her solo show.

“At Baroda art school, I began to grasp her context as a well-known modern Indian artist. From the ’80s onwards, I dealt with the SherGil family: I did an oil painting, an installation (‘Sher-Gil Archive’) and a digital photo-montage (‘Re-take Of Amrita’) all of which delve into her personality and her art. The first was ‘The Sher-Gil Family’, 1984-85, made when a lot of us Baroda artists were painting personal stories. It’s a tableau-like oil painting, where the four family members (Amrita, my mother and their parents) are present but each in their own world. And I edited AmritaSher-Gil: A Selfportrait In Letters And Writings. She has preoccupied me in different stages. To explore her life, I went through the family archive and found numerous portraits of her taken by her father Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, a Sikh aristocrat who, after my work, has been acknowledged as a pioneer of modern Indian photography. (Both, father and daughter had to have been somewhat narcissistic, for he took around a 100 self-portraits over a 50 year period.) If her art and

‘SeLF-PORTRAIT’, 1927-28 bY AMRITA SheR-GIL

photos speak of desire and eroticism, her letters tell you she was articulate and frank. She re-evaluated her work often — a feature that I share, I think. “The Budapest-born artist lived in India for eight years (after WWI), then left to study art in Paris before returning to India in 1934. She toured the country to get closer to Indian art: Mathura sculptures, Ajanta, Pahari and Mughal miniatures, all of which influenced her work till the end. She didn’t reject western painting, and if you look at the paintings she made in 193839, they’re influenced by Bruegel and Cézanne. To me, her most remarkable work is ‘Two Women’; it features a fair and a dark woman, both nude, though the latter is more covered. It could’ve been a comment on how she was seen in India and abroad. Amrita predominantly painted women and in this work, their body, their sexuality is painted without sentimentality; it is, I think, a proto-feminist take.” In Dialogue: Amrita Sher-Gil And Lionel Wendt is on till October 25 at Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai. Jhavericontemporary.com

FAIR PLAY

Four Indian artists to catch at the 2014 edition of the Frieze Art Fair, London PRAJAKTA POTNIS

eLLe GeeK

RAQS MEDIA COLLECTIVE

Don’t know your Sher-Gil from your Souza? You need our cheat sheet on ELLE.in/ amritashergil

‘Resizing The Librarian’s Lucid Dream’ gets inside the head of a librarian who dozed off at work. In that halfasleep, half-awake state, said librarian invents new titles by combining existing ones.

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ROHINI DEVASHER A series of 12 photoetchings,always take the weather with youexplores themes of anticipation and prophecies, and is influenced by her travels to astronomical observatories across India and Scotland.

The artists will be represented by Project 88 gallery at the Frieze Art Fair, between October 15 and 18. Friezelondon.com E L L e october 2014 |

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UMRAO SInGh SheR-GIL (AMRITA SheR-GIL)

Her work, ‘3.37 am’, tackles social and individual anxieties using everyday objects that are in various stages of neglect.

SHREYAS KARLE Karle likes to dabble in the weird and surreal, which is why his work ‘Confused Shadow’ is made up of a teak box mounted with a sphere and bulb on either side — to cast no shadows.

INsta-awesOme Trends on trial, sneak peeks into the fashion cupboard, front-row dispatches #nofilter @elleindiaofficial

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SLOw TORMENTOR

Mad about you As Gone Girl comes to town, we take a psych-o-meter to our favourite crazies. Amy Dunne, get in line MISERY (1990)

HARD CANDY (2005)

MuRDEROuS Ex

DIABOLICAL CONFIDANTE

wELLMEANING BuTCHER

NOTES ON A SCANDAL (2006) How to make friends and influence people tip #423: find a damaging secret (dope on affairs with underage students works best) and use it to win a terrified, souldamaged BFF.

A call girl (with a roving eye) hired to spy on a possibly cheating husband soon falls for the wife, and resolves to do anything — or anyone — to be with her… starting with her son.

Hayley Stark (Ellen page) Chloe (Amanda Seyfried)

The classic. Have trouble getting a guy to call you back? A foolproof way is to leave his pet rabbit simmering on the stove. Works like a charm.

An obsessive fangirl rescues and nurses her favourite author only to maim him later (while yelling “God, I love you!”). Ends with Bates winning an Oscar.

FILM

MINDGAMES CHAMpION

CHLOE (2009)

FATAL ATTRACTION (1987)

A 14-year-old ventures into the bedroom of her much older ‘online friend’, equipped with a stun gun, a video camera (to record her carefully-planned castration) and a winning smile.

Alexandra “Alex” Forrest (Glenn Close) Barbara Covett (Judi Dench)

Annie wilkes (Kathy Bates)

THE SHINING Three reasons to watch Sabal Singh Shekhawat’s debut feature, Fireflies, this month It was inspired by a mugging. In 2005, after being attacked by a group of men in New York, a bruised Shekhawat, dismayed over the rottenness of human nature, wrote a furious 40-page story which eventually became a film about “change, acceptance and eventual courage”.

It’s about fleeting hope. Fireflies is about two estranged brothers living antithetical lives — a wealthy banker and a garage employee — bound together by a 15-year-old tragedy. The title comes from Shekhawat’s childhood memory of fireflies illuminating the “blackest of nights” in Assam.

It has a ‘comeback’ cast. The movie, which premiered at the New York Indian Festival last year, brings actors out of celluloid hiatus — Rahul Khanna (Wake Up Sid, 2009), Monica Dogra (Dhobi Ghat, 2010) and Arjun Mathur (My Friend Pinto, 2011; we’re not considering last year’s Ankur Arora Murder Case). — VATSALA CHHIBBER

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our guiDE To ThE gigs To CATCh, ANThEMs To huM AND LooKs To LiVE iN

For the ANGSt-rIDDeN

You don’t care if people think you’re a lifetime member of Snobs Against Knobs; real music can’t be made by pushing buttons. Your music is “organic”, “old-school” even. You’re a huntergatherer of band merch. You tumble through the week in racerbacks and boots.

BOOSTER SHOT

Why not try:

Champions of the misfits, The Vaccines are bringing us their brand of awkward

The SuperSonicS This alt-rock band from Kolkata has loyalists all over the country mouthing the lyrics to ‘Yeah Whatever’. #Bengaluru #Delhi

Money For rope Their kind of rock and roll is exactly what will take you to your happy place. Queue 'Nova Pilota', already.

#KolKata #Bengaluru

TherMal and a QuarTer Expect guitar solos of this Bengaluru band to pack a punch. #Pune #Bengaluru

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pentagram ‘ToMorrow’S decided’ For when you're ready to be more than an armchair activist. Sample lyrics: ‘For too long, you and I been quiet/Watching, and waiting to try it.’ ‘nocTurne’ For when you know what it's like to be on the Night's Watch. Sample lyrics: ‘Once again the night has come and gone/It's come and gone again, nocturne, nocturne.’ #Pune #KolKata #Bengaluru #Delhi — sonam savlani

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Kunal KaKoDKar (Pentagram), imaxtree.Com/vinCenzo grillo (street style)

You’ll also like...

HO tM

#Pune #Delhi

‘chaoS’ For when you accidentally sexted your best friend. Sample lyrics: ‘Complications/ My claim to fame.’ ‘Blood preSSure’ For when you don't feel good enough. (Thanks, mom.) Sample lyrics: ‘Blood pressure/Do better/Keep rising.’

eS S

Mutemath

Need to prep? Our city-by-city playlists will tell you exactly what to expect. Go to ELLE.in/nh7

You’rE iN for A surprisE. “We’re planning on playing some of our new songs live for the first time, which is going to be fun. I’ve always wanted to come to India, but never imagined that we’d be playing a festival there!”

Sa De R

elle Playlist

ThEir ADD is grEAT for us. “We have a short attention span so we don’t stick with anything for too long. We look for a new sound every time we write or record anything. That happened for the first time with ‘If You Wanna’ — the sound for our first [album] became really clear with

Do you relate to Mutemath or Pentagram? Let the lyrics decide

Tours CAN BrEAK You. “Our first summer of festivals [in 2010] was really special. We played around 60 shows in about two months, sometimes playing two shows in two countries on the same day. We saw more of the world in those two months than I ever imagined, but it also caused breakdowns, break-ups and adrenal exhaustion.”

beat poets

it. But we’ve had many moments like that since then.”

OL C

If you haven’t heard of The Vaccines, do not, repeat do not admit it in public. In four years, the indie rock band has gathered considerable cred by giving us relatable anthems like ‘Teenage Icon’ and platinum sophom*ore album The Vaccines Come Of Age, and has warmed up for The Rolling Stones and Arctic Monkeys. Drummer Pete Robertson tells us about their new sound, the rigours of staying on the road and “trying not to f*ck it up”.

Trucker hats, slouchy jackets, zippered everything?

E L L E SPECIAL

home alone

FOR THE SOUL SEARCHER

BAcARDi Nh7 WEEKENDER

When suffering from the blues, you turn to your woeful/folksy/ acoustic-y playlist for some cheer. You can never really headbang in rhythm. You have an anonymous blog to channel your dissatisfaction into intense haiku. Prone to wearing lived-in jersey staples.

Australian singer-songwriter Sarah Blasko’s music springs from long spells of solitude She Started at eight. As a four-year-old, Blasko was moved to tears by Art Garfunkel’s gentle crooning in ‘Bright Eyes’. At eight, when she wasn’t reading album sleeves “for hours”, she and her sister “were doing little concerts in our backyard at home”. She went into exile. The 38-year-old, whose musical influences range from The Beatles to PJ Harvey, qualifies her songwriting as “an outpouring of her subconscious”. For her fourth studio album, I Awake, Blasko spent the first half of 2011 in self-imposed exile, “alone with my thoughts and memories”. Later, she roped in the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra. “Recording and touring with them was something I’d been dreaming of for 10 years,” she says.

Why Not tRy:

Novelty jewellery, mannish shoes, granny braids?

you can't Shake her off. Imagine life lessons delivered in dewy-soft vocals. Her strippeddown set at Bacardi NH7 Weekender will have only a pianist and a string/keyboard player accompanying her. “The beauty of being a solo artist is that your voice ties everything together, so the instrumentation can shift and it still sounds like you.” The highlight? Songs from three of her platinum-selling albums (we’re aching for ‘We Won’t Run’) plus unreleased numbers.

live wire

We’re most pumped to see Nicholson IRL because Sohrab Nicholson's “electro-organic” act on stage is even more orchestral than his EP, For What. because his “hyperbolised” songs about messy relationships are relatable. because he’s quite the performance artist — if you count the impassioned grinding as he hammers out note after note. #PUNE

#BENGALURU #KoLKAtA

good equation ‘riSe up aNd ruN’ = Fiery rebellioN + iNterpretive daNce Dogra’s first solo outing has her chanting a feminist anthem – the video has a generous dose of hairology. #KoLKAtA #PUNE

#DELhi #PUNE

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‘chaSe every dream’ = extra-loNg commercial + imagiNative rehaSh Mikey McCleary, aka The Bartender, rejigs his most hummable jingles on his latest album,TV Dinners. #PUNE — vAtsALA chhiBBER

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sAmiR RANA (stREEt styLE)

A GR

‘NothiNg StayS the Same’ = ShimmeriNg tambouriNeS + veiled acheS aNd paiNS It’s the BritishIndian artist’s first song to break the Top 100 Singles chart, and his personal favourite.

thE BAR

G s iN

m o N i cA

LUKE sit AL

Deconstructing the artists’ signature through their big music moment

E L L E SPECIAL BaCarDi nh7 WeeKenDer

BLING RING

Which international hip-hop act matches your groove?

Heavy looping, powerful beatboxing and tons of sax.

Foreign Beggars Aggressive bass and dubstep Rhythm drops with some trippy electronic tricks thrown in.

Antiestablishment, Angry, violent pro-freedom. Poetry with the Also, pro-spliff. occasional burst of explicit content. Jazz music you can move to, not Sounds A Skrillexsnooze to. like Eminem mash-up. #KolKata #Bengaluru #Pune

GLOBAL FUSION Shivani Ahlowalia, of the tropical bass act Alo Wala, has sourced her music from political turmoil and violent storms She found her rhythm in AfricA.

FOR THE SWAG HAG

You say ‘bruh’ a lot. You believe Step Up 3D was a true visual spectacle. Avatar on the other hand… You’re more of a bathroom beatboxer than a bathroom singer. You stalk every celebrity-sneaker collab.

Why not try: Baggy track

She found her collAborAtorS in coPenhAgen.

“After my masters, I cofounded an NGO in GuineaBissau, West Africa, where we built the first quality recording studio in the country.It was the rappers in Bissau that got me started. They represented what hip-hop was when it started — this raw expression springing from injustice, with the aim to do something about it. We produced a mixtape documenting their reaction to the situation (the president and the head of the military were killed on the same day), encouraging their people to come together in the face of this political mess.”

“Inspired by the time I spent in Bissau, I called [my friend] Asmund [Copyflex] to Copenhagen and asked him to make some music with me. At YoFok, the studio we are a part of, a collaboration began with little expectations. By 2013, Alo Wala was formed. Our music is inspired by universal love, the unknown, heavy bass, bright light, Michael Jackson and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Our transnational project features Indian producers in the global bass scene, like Nucleya and Brooklyn Shanti. Our first EP, dubbed CITYBOY will release worldwide in November.”

Shefound herSound in Puduch*erry.

She’S bringing Pune A “bombAStic uProAr”.

“I was there for an artist-inresidence programme, and on the fourth day, this massive cyclone hit the city. It was awesome and devastating. As we were standing in kneedeep water, watching the resort owner’s estate hit the floor, I was at a loss for words. He said, ‘This gives me the opportunity to rebuild better’ — that really stuck with me. It

“Our performance will be in your face, musically hypnotic and lyrically mind-lifting. I’ve seen people [at my gigs] do everything from crowd-surf to have seizures on the dance floor. The visual experience will be handcrafted by our VJ Mad-Es.”

pants, slogan tees and shroud-like headgear?

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inspired the track ‘Bend Yuh Backbone’, which is about creating new realities in the face of destruction, and that defined the sound for the rest of our tunes.”

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#Pune #Delhi — VatSala ChhiBBer

Polina VinograDoVa (alo Wala), imaxtree.Com/VinCenzo grillo (Street Style)

Mr Woodnote & Lil Rhys

E L L E SPECIAL

lying low

Your mood music is full of distant birds, slamming doors and rustling leaves.

when pandas attack Ankur Chauhan tries new textures

You have mixed feelings about the term ‘EDM’. You quell your FOMO by keeping up with the youngest bedroom producers. Aztec prints help you work your mojo.

WHy Not tRy:

Tribal jewellery, feathers in your hair and bindi art?

BIg Is BETTER

These solo artists are expanding their tribe only for the stage SanduneS enSemble Sanaya Ardeshir teams up with a drummer, guitarist and vocalist(s) to bring her nomadic tunes alive. #puNE

dualiSt inquiry band Sandunes, Jiver (drums) and guest artistes help crank out Sahej Bakshi’s new material. #BENgAluRu #DElHI

eZ riSer vS dJ moCity EZ Riser brings his tub-thumping bass to DJ MoCity’s pumping beats.

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Two downtempo artists look to emptiness and sweet nothings to inspire them

big citY harmonics Rohan Hastak is all about space he started with a band. At 15, he was the guitarist for an alt rock band in Canada. It’s where he picked up his production chops — in the course of pursuing a degree in film and media studies. When he returned in 2011, he started making music in his spare time (over repeated plays of Thievery Corporation, Massive Attack and YouTube tutorials). his music unravels. Hastak’s EP, Foreward (2013), is comforting in its emptiness and whispered lyrics. His live sets are more layered. “I’ve always been interested in sets that have atmosphere. I like to create space and flow in a set.” He samples a host of artists too, from Suzanne Vega to Bonobo. “I don’t [perform] my work till I can find a way to mix it with bits of music I love.”

he’s home-schooled. He plays the guitar for Delhi’s alt jazz outfit Not For Sale. But “going for band practice became a pain”, so he decided to watch YouTube self-help videos to make music at home. his music morphs. Chauhan’s synths are just a little pacy, just a little ambient. His bio tells you this project is about “Dreams. And things,” which is his way of leaving enough legroom to experiment. “Every few months, I’m bored by the music I’ve made.” he’s impressionable. His music is the sum of his influences: Shlohmo, Four Tet, Cashmere Cat and Jon Hopkins. “I like using natural sounds of water, birds, paper rustling to give texture to my music. Some of my percussion samples are really just doors closing and locks clicking” — a trick he borrows from Hopkins. #puNE

he’s a geek. When he’s not working on his second EP (“which is moving towards hip-hop”), he listens to BBC Essential Mixes. He’s really into Shigeto at the mo. “It’s the perfect mix of everything I’d like to be — a little busy, yet mellow.” #puNE

JON HOPKINS

Looks like Chauhan just got lucky. The Mercury Prize-nominated English producer will bring his melodic brand of electronica to the Bengaluru edition.

#BENgAluRu #DElHI

BACARDI NH7 WEEKENDER #KolKAtA: NovEmBER 1-2 #BENgAluRu: NovEmBER 8-9 #puNE: NovEmBER 21-23 #DElHI: 29-30 NH7.IN/WEEKENDER

— soNAm sAvlANI

E L L e october 2014 |

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sARAH gINN (joN HopKINs), NEvIllE suKHIA (sANAyA ARDEsHIR), sACHIN soNI (sAHEj BAKsHI), RAjyAsHRI gooDy (RoHAN HAstAK), sAmIR RANA, ImAxtREE.Com/vINCENzo gRIllo (stREEt stylE)

FOR THE SYNTH WORSHIPPER

BACARDI NH7 WEEKENDER

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THOMAS WHITESIDE

Lorde lets her hair down, Naseeruddin and Vivaan Shah talk movies and men things, AR Rahman and Bollywood’s music makers decode the sound of now and a girl accepts her mother’s lover. Plus: the Indian women powering US politics Lambskin vest, balmain. Metal necklaces, metal padlock brooch (worn on necklace); all chanel

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E L L E STAR Knit turtleneck, silkvelvet camisole, wool and shearling coat, gold-plated brass necklace; all Rodarte

What’s it like to be a preternaturally talented and keenly self-aware 17-year-old with the entire world watching? Jessica Pressler finds out

LORDE ALMIGHTY Photographs Thomas WhiTeside Styling Joe Zee Make-up hiRomi Ueda/JULiaN WaTsoN Hair aLi PiRZadeh/CLm

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Sequinned silk dress, Junya Watanabe Comme Des Garçons. Satin and lace skirt, Adam Lippes. Silver-andgold-plated brass and crystal bracelet, Vita Fede. Rhodium-plated silver and diamond ring, Valentina Kova

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E L L E STAR

I saw Miley Cyrus at the Grammys. She didn’t smile or anything

The manager and publicist are still talking importantly, when Lorde herself pushes through the revolving doors, a huge grin on her face. Dressed in black shorts, a white T-shirt, and greige slides, she looks less like a Lorde — the type who holds movie executives over a barrel — and more like an Ella, a 17-year-old girl. That’s her real name: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor. There’s a blemish on her make-up-less cheeks, and her wide-set, alien blue eyes are overshadowed by a mass of wild brown curls, which in the humidity are springing off her head as if they’re trying to get away. The publicist explains fretfully that they’re trying to find a private place but— “I kind of just want to go outside,” the singer interrupts, now sounding like Lorde. Before they can stammer a response, she’s pushing her way out into the sunshine, leaving no question of who is actually in charge. From the beginning, it was evident that Lorde was not to be trifled with. Giving yourself a moniker a hair’s breadth away from Yeezus on your first-ever record takes gumption, particularly when you are a teenager from the literal end of the earth. But then, astonishingly, the worship actually followed. ‘Royals’ was a hit for all kinds of reasons: the catchy, schoolyard-snap beat; Lorde’s voice — deep and smoky with ’90s-ish top notes; but most of all, the cool authority with which she dumped 30 years’ worth of popular-music tropes and a cultural mindset into the historical dustbin. ‘Everybody’s like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece/We don’t care/We aren’t caught up in your love affair.’ Is there a thing more shaming than the bored eye-roll of a teenager? Thus began the First Year of Lorde. Outside the hotel, Lorde stalks haphazardly toward a small park across the street. “Someone told me there’s a

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said too many wrong things,” she grimaces, blinking her huge blue eyes. “I saw Miley Cyrus at the Grammys,” she says unhappily. “She didn’t smile or anything.” But there are benefits to being the anti-Miley. Lorde has become the smart girl’s pop star; misfit teenagers have embraced her: “People have told me that I’ve helped them feel confident,” she says. “They can talk about feminism in class without people calling them a lesbian. That’s so amazing that I can make someone feel like that.” As much of the world was praising Lorde, some seemed unwilling to accept her existence. Brooklyn pop outfit Truthers could not believe a teenager could be so young and articulate. To that, Lorde says, “When I talk to adults and they are impressed, I feel like, you’re just impressed because you haven’t talked to that many 17-year-olds.” We’ve landed at the beach. “Do you want to go sit on that dock over there?” she asks. Until recently, Lorde hadn’t travelled much. She grew up in Devonport, a seaside suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, and is one of four children. The daughter of a civil engineer and a poet, she did not, as she makes clear in ‘Royals’, come from money. It was 2009. At her school, the main outlet for performers was the talent show, and that year she performed Duffy’s ‘Warwick Avenue’, accompanied by her friend Louis McDonald on guitar; McDonald’s father, hoping for a break for his son, sent the video to Universal’s New Zealand headquarters, where a talent manager there picked it up and offered 12-year-old Lorde a development deal. He teamed her up with Joel Little, a producer and former lead singer of a pop-punk band. The initial plan was to get her to record some

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THOMAS WHITESIDE

“

zoo over here,” she says, pounding through the grass and eschewing the concrete pathways as though she’s in a hurry or maybe she just thinks paths are kind of bullsh*t. Lorde thinks a lot of things are bullsh*t. Like red carpets, which she refuses to do. “Not my thing,” she says, shrugging. “You only see pictures of me from awards shows holding an award, or talking, or performing. I would rather it serve some kind of purpose, rather than ‘This is what I look like’.” Then there’s the tabloids: in the first flush of fame, Lorde gave a series of interviews in which she reflected on her contemporaries. “She’s too perfect, it isn’t breeding anything good in young girls,” she told a New Zealand entertainment magazine of Taylor Swift. “I’m a feminist, and her song is called ‘Come And Get It,’” she sneered about Selena Gomez to Rolling Stone. Of Lana Del Rey, she told The Fader, “That kind of shirt-tugging, desperate, don’t-leave-me stuff is not a good thing for young girls, even young people, to hear.” (At the park, we’ve come upon a fetid swamp marked with signs promising snapping turtles. “This is underwhelming,” she says. Add this zoo to the list of things Lorde thinks are bullsh*t.) The gossips went to town, positioning Lorde as the angry goth girl, a hater flipping the finger at pop’s reigning queens from under the bleachers. She shakes her head. “I’m not, like, scary in person,” she says. “I smile a lot, and I laugh a lot.” This is true. “I feel like I’ve

“

nside the industrial-chic lobby of the Hotel Lincoln, on a sandy strip encircling Lake Michigan, a publicist, tour manager and assorted protectors of the singer known as Lorde, are busily conferring about the optimal place for her to meet with an interviewer. They’d thought the café, the publicist explains breathlessly, but there are so many people around, probably because of Lollapalooza — where Lorde was set to perform — and they just don’t want anyone bothering her. The concern is understandable. Lorde is one of the biggest pop stars in the world and has been since last year, when her song ‘Royals’ (written at age 15 in her native New Zealand) became a kind of post-financial-crisis anthem, earning her two Grammys, a dedicated M.A.C lipstick, a spot on a Forbes list and the ultimate honour: a Weird Al parody. Her debut album, Pure Heroine (2013), has sold more than 2.6 million units worldwide and received praise so effusive, it borders on the surreal: “Listening to you feels like listening to tomorrow,” David Bowie recently said, while clutching her thin white hands. The producers of The Hunger Games think so too: in July, it was announced that Lorde, who contributed a spooky cover of ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ to the 2013 installment of the dystopian teen franchise, will be the “sole curator” of the soundtrack for the next chapter.

Fur coat, Helmut Lang. Vintage wool hat, What Goes Around Comes Around

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Embossed patent leather coat, Erdem

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“

designer clothes than she can wear — the slides, when she slips them off, turn out to be Céline. She still has the same boyfriend: James Lowe, a 24-year-old photographer she’s been dating for more than a year, who accompanied her on a recent trip to Japan and will meet her in New York in a couple of weeks. And sure, she still pals around with her old friends when she’s in New Zealand. But those days are fewer and further between, and she belongs to a different kind of crowd now. “Holy sh*t,” says Rihanna, enveloping Lorde in a cloud of sweet-smelling superstardom backstage. “How are you?” She’s just an acquaintance — not like Taylor Swift, who forgave Lorde for calling her too perfect and is now a friend. Though at first, she referred to her by only her full name: Taylor Swift. “You feel like you are united under a common, strange circ*mstance,” she says of her famous friends. Lorde doesn’t have groupies. “No one ever offers me drugs,” she says, sounding slightly disappointed. “I’m actually surprised that hasn’t happened yet. Where is the cocaine?” She laughs. “It’s probably because I’m always with my mum.” Even if she wanted to get f*cked up, Lorde has too much else going on. “I can’t be bothered being hungover,” she says back at the beach. Indeed, figuring out how to navigate her career, fame, the media, and an intercontinental relationship with a non-famous person is complicated enough sober. It’s changed her. Even though

“

covers, like Duffy, or maybe some jazz standards that could be marketed to an adult-contemporary crowd. But Lorde had other ideas. She wanted to write her own stuff. “All the other teenagers sang other people’s songs,” she said. “Which was fine, but it’s not the authentic teenage experience.” When it came to the production of her own stuff, she was in charge. “She knows exactly what she thinks,” Little says. “If I was making something she didn’t like, she wasn’t afraid to tell me.” They ended up putting together an EP, The Love Club, which included ‘Royals’. But the songs, a radio producer told the label, were too weird — they’d never get airplay. So they posted it for free on SoundCloud, and for a while that was that. “I just thought I was going to be this weird SoundCloud artist,” says Lorde, who woke up a few weeks later to the news that ‘Royals’ had gone viral in New Zealand and label executives in the US wanted to talk to her about making the single happen stateside. “They were like, ‘This is good, but you need to put more stuff in it’,” Lorde says. They hired producers, who added some bells and whistles. She didn’t mince words when she heard the result. “It was, like, the worst thing I ever heard in my life,” she says. When she turned it down, everyone told her she was making a mistake. “It was super-tough,” she says now. “Potentially reckless. That was the hardest decision I had to make, but it was the best decision I made.” When it comes to managing her career, she exercises

Now people take pictures of me on a plane when I sleep. I’ll see them lose all social codes. The way people get infected by celebrity is a very interesting thing

a formidable amount of control. Lorde has studied her peers enough to know that if she wants to keep her brand authentic, she can’t turn it over to adults. When the label execs suggested that they handle her social media feeds, for instance: “If it were up to them, they’d want me to be like, ‘Hey guys! Check out my new single!’” she laughs. I’m, like, constantly scanning myself to see if I’m some corporate executive version of a teenager.” They backed down. “I’ve developed a pretty fearsome reputation,” she says, cracking a smile. “People know that if you talk down to me, I’ll roll my eyes or whatever.” We’re sitting on the dock, dangling our feet in the water when Lorde becomes distracted by the presence of two girls who have clambered up and are sitting behind us. When I look over, I see that they’re not so subtly trying to capture her in the background of a selfie. “I never really know,” she says in a quiet voice. “Sometimes you’re like, ‘Am I just so obsessed with myself that I think everyone is doing that?’” I assure her they are. “Basically, since the Grammys, it’s like another level,” she continues after they leave. “Now people take pictures of me when I walk down the street or on a plane when I sleep. They’ll look at me and I’ll see them lose all social codes. It’s like the person leaves, and it just takes over. The way people get infected by celebrity,” she muses, “is a very interesting thing.” She’s not sure whether she’s going to delve into these themes on her next album, which she’s working on this fall. “Everyone has their ‘fame sucks’ album,” she says. “I don’t want to do that. Like, ugh, life is so hard I have to wear shades.” But it’s safe to say her perspective has changed. The girl who rose to fame singing passionately about her disinterest in brands and luxury is now being given more

she’s still opinionated, she’s not as bullheaded as she once was. “I have definitely learnt how to be flexible,” she says. “Before, I would just be like, ‘f*ck it’. But now the circle of people I work with all the time is huge and spans continents, and you have to be quite conscientious. So it’s, like, learning not to hurt people’s feelings.” The sun has dropped, bathing Lake Michigan in magic-hour light. We walk past people packing up their folding chairs and noodles, en route to a huge boat-shaped restaurant on the beach. When Lorde emerges from the bathroom, a fifty-something woman clad in a bathing suit and cover-up squints and steps tentatively closer. “Are you…?” she asks, lowering her voice. “Are you Lorde?” Sensing the singer’s nervousness, she adds, “I won’t make a big deal of it, I promise. But you are so wonderful. Do you mind taking a picture with my family?” “All of my nieces and nephews, they want to be her,” the woman explains to me as Lorde poses with an extended clan of teenagers. Meanwhile, I turn on my iPhone, which has been in airplane mode and which immediately begins dinging like crazy. “Where are you?” reads the first in an increasingly urgent string of texts from Lorde’s handlers that concludes with “?!??” sh*t. I beckon Lorde away from the mid-western family. “I have six voicemails,” I start to tell her as the phone begins ringing in my hand. Lorde finds this hilarious. “Help!” she screams over my shoulder into the phone as I explain to the frantic publicist that we’re on our way back. “I don’t know where she’s taken me! Helllpp!” Just before I hang up, I apologise for kidnapping the talent. But looking at the 17-year-old laughing next to me, I realise that, of course, I wasn’t in control at all. She kidnapped me.

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Manicurist: Michelle huMphrey/lMc WorldWide; set design: george leWin; assisted by: sarah schussheiM

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family

Naseeruddin and Vivaan Shah swap notes on the inner workings of an actor’s life and the shifting world of fathers and sons. Deepa Menon listens in relationship with his father and the various benefits derived from smoking pot. When it comes to the nuts and bolts of the craft, about films with heart vs films with money, staying grounded amid the stars and finding sustenance in theatre, these two are mainly in agreement. It’s a conversation spanning four decades of Hindi cinema and two generations of the Shahs.

More show, less tell

Vivaan Shah: This is a good time to be an actor in Indian cinema, I think. It’s kind of like the ’70s when my dad was starting out — mainstream cinema was getting interesting, as were art films. I hope one day we will look back on this period with the same fondness.

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the big-budget beast

VS: I feel blessed to do both kinds of cinema, a Bombay Velvet as well as an HNY. I want to have the best of both worlds, like my dad did in the ’70s and ’80s. NS: I have never been very proficient at commercial cinema, although I’ve tried very hard. VS: It takes a certain confidence and conviction. NS: I wish I knew what it took! People ask me, you know, did you advise Vivaan on HNY, but I honestly don’t know anything about such movies. I’ve really just left him in the capable hands of Farah and Shah Rukh. Viv is perhaps much better qualified to do this kind of cinema than I am. I think the succeeding generation is more confident and

I think the succeeding generation is more confident and less awed by the camera — NaSeeruddiN Shah

Naseeruddin Shah: The ’70s were a period of innovation, of ideas. Right now, it’s more a period of technological innovation. VS: Especially in mainstream, cinema. Shah Rukh said in an interview recently about HNY, that it can stand up to anything, anywhere in the world. NS: But we also need good scripts. And I don’t know when we’ll make that leap. Hollywood thrives on writers — they keep a team employed, round the clock, 12 months a year. The studios sift through their ideas and pick the best ones to make into films. That’s how they get something wonderful.

far less awed by the camera — it took me many films to get as comfortable. At the film institute [FTII, Pune], they used the very expensive celluloid and just the whirr of the camera would make me nervous. I’d be thinking, you can’t go wrong, you can’t go wrong. I was concentrating more on that rather than the scene. Now there’s no fear of retakes and that has given actors tremendous freedom. Already, actors like Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Kay Kay Menon and Arshad Warsi are ahead of my generation, in terms of technique and skill.

Photographs UMESH AHER Styling NidHi jAcob Art Director RESHMA RAjiWdEKAR

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Make-up and Hair NATASHA NASTA/WARREN TRicoMi

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ather and son conversations can be fraught affairs, even when there’s a third person sitting at the table with a Dictaphone. There is potential for ghosts of stormy fights past, some competitiveness, or at least a tendency for either to ‘take charge’ of the narrative. There’s none of that with Naseeruddin and Vivaan Shah — only a great affection and warmth, and a generous sense of give and take. Perhaps this is because they are both theatre actors who know how to graciously share a stage. But for all the harmony at our table, these are actually two vividly different personalities. Vivaan is as eager and cheery as you’d expect a 24-year-old to be if he debuted in a Vishal Bhardwaj film (7 Khoon Maaf, 2011), had Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet lined up for next year, and landed a role in what is shaping up to be this year’s biggest blockbuster, the Farah Khan-Shah Rukh Khan juggernaut, Happy New Year (HNY). He answers questions earnestly but guardedly, as is appropriate for a young actor talking to the press (He once refers to his colleague as Shah Rukh sir). In contrast, Naseer is insouciant, mellow, sardonic. When asked how he decides whether to do a film, he makes the action of flipping a coin. (This randomness is borne out by his recent choices: this year’s soulful and quirky Dedh Ishqiya and Finding Fanny; the strange and slapstick John Day, 2013, and the forthcoming Welcome Back.) In his recently released memoir, And Then One Day (Penguin Books India), he has written candidly about regrets over his first marriage, his difficult

On Naseeruddin: Linen shirt, twill pants, suede loafers; all his own. Felt blazer with silk pocket square, Gas. On Vivaan: Jersey T-shirt, denim jeans, rubber sneakers; all his own. Nylon bomber jacket, Superdry

LOCATION COURTESY: TERTTULIA RESTAURANT, MUMBAI

LiFe

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Vs: The decade I was born was one of the most interesting times in Baba’s career. We always talk about the ’70s and ’80s, but in the ’90s, he did a lot of commercial, mainstream films. Ns: Some really dreadful stuff. Only some films were successful, like Tridev, Vishwatma, Chamatkar... The art film movement that had started in the ’70s was more or less over by then. Those film-makers now wanted to make movies with Suniel Shetty. It wasn’t a happy time for me, professionally. If it wasn’t for the arrival of Im [his elder son, actor Imaad Shah] and then Viv three years later, it would have been even worse. Because the happiness at home was so great, the professional failures did not hurt as much.

Playing PretenD

Vs: Some of the roles you did during the early ’90s were of street-wise, salt-of-the-earth people. Was that fun or tough? Ns: Tough, because I am not a street-wise person in real life. But it’s a quality I have greatly admired and always found interesting as

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Staying Put

Ns: The ’90s were also a time when I was doing a lot of theatre, and that’s what kept me sane. All the plays I did then — The Odd Couple, Endgame, the Chekhov comedies, The Zoo Story — I would rehearse in studios where I was shooting. I was doing them alongside movies like Zulm Ko Jala Doonga [1988] and Mujhe Meri Biwi Se Bachaao [2001]. Vs: I believe that the one thing in life that will always keep you happy is interest. You have to be interested in hobbies, in people, in life. And in things outside films. Ns: Film people tend to be very insular — they’re as bad as army people. It’s a dangerous thing. The richer you get, the more celebrated you are, the more tenuous your connections with life will get. And then, where do you draw from as an actor? You draw upon your immediate society, the hangerson, the shallow people who crowd around when you are successful. Vs: The thing about Baba and Shah Rukh Khan is that they have seen life before they became actors, they had another journey. I became an actor at 21; a lot of people in my generation start very young.

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DecaDe of DaD

I’m not a huge fan of Shah Rukh’s acting. What I like is that he still has the smell of the earth about him

an actor. I was, in fact, told by Shyam [Benegal] that in films like Albert Pinto [Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai, 1981] my character needed to be more streetwise, that I played him too Western — I think he was right. I have always found it easier to play the vulnerable characters. Vs: Of late, you have played a lot of vulnerable characters, in Dedh Ishqiya or even Finding Fanny. And after this, you’re going to be playing the polar opposite of that in Welcome Back [the sequel to the hit commercial film Welcome]. Ns: I’m playing a blind don, who recovers his sight later in the film. [Laughs] It’s kind of fun.

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— NaseeruddiN shah

Ns: And that’s why there’s a certain authenticity in Shah Rukh’s personality. I’m not a huge fan of his acting. What I like is that he still has the smell of the earth about him. He’s always been very energetic and full of beans and sometimes he can be very good.

tyPical inDian DaD. DiScuSS.

Ns: My father was not remotely connected with the film industry. He had strong opinions regarding my career. But once it was out of his control, he had no say in anything because he didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I tried to talk to him about what I was

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studying at drama school. But he wasn’t interested. It was too far from his own experience. He saw my first movie, Nishant [1975], which he liked. He died soon after that. Vs: The one film of Baba’s I think he would have enjoyed was Jalwa [the 1987 thriller]. Growing up, Baba was the coolest dad. Ns: One makes mistakes, but I did my best. And so did my dad. Parents often make misguided attempts to help, not realising they are only getting in the way. That is what I look back and think about my dad. That everything he said, no matter how dumb or unreasonable it sounded at the time, was because he thought it would benefit me.

friDay jitterS

Ns: I feel very blessed, because I don’t have to worry about the fate of the films I do — I just put them behind me. I would hate to be the one having sleepless nights over how a film will fare. I cannot imagine how people like Shah Rukh and Aamir [Khan] handle it. Vs: There is a lot of pressure with HNY, but I’m looking forward to it too much to let it affect me. There’s a pet project of mine, a film called Mastan, that’s yet to be finalised. I do feel the pressure for that one. My friend Rocky [Khanna] spent 10 years researching and writing it. It’s set in 1980s Bombay, and it’s about the bhai-log of that time, from the Muslim, Maharashtrian, Christian crime gangs. They were a different species. You still see remnants of them today, in the way Bambaiyas talk.

MeMoirS of a Shah

Ns: I didn’t write it [his memoir] keeping in mind how anybody would feel reading it. I wrote it for my own pleasure, recalling things as completely as I could and noting them down in as engaging a manner as was possible. Now people are complimenting me on how honest it is; I didn’t start it with that intention. It took me about 10 years to complete it because I write slowly and I wrote fitfully. Frankly, I didn’t think I would ever finish it.

E L L E POWER

captain america Whip-smart visionaries and political powerhouses, these six Indian women are shaking up American governance and challenging the status quo

KAMALA AND MAYA HARRIS

Maya Harris, 47

vice-president for democracy, rights and Justice, ford foundation; democrat

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When she was alive, Maya Harris’ mother always told her: “You will have a lot of firsts in your life, just make sure you’re never the last.” As a renowned scientist and cancer researcher, her mother Dr Shyamala Gopalan, Harris says, broke many barriers and never lost sight of her responsibility to bring others along. And she has inherited that credo. The half-Indian, half-Jamaican American is one of the leading voices in civil and human rights and philanthropy in the United States today. After graduating from

Stanford Law School, Harris made her mark as one of the nation’s top civil lawyers and was appointed dean of the Lincoln Law School of San Jose at 29. She worked to establish same-sex marriage for couples, defend women’s right to reproductive freedom, secure voting rights for formerly incarcerated individuals and eliminate racial profiling in the US. In 2008, Harris went on to her current position at the Ford Foundation, where she led a global team to promote effective governance and human rights in the US and 10 other countries. Currently, she is a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a non-partisan think tank that develops new policy ideas and

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critiques obsolete conservative policies. Harris is particularly fervent about promoting policies that strengthen the US economy and democracy through greater inclusion of women and people of colour. In June 2014, the Center for American Progress co-hosted the White House Summit on Working Families where some surprising statistics about America’s working women were highlighted — not only is the US one of four countries (apart from Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland) with no guaranteedpaid maternity leave, but one-third of American women, who make up 50 per cent of the US workforce, are living on the brink of poverty. This is happening at a time when there are more women in the workforce than ever before, with 40 per cent of families relying on the woman as the primary or sole source of income. “We’ve made huge strides in women’s rights; women are attending college at higher rates than men and graduating at a higher rate,” she says. “However, women are still facing inequity. We are still paid, on average, 77 cents on one dollar that a man makes. For women of colour, this gap is

Attorney GenerAl of CAliforniA; DemoCrAt

Power moves: In 2010, Harris made a move up from San Francisco District Attorney to become California’s top law enforcement official — she did so with a margin of over 53,000 votes. she was born for this: Her grandfather was Joint Secretary for the Indian government, and her parents met while taking part in the Civil Rights Movement. Her most vivid memory is that of strolling along the beach with her grandfather, surrounded by his friends — all retired public servants. marijuana? Yes, Please: She’s on team ‘Let’s legalise marijuana’ — strictly for medicinal purposes. And she’s all for samesex marriages. next move: She’s actively seeking a second term, in which she’s looking to slash rates of re-offence. Her proposal? A “recidivism reduction pilot programme”. The Back on Track LA programme seeks to educate and rehabilitate first-time offenders, so that they have the means to survive once they’re out of prison. Does it work?: Yes — after she introduced the programme in San Francisco in 2005, the rate of recidivism went from 53 per cent to 10 per cent in two years.

The hARRIS SISTeRS wITh TheIR MoTheR, dR ShyAMAlA gopAlAN

Don’t be sorrY, obama: No one will ever forget what Barack Obama said about Harris last year: “She’s brilliant and she’s dedicated, she’s tough. She also happens to be, by far, the best-looking Attorney General.”Obama later apologised for the remark, which many called sexist. — SoNAM SAvlANI

Kamala’s Back on Track LA programme seeks to rehabilitate first-time offenders, so that they have the means to survive once they’re out of prison

MAyA hARRIS

even higher. We need to adopt policies like paid leave,so women don’t have to make the choice between bringing home the pay cheque andcaring for their family.” Still, Harris says her biggest achievement has been raising her daughter, who she had when she was just 17. “Meena is smart and funny and warm and compassionate. She’s everything a mother could hope for.” Being a teenage mom while putting herself through UC Berkeley and then Stanford Law School took rock-solid determination: “I really dedicated myself to building my career and being a mother. And they’re the two priorities that have guided my entire life.” She admits that having the support of her exceptional family definitely helped. Harris’ mother moved from India to the US in 1958, at 19, to complete her PhD and work as a scientist. Her older sister, Kamala, became the first South-Asian-African-American Attorney General of California in 2011. And she is married to Tony West, the Associate Attorney General of the US. The focus of Harris’ work this year is bolstering the participation of women in governance. “Unleashing the full potential of women is good for the country and for the economy.” It’s an uphill battle but Harris makes her blueprint for success sound almost easy: “Be fearless. Never assume you can’t do something just because you haven’t done it before or because you don’t have the same background as the people who you see doing it.” She adds, “As women, and especially as women of colour, we have to be twice as good as others. I think you also have to be ready to be the first.” — ANAM MANSURI

— MAyA hARRIS

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As women, and especially as women of colour, we have to be twice as good as others

Kamala Harris, 49

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E L L E POWER see-Through governing: Her election plank? Transparency. Not only are her schedules open for scrutiny, but she also continues to fight for legislators (and their immediate family) to disclose their sources of income. she loves rock ’n’ roll: There’s no situation in her life that won’t be soundtracked by Joan Jett. She even met up with her in May and tweeted: “Strength, talent, passion, & courage... doesn’t get any cooler than her.” — Sonam Savlani

United StateS RepReSentative, Hawaii; democRat

Power moves: Gabbard won her first election to the Hawaii House of Representatives when she was only 21. She’s an Iraq War veteran, the first Hindu to serve in Congress, and currently its youngest female member. The human Touch: “During my first campaign, my goal was to knock on each of the 25,000 doors in my district. I was almost cripplingly shy. I would sit in my car sweating bullets between each door, summoning up my courage.”

NIkkI RANDhAwA hALey, 42

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During my first campaign, my goal was to knock on each of the 25,000 doors in my district. I was cripplingly shy. I would sit in my car sweating bullets

GoveRnoR of SoUtH caRolina; RepUblican

Power moves: Nikki Haley is a hard-hitter. She entered the fray in 2004, fighting a campaign against a 30-year incumbent to win a seat in the House of Representatives. By November 2010, she was in the major leagues. With the support of Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, she became the first female governor of South Carolina — and is currently the youngest governor serving the country.

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Doing Pull-uPs wiTh rePublicans: “In Washington, you’ve got this partisan film over your eyes. So when you get to know someone like Paul Ryan while doing P90X workouts together, you walk away feeling like a bond has been created that allows you to rise above the divisiveness.”

early sTarT: The Bamberg, South Carolina native was 13 when she started keeping books for her family-run clothing business. In 1994, armed with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, she officially joined the company and transformed it into a multi-milliondollar enterprise.

Haley became the first female governor of South Carolina — and is currently the youngest governor serving the country

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Studio d (tulSi gabbaRd)

baby face: “I get stopped by the Capitol Police. One day I was trying to vote and they’re like, ‘Sorry, you can’t pass.’ It’s good Congress is changing to be more representative of America. It’s pretty cool to be a part of that.” — Rachael combe

Job crunch: “We have the fastest-growing economy in the Southeast and we’re not slowing down,” she said last year, according to The Washington Post. And the numbers from her term in office prove this: at 5.3 per cent in April, South Carolina’s unemployment rate was the lowest since 2001.

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TULSI GABBARD, 33

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Neera TaNdeN, 44

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President, Center for AmeriCAn Progress; demoCrAt

Power moves: Tanden started her career in the Clinton White House and went on to be Senator Hillary Clinton’s legislative director before working on her presidential campaign and, later, Obama’s. At the Center for American Progress, she’s the policy whisperer for progressives and was an architect of Obamacare, but says, “Of course, I didn’t work on the website!”

VaNila SiNgh, 43 CongressionAl CAndidAte, CAliforniA; rePubliCAn

HealtH care regrets?: “I take a lot of pride in it. Being a staunch advocate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has not always been fun, but the important thing is to focus on the long game. I think the ACA will be a critical achievement.”

Power moves: Singh, a physician and professor of anaesthesiology and pain managementat the Stanford School of Medicine,was running for Congress in the open primaries in June. She might not have made a big dent, but consider that she entered the race just six months before polls and raised over $1,00,000 for her campaign.

Next oN Her to-do list: “We haven’t made a lot of progress on women’s economic issues. Families are facing huge struggles to balance home and work, and the challenges are only getting harder with the rise in single mothers and poverty.”

sHe’s New, Not raw: “I have a double major from UC Berkeley in molecular biology and economics. It was since that time that I began to take an interest in the American and world economy,” she says. “I saw that our country needs new leadership that is willing and able to work across political lines to advance sound economic principles and foreign policy.” FuNNy boNe? iNtact: Her campaign posters read, “We Need a Doctor in the House.”

tHe old boys’ club: “When I hear talk of the ‘end of men’, I think, has anyone been to Washington? To me it seems like a fear response to the idea of women actually attaining equality. I’m the mother of a son, and I’m not lying awake at night petrified, thinking my son will lose out to all the women out there.”

obamacare is good, but it could be great: Singh believes there are deep flaws in the well-meaning healthcare policy. “Unfortunately, Obamacare compromises the sacred relationship between a patient and their doctor by limiting treatments and stifling medical innovation. The entire world benefits greatly from American medicine and advancement.”

lead oN: “It’s only become more clear to me that the life experiences of decision-makers really matter to how policy is made. It’s almost daunting how much it matters. Look at rape in the military — it’s been a problem for decades, but it’s only when you have women on the Armed Services Committee that the issue has garnered the attention it deserves.” — Rachael combe

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Just doN’t call Her ‘vaNilla’: “It’s a great conversation piece and an icebreaker!” she laughs, “But my name actually means forest (van) and earth (ila) in Sanksrit, not ice cream.” — sonam savlani

When I hear talk of the ‘end of men’, I think, has anyone been to Washington?

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imagelibRaRy/coRbis (vanila singh); images studio d (neeRa tanden)

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Our country needs new leadership that is willing and able to work across political lines

E L L E SELF

FAT

CHANCE

p ELLE LOVES Want some biggirl style tips? Find our fave ‘fatshionista’ blogs on ELLE.in/fatshion

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The dating life of a big girl is like any other — except for the patronising compliments, the politically-correct self-consciousness and usually, the second date. Ameya Nagarajan bares it all

eople are always shocked when they find out how much I weigh. Of course, like a good fat woman, I don’t wander around advertising it, but there are times — especially with guys who are trying to prove how okay they are with my size and how manly they are — when I need to pull out that number and wave it about (let me tell you that it has three digits). This is because they will try to lift me, and I’m not exactly psyched about driving someone to the emergency room because they’ve thrown their back out. I suppose I’m lucky that my genetics have distributed my weight to give me a shape, and a nice one at that. I’m also lucky that I lived outside India for a while (New York City, to be precise), and while there, I learnt that it is possible for fat women to wear stylish clothes that flatter and fit us, instead of the flappy, shapeless numbers we’re all consigned to in India. Of course, back here, all this does is make me stand out. More than I already do as an opinionated, independent woman. This goes really well with that fat girl personality, by the way: belly laughs and selfdeprecation, loud voice and expansive irreverence. The whole package, however — cellulite, personality and opinions all put together — sometimes feels manrepellent. I’m 32, and have been single most of my adult life. I have had one relationship, for about 18 months, and dated one guy semi-seriously, for about three weeks. Don’t get me wrong; I have wanted many men. I spent five years pining after a series of nice guys who were my friends and then turned not so nice when they

realised I wanted more. “You’re only attractive when I’m drunk,” one of them kindly explained to me. It was only when I lived in NYC and suddenly became attractive to men that I began to think about how we see large women in India. A fat girl in India can be dated in one of two ways: the fetish or the dirty secret. “I love BBW,” they confide earnestly, maybe holding your hand or looking into your eyes. “That’s nice,” you respond, wondering how it’s okay to talk about sexual preferences this early on. If you, like me, choose instead to tell them that it is not exactly appropriate, the response will likely be injured self-righteousness: “Arre! I’m just saying I like women like you; not these skinny chicks like sticks, man. It’s a compliment!” “You’re right,” I respond. “I really should be deeply grateful to you for fetishising my body in the opposite way from how women’s bodies are usually fetishised. I mean, it’s not like I have a personality or anything that you might want to engage with.” And then there’s the guy who wants to sleep with you, to hold you, to lie in bed and read books with you, but the second someone else shows up, he’s on the other side of the room. Like one of those cat gifs. My ex took a good six months to come around to the idea of dating me, and on some subconscious level, I think it was because I wasn’t a girlfriend his macho colleagues would envy him for. Thankfully for us, his better side reasserted itself and he began to walk around in a happy daze at being with someone he saw as wildly intelligent.

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so I’ve never gone down that road. But it still hung over me, for about seven years. Why was I not good enough? I was willing to date anyone. Did it really all come down to how I looked? Of course, I got gooey at the sight of a hot guy; tall men still make me weak at the knees. But this never stopped me from engaging with short men, fat men, bald men, even long-haired men. My ex was very large when we were together (then he went and lost half his weight after we broke up, clearly deciding who won that break up!) and the other guy I dated was a whole inch shorter than me. I will admit that I am a bit of a brain use snob — if you don’t use it, you lose all attractiveness very rapidly — but that doesn’t mean I won’t even give you a shot. It didn’t help that I’ve never been ambitious in the least. I’ve always only wanted to get married and raise kids, to the benign bewilderment of my very feminist and anti-establishment family. But it was the one thing I simply couldn’t do. What made it worse was how people dismissed my pain. “You have plenty of time!” they’d say expansively. “Why do you want to get married? You’re so clever; you have so much potential! Get a job! Embrace your liberated 21st-century womanhood!” It’s funny; I can’t see anyone being told, “Don’t worry about it; it’ll happen when it does. Why don’t you get married? You should take advantage of the opportunities you have!” when they’re devastated

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Which brings me to attraction. There are a couple of funny things I’ve noticed. For one, guys often talk about how they’re attracted to intelligent women; if I had a dollar for every time an online dating message or profile contained the word ‘sapiosexual’, I might be able to live in America again. But the catch here is that your intelligence often needs to be just a smidge lower than where they perceive their intelligence to be. Someone’s always telling me to tone it down: “Make the guy feel like a man — you don’t have to be right every time!” Secondly, many men are actually attracted to curvy women over really thin ones. Believe me, I know — you might say I have hard evidence — but yet we must persist in trying to portray the ideal as Penélope Cruz. Does this have something to do with aspiring to the lifestyles of white men who are photographed with Penélope Cruz-like girls? Sure we see different women in the media, but the most that can be said about them is that they’re not rail-thin. They’re not large women either. Huma Qureshi is a thin normal; Vidya Balan has some curves; Lena Dunham does have flab but that doesn’t make her fat; and actors like Rebel Wilson and Melissa McCarthy are never seen as a romantic lead, or really treated as normal. They’re the “Look! We’re using plus-size actors!” gimmick. Can you see them in a lingerie catalogue?

Many men are actually attracted to curvy women over really thin ones. Believe me, I know — you might say I have hard evidence

It’s kind of difficult embracing yourself as a sexual being and, more painfully, dateable being, in this context. I have struggled so much with my body image. First, I walked around with a pall of ‘I’m so fat, I’m unattractive’ hanging over my head. And the fact is, like all the self-help books say, people just pick up from you how to think about you. Of course, it’s not like I came up with it out of thin air — I was the fat girl that everyone made fun of; I was that girl you used to make boys run by telling them she liked them. In my mid-twenties, ably assisted by a Colombian man and the wide spectrum of attractiveness I saw in New York, I managed to accept myself as attractive. This might also have something to do with the shape I developed at about the same time, and the clothes I could wear. It’s funny how normal it makes you feel to be able to walk into a shop and buy something without desperately asking for an XXL that you know will actually never fit. I went out with a few guys back then, and it wasn’t so different from later on in Delhi. I met them at the university, at salsa bars, at friends’ houses. We’d laugh and talk and flirt, we’d get dinner and drinks, maybe go dancing. I’d have a wonderful time. But then I rarely saw them again. I don’t know if it was because I didn’t always put out or I had a completely different understanding of what constitutes a good date. But I could never land a second one. I began to wonder: was my personality really that bad? Should I try and dumb myself down? Luckily, I’ve had enough friends and family, male and female, who have firmly and often vehemently squashed that idea,

at the loss of a job and their inability to find another. I never managed to get over my feelings of failure, because I never had the space to accept them. When I, aged 27, finally did find a boyfriend, it seemed like it might actually happen. But then, when I broke up with my ex, I suddenly found myself single again at 29, and accelerating towards 30. I dated madly, mostly online. They were young, they were Punjabi, they were looking for sex. I never saw any of them more than once. It was only once I turned 30 that everyone began to nod along sympathetically when I said I was lost and hopeless because there was only one thing I really wanted and it seemed like it would never happen. And then, I ran smack dab into a long patch of depression. Thankfully, I had a stellar therapist, and eventually managed to make my peace with those feelings of failure, to accept also that I might be one of those people who doesn’t get the happy ending. After all, in every race, someone has to come second. Incidentally, this is what has made my 30s so wonderful. I have built the life I want to live, not the life I can quickly slide out of when the hope of a man arrives — and yes, I’m aware this means I’ll likely always be single. I bought furniture, I got a cat, I throw dinner parties. I go to all the places I want to go. I fill my life with friends and family and love. I get my baby love from the children my friends and family have. And it’s not like my size has prevented me from having a sex life or a love life. I have loved as deeply as any other person, and I have had some spectacularly good lays. I’ll always want that second date, but such as it is, this life is actually a pretty damn good one.

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E L L E FLASHBACK it clear that we were not.) The waiters seemed to know them both — together. Tarun said they were regulars here. Really? Mum had never mentioned the place before. I wanted to tell my father about it but somehow I knew I shouldn’t. What would I say anyway? “Hey dad, there’s this pricey restaurant you don’t know about and would never really like, but mum and her friend go there all the time”? On the drive back, his car would be thick with the smell of air freshener mixed with cigarettes — a smell I came to associate very quickly with this cigar-chuffing, whisky-swilling, Bee Gees-loving man. Our family car was a sanatorium in comparison. But why was I even drawing comparisons between him and us? Over the course of multiple, somewhat-awkward-somewhatenjoyable meetings like these, I learnt more about him and them.

HOW I MET MY Radhika Mehra remembers how she came to accept the man outside (and inside) her parents’ marriage

MOTHER’S LOVER

remember the first time I met him — I couldn’t have been over 12. We were at a resort some miles outside the city, and he, Tarun, had brought his mother and sister along. My mother had brought me. I couldn’t tell why but it made me uncomfortable to see her hanging out with her... friend. The way they laughed. The way they sang Boney M (after plugging in Love For Sale for the billionth time). The way they remembered moments from back when they met — from before I was born. He didn’t make the best first impression. He was too chatty, too familiar and he smoked non-stop. It must’ve been a long, slow day, because despite the beautiful setting, I kept nudging my mother to take us back home. We would meet again soon — this time for dinner. I wondered if the people sitting next to our table thought we were a family. (I would’ve liked to place a little disclaimer somewhere to make

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How his wife had walked away from their marriage, and slowly, his daughter too. How he desperately tried to stay in their lives, but they chose to keep their distance. That was when he met my mum, fresh out of college, in her first job, and fiercely independent. She would learn about his messy life and love him anyway. They wanted to marry. Her parents wouldn’t hear of it; my grandfather threatened suicide. She abandoned her plans. This was strike two for my mum. Strike one was when my grandmother made her IRL unfriend an innocent college crush. There would be a wedding soon, but that of my mother and father’s. Strike three. I digested this information and felt more and more sympathetic. Suddenly, the idea of Tarun and my mother didn’t feel utterly wrong. He got there first, way before my father, and was still here — there’s something to be said about commitment even after you don’t get the girl. Meanwhile, home was a tangle of frayed nerves and foul tempers. Petty arguments would descend into physical abuse. It didn’t take much to make my father

were meant to be big, holidays extravagant, life a string of crazy experiences and ambition, blind. My father was dramatically opposite: a quiet, steady force, full of nose-tothe-ground earnestness. We would use the same car for five to eight years. He had us live well but within our means. Holidays were neatlystructured boot camps of the touroperator variety, which left little or no room for spontaneity (and yet somehow, their uptight hilarity is what I remember most fondly now). Tarun showed me everything I could be, the possibilities; my father radiated the boring, important stuff: moderation, sacrifice, commitment. I knew who I’d call if I was ever in trouble but what does that matter to an invincible teenager just learning about palm pilots and O2 phones?

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I monitored them no matter where we went. Keeping them from any kind of physical intimacy, I felt, was the least I owed my father

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rage — a misplaced kitchen towel, not being able to find a smallsomething-something, a less-thantidy living room. Anything. I think he sensed danger, but not knowing exactly what it was made him skittish, angry, violent. I almost told him everything so many times when that frightening ire was directed at me, but I knew Tarun and my mother’s relationship was the only thing between each of them and profound, irreparable sadness. I didn’t want to blow it. He became my mother’s salve (mine too) after every outburst. She could scream and cry and vent and find comfort with him for a few hours. And the more they shared with me, the more I felt invested, like a friend — a schizophrenic one. I was happy for them, but I still secretly hoped he’d leave us alone. I’d cringe every time they held hands, or sat too close. She took care to keep it strictly PG-13 (even kissing would have been too much for me) but I was taking no chances. I monitored them no matter where we went. Whenever I sat in the front seat of the car, I’d keep turning around to make sure nothing was happening. I knew it made them uncomfortable, but I didn’t care. Keeping them from any kind of physical intimacy, I felt, was the least I owed my father. It got to the point where I did nothing except sit on the prickly fence. The more I saw them together, the more they made sense to me. My mother was either in awe of him or deeply jealous. Her nine-to-five at the state bank never involved “a stopover in Switzerland” or “dancing on a bar in Amsterdam till wayyy into the night.” He introduced her to more artists than MTV. She bought him tickets to every new play and movie worth catching, and helped transform his house from a mancave. I had begun liking him too without my realising it; I thought he was cool. Tarun had a collection of George Michael and Elton John albums, which, at the time, beat the pants off Jagjit Singh’s Golden Collection at home. We’d team up against my mother for a laugh, he knew all about my crushes (if I didn’t tell him, she would) and would give me advice I knew my awkward father would categorically hate. Tarun was always looking to outdo himself (and dad). Cars

My parents’ marriage had been cruising on autopilot for a long time then. If dad knew about Tarun, he didn’t let on. Until one day, after a particularly ugly fight, my mother walked out with me. We moved into Tarun’s house. That prickly fence? It was now a full-fledged barbed line of control. Together, they managed to make the domesticity enjoyable for a while. I was happy for her, I was happy for him, but I couldn’t imagine what this was doing to my father. If my voice trembled on the phone when he called to speak to me, I’d promptly hand it over to her. But I didn’t suggest we go back home — she was happier than I’d seen her in a while. In a short matter of weeks, though, cracks began to appear in this new arrangement. Years of living alone had made him set in his ways. For all his modernity, he expected my mother to keep his house for

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him and consulted his mother on everything. Now that we were a reality, he seemed wary. Especially of me; maybe he hadn’t thought I’d come along. (In a fit of parental righteousness years later, my mother said he’d wanted to pack me off to boarding school, but she hadn’t allowed it. I was surprised how much that hurt; I’d thought Tarun was my friend.) It was all happening too fast to make any sense of it then — calls from the family, from dad, flying back and forth, minutes turning into days, tiny, increasingly frequent eruptions between Tarun and her. When we spoke about it, she’d consult me like an equal, and I’d confess about the tug of war in my head — I suppose it was filed under ‘Cons’. It soon became apparent that they were both not ready to dig in their heels and give it their all. Neither was prone to blind trust. And you could smell their fear from a distance. Their relationship only worked as an escape, not as a reality. In the end, I think, all the interventions by various members of our family gave my mother the cover she needed to take us back home. Dad never quite told me how he summoned the forgiveness; a barren house was unbearable, is all he said. Settling in again was full of awkward silences, but in a few months — with a laugh here, a terrible telecom service there (against which we could all rage as a family) — we hobbled past those. The comfort of routine was crucial. My father’s temper was more in check now. We had stability, or something like it. Tarun and my mother were in touch for a while, both unable to completely walk away or fully commit, yet finally agreed that they were headed for nowhere. Eventually he left the city, married for companionship and never resurfaced. There were the cursory birthday wishes exchanged for a few years, until even those petered out. In the 15 years since then, my parents’ marriage has been through every kind of extreme — long lapses of peace and laughter and equally long lapses of tension and loathing — many times over. But neither of them threatened to walk away ever again. As for me, I missed that odd old whiff of air freshener mixed with cigarettes.

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Sitting tight and getting bored is the way to your next creative epiphany. Cheryl-Ann Couto brings you the latest in ennui

hile I rack my brain for a sufficiently enthralling way to approach the subject of boredom, my eight-month-old tortoiseshell kitten (my roommate’s kitten, actually; mine, spiritually, in the way that requires no evidence to be true) has been riotously entertained by a 2”x2” piece of cellophane paper for the third consecutive hour. It began with a stealth advance from behind the laundry basket and graduated to all-out warfare — throwing, head-butting, rolling, licking, forgetting, napping, wrestling — and eventually entering into warm, fitful armistice, from which she’ll now awake only around noon to celebrate with kibble and a toilet water beverage. In the same time, I will have checked Instagram twice, three — okay, four — times on my cellular portal to the entire universe, eaten five of six remaining cheese straws from yesterday’s tea, Google-researched ‘normcore dressing, but good-looking’, and hopefully come a little closer to understanding why this relentless ennui is supposedly good for me. Research suggests that reasonable amounts of boredom help prime the mind for creativity. By its clinical definition, boredom is the wish, but not the ability, to do something more satisfying than you are at that moment. And if this vexation were allowed to ferment and mature, say the studies, instead of being immediately snuffed out, it would likely yield imaginative and meaningful solutions as the brain begins to form valuable cross-connections. Closing all windows and mindlessly watching the cat-paper combat has allowed me my first breakthrough in hours, I’ll give them that.

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In fact, scientists prod, take a closer look at the lives of the world’s brightest minds, across the ages and vocations; common to the shrewd politico, nuclear physicist, prima ballerina and Nobel laureate is an enormous threshold for tedium. Vast swathes of little to report (while they embraced the drama-less rigours of their craft, greatly helped by humdrum routines) are punctuated by rare periods of extraordinary brilliance and momentum. Einstein exalted the monotony and quietude of country life as being vital to his work. Stephen King wrote Carrie while correcting reams of middle-school English papers in a double-wide trailer in the tiny Los Angeles town of Hermon, which he called “the asshole of the world” (he later submitted to hurt Hermonites that it was really no more than the armpit of the world). Sleep (1963) and Empire (1964), Warhol’s violently uneventful “anti-films” — one a five-hour-twentyminute silent vigil of a sleeping protagonist and the other an eight-hour black-and-white static shot of the Empire State Building — were the pop artist’s ode to contemplative dullness. But one could argue that’s the constructive, doing kind of boredom, and yours is most definitely the other kind. It’s so acute, you’re barely conscious; last you knew, you were waking up and now you’re at your desk at work, clothed, moisturised and surfing VICE. What happened in between? Surely this is not the creative ritual of India’s next big novelist or performance artist? You should be out there, attending book parties, asking fey authors multilayered questions, documenting vox populi and enrolling in think tanks. Wrong, research says: boredom so severe that it actually

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makes you glaze over could very well be a creative Poetic positively, but utterly unrealistic, Tim? You catalyst. Psychologists at the University of Central try being a full-time employee at a media company, Lancashire, UK, recently found that people faced with “know everything at all times” at the very with boring, passive activities — like copying pinnacle of your KRA mountain. I’ve known braver numbers out of a phone book, or worse, just reading it colleagues who stopped to sniff the roses, deleted — were better problem solvers because the drabness their Facebook profiles, took up permaculture, and gave them room to daydream. Daydreaming, as it nobody’s heard of them since. Can’t I get the golden happens, is like a strenuous bout of piloxing for your goose of meaning and creative-savvy without the working memory (that section of your memory that unhappy droppings of obsoleteness and obscurity? is able to hold more than one conscious thought at Maybe, yes. a time). And a working memory with great glutes The key to fructifying boredom is rather boring. means your capacity to accommodate and process It’s the answer to any number of modern-life multiple thoughts is first-rate, you’re generally great maladies: stop being terrified of stillness. Even if at any kind of connect-the-dots situation and you’re just for a handful of minutes a day. Our minds are probably annoying your more industrious colleagues not unlike eight-month-old tortoiseshell kittens. You with a reserve of genius ideas that appear to come can’t cramp their style. Handle them too much and from doing a fat lot of nothing. they’ll scorn your advances and stay maddeningly But it isn’t as easy as all that (is it ever?). To begin to out of reach. They need flyaway bits of cellophane really distil the doldrums into something significant, and cat doors to let themselves out of, to go bring us first you need to absolve it of its historically bad rap back all sorts of terrifyingly creative prizes. So the — and the digital age of its culpability. Boredom next time you find you’re beginning to go comatose is not the invention of 21st-century technology scrolling through strangers’ Instagrams, throw reprobates, listless from overstimulation. It is as your phone in a drawer and let your mind goof off old as time itself. Seneca equated it to nausea; in for real. It’ll feel strange and discomfiting at first, Christian tradition, it was the noonday demon; but then you’ll start to exhale. Each time it returns excavated Pompeian murals told of inertia and from one of its jaunts, that vague anxiety lodged in monotony, too. And let’s not forget how many of our your stomach will have ebbed a little. (For now, I’ve whole, entire teenage lives were spent dungareesmade brittle friends with my boredom by logging deep in boredom, zit-analysing, out of all social networks on aching for Milind Soman and my smartphone; desktops and Instead of desperately being carted from one aunt’s laptops just don’t allow that rattling your brain for house to the other’s during same kind of mental passivity. summer vacations that yawned Unrelated: I’m sleeping better ideas, ignore instinct and into infinity; “I’m bored!” suddenly, reading more and amp down into the dullness was practically the teenage hating myself a little less.) of many false starts and war cry and Twitter and Once this practice becomes Facebook would not be around muscle memory, the next step comely blankness for another decade. So we is to, without any sudden needn’t carry around the heavy moves, gently shepherd the baggage of having started it, only the handbag of loafer. Concentrating on your breathing, calmly having exacerbated its menace with 140-character, making lists (groceries, career goals, celebrities you’d filter-drenched instant distractions. like to make nasty with), asking yourself what would Which brings us to misconception two: rigorous make you genuinely happy to rather be doing this industry will fix our noonday demon. You’ll have minute. You’ll find your mind, emboldened by the come across these human automatons of drive and long leash, throw up suggestions both meaningful constructiveness who plug every square inch of and surprising (don’t heed the one about the available time with things to do, anything for bracing undercut, they only suit people with tiny heads). productivity. So much so that even the decision to You might even find yourself suddenly flush with rest is carefully calibrated to wring out even more philanthropy: another UK study found that enough productivity and with little care for intuition. boredom can, surprisingly, even motivate us into Busyness becomes the benchmark by which they pro-social behaviour in the quest for meaning. (A measure meaning and self-worth, and perhaps keep corresponding US study found that we’re far more two steps ahead of the emptiness that sitting stock- creative when we’re thinking about others than still threatens. Plus, and perhaps most importantly, when we’re thinking about ourselves). they’re bloody annoying. As for when you’re faced with a creative roadblock, In his much-shared New York Times column on not the least of which is a blank Word document and debilitating busyness, essayist and cartoonist Tim a looming deadline, instead of getting amped up to Kreider posits: “Idleness is not just a vacation, an slay the bastard by desperately rattling your brain indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the and going on witch hunts for ideas, ignore instinct brain as vitamin D is to the body. The space and and amp down into the dullness of many false starts quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition and comely blankness. Your big idea should be for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for along any moment now. All it needs is the wondrous making unexpected connections and waiting for vacuum of your mind to hang up its hat, loosen its the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration.” pants and order takeout.

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BIG NOISE #elleplaylisT Think you know Rahman's best? Not until you've heard his Tamil hits at ELLE.in/ tamiljams

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AR Rahman has had something to do with almost all of Hindi cinema’s greatest musical triumphs in the last two decades — even as his soundscape remains stubbornly beyond classification. Aishwarya Subramanyam talks to Indian music’s gentle giant

hen I’m interviewing AR Rahman, there are several things I’m afraid of. One, that my phone will run out of battery because iPhone. Two, the call from Los Angeles will drop again because Vodafone. Three, the recorder won’t pick up speakerphone properly or it will stop working midway because life. And four, that I will be murdered on the empty street that I have stopped my taxi in to do this interview, because it’s past midnight and this is the only time he can talk, and my taxi driver is looking at me in a creepy way.

Illustration NILESH JADHAV

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The night-time sounds of Bombay are around me: the whoosh of cars and bikes that zip past, thrilling for speed the only time they can in the city, and on the other end of the line is a young, giggly voice, kind and warm. Rahman is not intimidating, because I know him, don’t I, through his songs. He’s sort of the Sachin Tendulkar of music, I think, someone impossibly good, whom we have all seen soar to the top, have good days and then bad; we all want to tell him how to do his job and what doesn’t work, and at the end of it all, we will forgive him anything because he is ours. I was 11 years old when Roja happened in 1992. Like any good Iyer girl of that time, my understanding was mainly of the Carnatic classical I learnt from a very patient music teacher. At home it was Tamil film music, by which I mean the deep earthiness of Ilayaraja. Then out of nowhere came this sharp, modern sound, a potent mix of sex, sensuality and sweetness, pictured on the wonderfully moustached Arvind Swamy, then the pinnacle of virility, good and clean and wicked at the same time. “Roja was special. At the time, I felt like it took everything from me, I didn’t think I had any music left inside any more,” says Rahman, in his gentle, honest way. Roja was certainly special. It was the beginning of his journey with Mani Ratnam, when it felt like the music was inside the films and the films were inside the music. “We would just jam together, pick and choose what excited us; sometimes he liked something I would overlook, sometimes he would push me to try something, there was a lot of give and take, and a similar vision. The only time we would disagree was when he wanted me to sing; I wanted to give the opportunity to another singer. For me it was convenient, I could sing every song, but I didn’t want that convenience to become annoying,” he chuckles. When he was growing up, Rahman knew very little about Hindi music: “I had heard Sholay and some of the Subhash Ghai stuff on the radio and on LP records,” he says. Like my generation witnessed him taking over the industry, he too witnessed a changing of the guard in Tamil film music — from MS Viswanathan and KV Mahadevan to the dawn of Ilayaraja. “He was so focused and spiritual, people used to respect him so much that it was almost like faith. He was my inspiration.” Rahman worked with the composer for a year and a half, programming for him on his music computer (“It was from Singapore,” he says proudly) until restlessness to get out there and learn new music set in. It was then that Rahman discovered the influence that would inform his music possibly forever. “One of my friends played me a record by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. What was this, I thought. I hadn’t heard music like this before.

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I listened to ‘Dam Mast Kalandar’ and it blew my mind; I had heard qawwalis before, but nothing like this. It changed my whole perception of music. After that I started listening to him in a frenzy.” Eventually, Sufi music found its way into his own. ‘Piya Haji Ali’ from Fiza (2000), his first attempt, received unanimous applause, and then he couldn’t stop. “The music of Bose — The Forgotten Hero (2005) became something of a cult. Gay choirs sang it, underground choirs sang it in Chicago, Michigan. It was amazing, it had gone beyond religion,” he says, and I can hear the smile. But before Rahman became a gay-choir favourite, he was Dileep Kumar, a boy who used to tag along with his composer dad to studios, playing the keyboards. After his father passed away when he was nine, he suddenly had the weight of family responsibility on his hands. He started playing for the film industry, assisting various composers when he was just 12. Sacrifices are made when you grow up so early. “Quitting school was a hard one. I used to think, who’s going to respect me, I’ve not been to college; it was a burden I carried for a while. I don’t care about it now, but at that time, for some five years, I wanted to go back to study, get a degree. I now realise that you study more from life. When you are put in a situation, in a spot, you learn so much more; it forces you to think, to talk, to act. That’s learning.” What’s incredible to me is how spotless his life has been. “Unlike those who have set a bad example with drug addiction, drunkenness, debauchery?” he giggles. “When I was young I had my family, you know, it forced me to think clean.” It’s also tied in with his constant search for peace. “There will always be a hundred things to distract you. Quietness has to come from within. You can sit in a completely quiet room and if there’s a storm within the mind, the silence outside won’t help. You can be in a noisy place and be quiet within, and the noise doesn’t matter. It’s all in the mind, and I believe that training your mind to do what you say is the most important thing to learn.” Dileep Kumar found what he was looking for in Islam. It was a pre-9/11 world when he changed his religion, and I wonder if he would still make that decision now, knowing what he does about how perceptions have changed and prejudices have grown. “For me it was a personal transformation,” he says. “I found spirituality in Islam, it was not ritualistic or political. And I still feel the same, really uplifted by it. Whatever is happening in the world, everyone interprets differently, but what I found was purity and peace, and that reflects in my life.” It is also where his musical majesty springs from, this place of peace. It’s funny because his music seems so full of unbridled emotion, speaking to something inside all of us. It’s like he understood that we want to laugh

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and cry and dance, sometimes all at once. To when you start writing music that you really an adolescent, it felt like he took all of those understand how difficult it is. For me it’s feelings in you, those feelings you can’t explain about taking out all the technicalities and or understand because goddammit growing up focusing on the truth of the tune, and to is a bitch, and he put it all together in a mixie connect to that. Sometimes the simplest thing and created some sort of divine idli batter can take a long time to get around, but you have that produced the plumpest… I think this to be true to your heart.” metaphor may have gotten away from me. Rahman shuttles between America and When he’s writing, though, Rahman says India, but Chennai is home. “Madras was a he tries to be neutral: “Sometimes you sit at beautiful place when I was young — ultimately the piano and play a chord, and it takes you it’s not fancy buildings and technology that to an emotion right away. It’s hard sometimes, make a place, it’s the people, the warmth. Once it falls into place some other times, which I moved to the US, coming back was at first a is a blessing.” He thinks for a minute and culture shock for me, even though I knew the continues, “Spirituality is something I can hold place so well. The noise, god, the noise was on to, nothing else stays with you, everything excruciating. Then you start living with it, you is impermanent.” start getting interested in it.” That’s a lot of wisdom from someone who And his way of giving back to the noise was used to play in a ‘rock band’ in school. He by making more musicians, reluctantly at first. laughs, “We used to do covers of Deep Purple, “Starting the school was a headache, I didn’t Pink Floyd. But I didn’t know anything about want the responsibility, but after a few years, rock. I would just transcribe from the record and you see what wonderful things can happen,” have the notes in front of me while playing!” he says. “Educating a child in music changes Not exactly Kurt Cobain, then. the whole family, it creates social But the thing about Rahman upliftment. This is a known area for is that he never stops changing me. This is selfish.” He started the Creative arrogance his sound. Which is what makes KM Music Conservatory in Chennai it difficult to define. From Roja to in 2008, and moved it to a stateis a good thing, it Dil Se (1998) to Rang de Basanti of-the-art facility last year. “I want makes you want to (2005) to Rockstar (2011) to everyone who comes out of there Highway (2014), you can’t really to be a success story.” He’s offering create something pin it down. And he likes it that way, them a great start with Ashutosh amazing. Otherwise “Maybe there’s something about my Gowariker’s TV show Everest, “a my art would be harmonies that makes people think story of a girl who climbs Everest to they recognise me in my songs. But win her father’s love,” which will air as boring as I want to surprise, and I want to next month. Rahman and students my personality keep evolving.” He is always curious from his college have all composed to know what people think of his music for the series (“Gowariker has music, good or bad, he says. “You’re got some extraordinary work from in a team, and you are surrounded by opinions, them”), a dream realised for him. but I always ask, did you play it for someone He has always looked for the next new else outside of us? Did they like it?” thing, hasn’t he? From assisting composers to And what if they didn’t? Does he take doing jingles for commercials to composing criticism well or does ego come into play? He music for Tamil films and then Hindi films can’t be all soft-spoken niceness, after all. “I do to reinventing patriotic music to composing listen to the bad, honestly. I think you need to for Hollywood films and Broadway to winning separate your personal ego from your creative Academy Awards to becoming part of a superarrogance. Creative arrogance is a good heavy, if short-lived, band… it’s sort of amazing thing, it makes you want to create something to me that he doesn’t just fall down. “The amazing. Otherwise my art would be as boring next step is a terrifying one,” he says. “I’m as my personality.” going to produce a movie.” All he will say now Sometimes though, he admits, people just (apologetically) is that it’s a movie about music, don’t get it. It takes time and many listens for which he has been working on for four or five them to come around to his music, which is years. He now has a director, and expects things something we have all felt at some point about to reach a gallop by the end of the year. He will a Rahman song, isn’t it? And when you get it, admit, though, that he is insanely excited. it’s like a window opens. “Music, you know, it Before he goes, I ask what’s on his playlist, can change people. You can be messed-up in the because that’s the playlist I want in my life. He head, and then listen to a beautiful song, and says sheepishly that he isn’t listening to any it brings happiness, hope. It’s very positive,” music, because there’s so much mixing going he says. And hard. “When you first start out, on at work in different languages. Anything he you criticise everybody. Oh, this sounds like watches on TV now is on mute. “I can hear the that, he sounds like this person, but it’s only music without hearing it.”

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! Available in all Baggit Stores, Multibrand Outlets and other online retail partners also on Baggit website.

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most popular echoes of 2014

#elleplayliSt Secretly love ’em? Turn up the volume on our compilation of sticky songs, at ELLE.in/ earworm

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Use the honey singh blUeprint Trace any Bollywood hype track to its source, and you’re likely to find a pair of studded sunnies staring back at you. Composer-lyricist-singer-rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh made a disquieting first impression when deciphered poetry from his Punjabi pop days emerged. But once the initial eye-rolls and ‘misogynist!’ cries subsided, and Singh tiptoed away from his ‘Ch**t’ (the rapey single he narrowly escaped conviction for) past, Bollywood realised this Trinity College London alumnus and Mika Singh fan had just the formula for world domination — his songs were swiftly moving westward, and even topped BBC’s Official Asian Download chart. Yo Yo (a moniker inspired by his African-American friends) became a dance-floor favourite, Bollywood paid him millions (more than any other singer), former eye-rollers found themselves humming ‘Lungi Dance’, and you found yourself deleting your web history (recently viewed videos: ‘Sunny Sunny’). This is (probably) how he does it...

‘Kamli Kamli’ (Dhoom 3) — repeat 26 times

‘Saturday Saturday’ (Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania) — repeat 38 times

miNd-beNdiNg lyrics Like in ‘Chaar Botal Vodka’ (Ragini MMS 2), where he repeatedly states, ‘I wanna hangover tonight’. Which implies he wants to get wasted. But then he’d be hung-over tomorrow. Or was he drinking in the morning? Maybe he wants to hang out?

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Never-heardbefore souNds Like in ‘Aata Majhi Satakli’ (Singham 2), where what could only be a group of adolescent pixies chant, ‘Fight, fight/ Fight like Bruce Lee’.

socially aware statemeNts Like in ‘Yeh Fugly Fugly Kya Hai’ (Fugly), where he exposes the nation’s ‘fugly’ side — ‘Baap ke paise pe koodna’ (rich brats)/‘Sadak ke kone pe mootna’ (public urination)/‘377 hatna’ (LGBT discrimination)/ ‘Ya Jessica Lal ki ghatna’ (Jessica Lal murder).

Look beyond the obvious Hidden behind the ostentation of the Mika Singhs and Yo Yo Honey Singhs is the lesser-known success story of a few other Singhs — the Meet brothers (Harmeet and Manmeet Singh) and Anjjan Bhattacharya, the composer trio with a name as unique as their sound: Meet Bros Anjjan. You can thank them for ‘Pink Lips’, ‘Baby Doll’, ‘Party To Banti Hai’ and future baby names.

Plan for

the future

Invest In a KaK(K)ar

An earworm must have music-video potential, which must be supported by kooky moves, which will be mimicked on dance floors, which will increase the song's lifespan. To keep this complex machinery well-oiled, lyricists often turn to the buttock.

The latest name in Bollywood music that’s multiplying at the speed of Khan

rear geMs ‘EnginE Ki SEEti’ (Khoobsurat)

Sonu KaKKar ‘London thumaKda’ (QuEEn) The wild, powerful voice from ‘Babuji’

In which Sonam Kapoor has a ‘bum dole’ moment every time she hears an engine whistle.

aKriti KaKar ‘Saturday Saturday’ (humpty Sharma Ki duLhania) The singer who made ‘Pappu Can’t Dance Saala’ a teen anthem.

‘ShaKE your Bootiya’ (Finding Fanny)

nEha KaKKar ‘Sunny Sunny’ (yaariyan) The raspy singer with ‘selfie versions’ of her hits on YouTube.

SuKriti and praKriti KaKar ‘BoSS’ (BoSS) The teenage duo are already music-tour regulars.

In which miniature Arjun Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur and Dimple Kapadia have a manic, butt-shaking dance-off.

+ other stIcKy voIces

KaniKa Kapoor ‘Baby Doll’, the only surviving memory of Ragini MMS 2, was the London-based singer’s Bollywood debut; she’s now singing for Farah Khan’s Happy New Year.

‘tooh’ (Gori Tere Pyaar Mein, 2013) In which Kareena Kapoor offers a master class on butt-grooving. But a wooden Imran Khan just doesn’t seem to get it right.

naKaSh aziz The Mangalorean singer is a Rahman protégé (Highway, The Hundred-Foot Journey), and the voice behind the testosterone-boosting ‘Gandi Baat’ (R...Rajkumar, 2013).

IdentIfy the alter ego

Bollywood composers sometimes lead double lives as indie champions and earworm generators

Vishal dadlani is the gravelly, stageshaking rocker from Pentagram, whose last album (Bloodywood, 2012) was the antithesis of everything mainstream.

Vishal dadlani is also the singercomposer (along with his partner Shekhar Ravjiani) responsible for the infallible party-starter ‘1-2-3-4 Get On The Dance Floor’ (Chennai Express) and lends his voice to ‘Tune Mari Entriyaan’ (Gunday). E L L e OCTOber 2014 |

Sneha Khanwalkar is the Anurag Kashyap of Bollywood music, the independent force behind the fresh sound of Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Love Sex Aur Dhokha who also gave music television respite from screechy confrontations with her MTV show Sound Trippin’.

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Sneha Khanwalkar is also the composer who developed the unlikely train whistle-Rajasthani folk mash-up in ‘Engine Ki Seeti’ (Khoobsurat).

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E L L E MUSIC

Bollywood special

Bollywood songwriting just isn’t what it used to be — where is the beauty, the grace, the gravitas? Nirmika Singh confronts the poets of this generation

“

am known as a hooker on the circuit,” says Ashish Pandit, casually. He is Bollywood’s current go-to guy when it comes to marrying tunes from the factories of music directors like Pritam and Sachin-Jigar to lyrical hooks. You can blame him for gems like ‘Dhinka Chika’ (Ready), ‘Main Kya Karoon’ (Barfi!) and ‘Kaddu Katega’ (R... Rajkumar). What self-respecting lyricist would admit he’s a mercenary hit-churner? Where is that huge ego this famously idiosyncratic tribe is known for? Fifties’ Urdu poet and SD Burman’s early writing partner Sahir Ludhianvi was a renowned grouch and quite hostile towards his contemporaries; his demand to composers that he be paid ` 1 more than whatever Lata Mangeshkar (the highest paid artiste of the time) received, eventually soured his partnership with Burman. Contemporaries Javed Akhtar and Gulzar apparently never saw eye-to-eye for nearly two decades, after Akhtar said Gulzar’s writing wasn’t poetic enough. The new lot? They have a WhatsApp group. Their similar backgrounds (middle-class and having stumbled upon lyric-writing instead of hailing from a long, hallowed tradition of poets) have also caused them to rally around and root for each other. No tales of fierce one-upmanship and scheming undercutting here. They prefer to talk business, swap notes and bad puns, not pontificate about the integrity of language. They’ll tackle you to the ground if you snigg*r at some of their bumper-sticker style works. Why do songs only have to talk about ‘dil’, ‘jigar’, ‘pyaar’ and ‘mohabbat’ to be considered profound, asks Swanand Kirkire. “Who says a song like ‘Chaar Botal Vodka’ is not a poem?’” I think I just felt Ludhianvi turn in his grave.

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“The fact that the song appeals to you beyond its immediate context means that it is poetry. Whether it’s good or bad poetry is the difference. We have to understand that songwriting is a functional art; our songs are meant for the masses,” says the National Award-winning writer, responsible for earworms like ‘Manjha’ (Kai Po Che) and ‘All Izz Well’ (3 Idiots). Irshad Kamil, usually looked upon as the next-inline to the Javed-Gulzar bracket, baulks at turned-up noses — never mind good and bad, he doesn’t think he owes anyone any philosophising. “It is not the job of film songs to promote poetry. They are written purely to entertain,” he says, though he agrees that the method of hook-line-oriented writing is “nothing but kaamchori”. He can bridle, but Kamil happens to be exceptionally good at writing heart music you can hum to. Ranbir Kapoor’s guttural misery in Rockstar was dropped off inside your chest with the refrain ‘Jo bhi main, kehna chahoon/Barbaad karein, alfaz mere’ set to Rahman’s psychedelic-rock piece. The writer’s most recent work for Highway is arguably his best, though — there’s a delicious smoothness with which the lyrics segue from Hindi into Urdu to Punjabi, in all their unfussy profundity as the film’s protagonist undertakes her journey across six Indian states. Amitabh Bhattacharya, who Kirkire calls a pioneer of this new style of writing, says that when he started writing song lyrics, all he was doing was reacting spontaneously to situations. “I did not consciously decide that I had to write something that would change things; it was very impulsive. Like with ‘Emotional Atyachar,’” he says. Dev D’s OST gave Bollywood a wash of cool in one broad stroke. Its impact had as much to

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do with Bhattacharya’s generous sprinkling of defaced English words (emosanal [emotional], trezady [tragedy], hoar [whor*]) as Amit Trivedi’s game-changing bandbaajaa composition. A similar tide — albeit with tons more candyfloss — took Bollywood two years ago when Anvita Dutt Guptan’s Student Of The Year songs, ‘Ratta Maar’, ‘Vele’ and ‘Radha’ consumed all radio space as much for their danceability as the vigour and mischief of their lyrics. Bhattacharya says he’s just after consistency and common sense. “[In ’80s and ’90s songwriting] the hero is often a tapori, speaking in the aarela-jaarela lingo. But the moment he breaks into a song, he’s mouthing refined Urdu.” He’s trying to break this cycle, he says, every time he writes something like ‘Saabun ki shaqal mein, beta tu toh nikla keval jhaag’ in the wicked ‘Bhaag DK Bose’ (Delhi Belly) or turns ‘locha’, North India’s umbrella term for disaster, into a MirzaGhalibian expression for love tragedy in 2 States’ ‘LochaE-Ulfat’. Given his diverse oeuvre, his confession that he has never written for himself (“I never kept a diary or wrote poetry”) is staggering. Film pundits, panicked by the steady rise of item songs and party pounders, can get a hold of themselves — this isn’t new at all. Just dust off the grand old Bollywood songbook and you’ll find even the most venerable poet-lyricists guilty of what is called “lazy writing”. “Wasn’t it Ludhianvi who also wrote ‘Tel Malish’ (Pyaasa)?” asks Kamil. Javed Akhtar wrote ‘Ek Do Teen’ (Tezaab); ‘Beedi Jalaile’ (Omkara) and ‘Kajra Re’ (Bunty Aur Babli) were by Gulzar. “Language is like an organism; it evolves. It isn’t a piece of decoration or an idol that must be preserved. It is the resistance to the change that is unnatural, not the change itself,” says Mayur Puri, the man who has drawn as much flak as appreciation for many of his hit songs, which include the colloquial jackhammer ‘Saree Ke Fall

Sa’ (R… Rajkumar), and the erstwhile Ganpati favourite ‘Lat Lag Gayee’ (Race 2). Zeitgeist aside, there is the obvious commercial pressure to contend with. “I have been asked to use words like ‘Zandu balm’ and ‘Fevicol’ in my songs so that they become hits,” says Puri. Kausar Munir, one of the very few female lyricists on the circuit, and a writer of incredible range (including the songs for Ishaqzaade, Dhoom 3, Jai Ho, Mardaani and the upcoming DaawatE-Ishq), concurs. “We have to please producers, directors and in some cases, even the actors. A Salman Khan song has to be written in a certain way, you know.” This, while juggling other battles: “Often we aren’t given proper credits, especially when our songs are played on the radio,” Pandit says. Kirkire agrees, “We are fighting a war on many fronts — for copyrights, for better writing.” Puri adds, “People think we have a lot of power in our hands. We don’t.” This doesn’t mean they won’t push against the system. Kamil turns down offers when “directors are confused and don’t know what they want from us”. Bhattacharya, too, prefers to work with only “likeminded people like Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane”. Puri, on his part, wouldn’t be caught dead indulging in “body-part writing”. It is logical then, that songwriters and songwriting today, as ever, are merely a sign of the times. As story, plot and technique begin to muscle through the pointless glitz and fluff, the music follows suit, becoming an extension of the narrative, never showing at the seams. Within the community, there is the effort to sneak meaning into the most tub-thumping, easy-to-digest club anthem too. To quote Emily Dickinson (who might have known a thing or two about poetry), “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” Well isn’t that the truth.

good Words

Signature songs of Bollywood’s top lyricists ‘All Izz Well’ (3 Idiots, 2009)

KauSar Munir, 37

‘Ala Barfi’ (Barfi!, 2012)

Swanand KirKire, 44

‘Pareshaan’ (Ishaqzaade, 2012)

‘Manjha’ (Kai Po Che, 2013)

‘Raat Bhar’ (Heropanti, 2014) ‘Mardaani Anthem’ (Mardaani, 2014)

aMitabh bhattacharya, 38 'Emotional Atyachar’ (Dev D, 2011)

anvita dutt GuPtan, 40

‘Bhaag DK Bose’ (Delhi Belly, 2011)

'Sheila Ki Jawani' (Tees Maar Khan, 2010)

‘Kabira’ (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, 2013)

‘Ishq Wala Love’ (Student Of The Year, 2012) ‘London Thumakda’ (Queen, 2014)

Mayur Puri, 40 ‘Bas Ek Kinng’ (Singh Is Kinng, 2008) ‘Saree Ke Fall Sa’ (R…Rajkumar, 2013)

aShiSh Pandit, 36

‘Lat Lag Gayee’ (Race 2, 2013)

‘Dhinka Chika’ (Ready, 2011)

irShad KaMil, 42

‘Main Kya Karoon’ (Barfi!)

‘Dooriyan’ (Love Aaj Kal, 2009)

‘Kaddu Katega’ (R... Rajkumar)

‘Naadaan Parindey’ (Rockstar, 2011) ‘Maahi Ve’ (Highway, 2014) E L L e OCTOber 2014 |

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E L L E FICTIONAWARDS

Fall, Summer House

“The playful prose and corkscrew humour of this story about sibling rivalry is super-fresh. Simpler sentences and fewer metaphors would have made it even sharper.”

By Neil Pagedar

–CHERYL-ANN COUTO, ELLE'S ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND EFA JUDGE

i #EFA Does your writing have what it takes? Read all the winning stories on ELLE.in/ efawinners and decide.

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n the spring of 1998, my father caused a minor stir at a local handicrafts festival after taking a tumble inside a 10-foot rolling barrel ride. While he was still falling, he clutched the left breast pocket of his stonewashed shirt, the contents of which were a State Bank of India diary, some loose change, and a Your Answer to Cancer fridge magnet he’d received at a hospital while on a humaninterest story beat. The stir occurred when he accused the barrel operator of not turning the ride off immediately, leaving him and his belongings to all roll together in a goofy homemade rendition of the Large Hadron Collider. The next time my father threw a fit, I was much less embarrassed. It was summer and we were in a government parking lot in his quaint, disaffected home town. Two separate developments had precipitated our visit to Beed. The first was Uncle Sajjan’s decision to quit his job at Savage — New Delhi’s

foremost alternative underground magazine. Savage had made a name for itself for changing form every fortnight, sometimes condensing all its content into a hasty scribble on a townhall announcement board, other times, taking shape as a stray comment on a controversial forum about neonatal care. Sajjan had decided to leave it all behind and to return to Beed, my grandmother in tow, to start a glow-in-the-dark textile business. The second was the re-commissioning of Beed’s state transport buses, which had been responsible for such travesties as the Great Pedestrian Pile Up of 1992 and the River Dives of 1995 and 1996, the victims of which had been transported to various neighbouring cities and had subsequently spawned vast and ultimately pointless murder investigations. One of these newly-resurrected wild buses had charged through the walls of my father’s boyhood home, sent my grandmother Ujwala

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first runner-up

crashing into the arms of a steel cupboard, and had finally come to rest in the vegetable patch in the garden. “Why did you have to leave her alone like that?” my father said, when Sajjan broke the news over the phone. Sometimes there were no answers to his questions. Father later confessed that while the idea of his mother being hurled into five-inchthick reinforced steel had given him pause, his equilibrium had really been disturbed by the thought of scores of unwashed masses pouring out of the bus into his home, handling the relics of his childhood and wiping the unseemly contents of their noses on the curtains his father had bought in Rangoon while the Japanese were at the gate. This was important for my father. For too long, a cloud of inadequacy had hung over him like another cloud that was different in composition but equally tenacious in intent. After the death of my grandfather, both brothers had wanted to take their mother to their respective cities. Sajjan had painted a delicious and rosy picture of New Delhi, which, my father contested was not only a terrible city but also a popular mistake. Sajjan, playing his part, had shot down his brother’s case for Mumbai on the premise of the city’s turbulent history of water shortage. Ujwala’s feeble voice had been steamrolled by intense lobbying for each city. It was an utter fraternal impasse. My grandaunt Teju’s voice had then emerged through the cacophony much like Sajjan’s neon T-shirts would, years later, radiate through the darkness of dance clubs and cineplexes. “We shall split your mother into two,” she had said triumphantly. Despite secretly hosting a major chemical imbalance in her brain, Teju had fared quite well living alone in her crummy little apartment that sat over a kick-boxing gym. Now, although her suggestion had been literal and therefore quite impractical, it was assumed that she meant Ujwala should spend time in both cities to determine which would be the more suitable permanent residence. Father’s eyes had met his mother’s in that moment, long enough to see the glint that betrayed she had already made up her mind. So when a few weeks later — after having spent an adequate amount of time in Mumbai — Ujwala decided to move to New Delhi, my father was disappointed but not surprised. Ujwala’s explanation about her decision had fallen on my father’s deaf ears. My father was also literally going deaf. Sajjan’s call for help and his inadequacy in keeping grandmother safe meant that my father was right all along. It was because of this notion that my father stood two feet taller than

usual when we entered Beed General Hospital. We found Sajjan slumped in a sofa seat in a dark hospital room. Sajjan himself, however, burned like a young star. The warm glow of the button-down oxford shirt from his summer collection illuminated his person and also the book that Ujwala sat reading in the bed. It might have been the shirt but from where I stood, it looked like seeing us there had made her face light up. There was no way to ascertain this. “How are you, Ma?” father asked. She smiled and moved to scratch her plaster-covered leg, and the way her hair fell over her face reminded me of eating summer sweetmeats on a dusty street corner. I smoothed my hand lightly over my uncle’s shoulder. He woke up with a start and instantly smiled, in the way only uncle Sajjan could. Father motioned to Sajjan to join him at the far side of the room which served as the art corner, but mainly consisted of portraits of rural women drawing water from various sources. “How is she doing?” asked father, folding his arms. “In a manner of speaking, she is surprisingly okay. But in an entirely different and more long-term manner of speaking, it seems like she doesn’t like any of this,” Sajjan whispered. “That’s not ideal,” said father. “Oh, but you know, women her age are prone to churnings of the mind and soul,” Sajjan explained. “Get me out of here. It’s too quiet and everything is white and the evening nurse won’t stop talking about her inverted nipples,” Ujwala interrupted, for the first time revealing the true troubling nature of hospitals to us all. “Ma, did you forget what happened to the house?” Sajjan said. “It’s an indigent’s paradise.” There’d been no time to repair the damage rendered to the house by the wayward bus. Father knew this was his moment to shine and wasted no time towards this end. “I’ll fix it,” he said, self-actualising, effusing the white room with the kind of confidence it had never seen and could only feel dissipate. The room seemed to regard father with a wary eye, as did my grandmother, who had temporarily abandoned her grouse with her caregivers. I could feel the air thickening with fraternal tension. “But,” Sajjan said quietly, “they haven’t even moved the bus out of there.” Inside the state transport commission’s simultaneously bare and luxurious office, father was a picture of quiet assuredness. He sat clutching his favourite hemp bag, themed in the whirling ocean motif — the one where a small army of gods played tug-of-war with thousands of demons and instead of a rope, they made do with a really long and gifted

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E L L E FICTIONAWARDS snake. (Aunt Teju, who was prolific from the start, had designed the bag and passed it on to father along with a special two-visor cap that was originally engineered for a planet with two suns.) We’d been waiting an hour for the director to arrive and the tedium was driving me up the wall. When a peon announced the director’s arrival, father smiled vaguely and nodded his head. I took this to mean that he hadn’t heard a single word. Outside of home, where it was necessary to engage in dialogue with bank clerks, salespeople and poor children, father would try to read lips and often laugh at misread comments, and smile widely in the face of abject sorrow. As the director took a seat behind his needlessly plush oak table, I couldn’t help but think his face belonged in a dungeon or in the wallet of a war criminal. But not here; not so close to the oak table. Father must’ve been thinking similarly because when he spoke, his voice was devoid of all mirth. “You need to move your dinosaur out of my house,” he said. “Dear sir,” the director sang, “we have already passed a motion to compensate you for your losses. The bus driver has been strictly reprimanded. He languishes, as we speak, in his hovel, finding himself without the steady job that the state provided. Wheels are in motion, sir.” “I need the wheels under the bus to be in motion. We can’t start constructing with that thing in there.” “Kind sir, as you know, March marks the beginning of month-long Holi celebrations in Beed. Any work, I’m afraid, will have to wait until April when our revelling employees return from their festive sojourns,” the director said. “Where do you expect us to live until then?” “Gentlemen, the state is ready to provide premium single-occupancy accommodation at the nearest circuit house for the aggrieved. For a maximum of two weeks. Gratis.” Father’s inspired campaign for self-esteem reinstatement had met a formidable hurdle. As we made our way out of the treacherous labyrinth of defeatism, I could sense something building inside him. “This is a f*cking terminus for incompetence,” he hissed, flying through the parking lot on the fumes of impatience, fishing in his khaki pockets for Sajjan’s car keys. He’d parked the blue Honda adjacent to a compound wall, but to our consternation, it was now boxed in by a maroon Toyota. “How badly would father have to react before someone moved the Toyota?” I asked myself. The answer came in a gust of rage and spittle that turned into a blinding storm, which engulfed us in its arms and bent the constraints of time and

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space, and deposited us miles away, where we landed on rubbery feet and stared dumbly at a broken home. Sajjan was there, too. Father was speaking. “The last time I got this physically disturbed, I was a particularly inept paralegal and I was flying in a helicopter with the state transport minister when he wasn’t yet the state transport minister. I vomited out of the pilot’s window and rained half-digested buttermilk on the city.” “The same minister who is responsible for the little death mobile sitting inside our house, isn’t it?” Sajjan said. “Was Ma sleeping when you left?” Father smiled. Sajjan nodded. He had, after all, taken up the state’s offer and found a room for himself and my grandmother at the circuit house. “The paint is abandoning the wall like a sinking ship. I like that,” Ujwala said, as Sajjan put her to bed. “I never want to meet a bus again.” Exiting the circuit house, the house manager had cornered him in an alcove and expressed an intense understanding and appreciationfor Sajjan’s clothes. In the dying light of the day, the manager’s visage had seemed to Sajjan like a burial ground for circus freaks. And he spoke as if he really, truly believed that he wasn’t stuck there forever. My father and Sajjan stood outside their boyhood home the way they had a lifetime ago, when the domain of the unknowable was vast and glow-in-the-dark technology was but a distant dream. “It was always difficult for me,” Sajjan said, avoiding eye contact with father. “You dug gold. You have the stellar wife that you have and your son makes me proud.” My endeavour to be a silent, unobtrusive, hovering recorder of family events was compromised here due to the loud noise of acquiescence that issued from my mouth. “You’ve already built your own home,” he said, and went forth into the remains of the house, kicking clumps of concrete out of his way. Someone put on a spoken word record somewhere in the neighbourhood. The current track was particularly rousing to a certain kind of mind. Not one of us possessed that kind of equipment. Sajjan jumped into the bus and gave the ignition a go. It came to life on the third try, throwing its smoky effluents in our faces. As Sajjan feebly tried to back the bus out of the eggplant-carrot mush that was the erstwhile vegetable patch, my father felt the familiar and ever-looming cloud slowly drifting. Along with his hearing. He was now, certainly, completely deaf. Neil Pagedar is a writer and film-maker based in Mumbai. He has worked on documentaries and also writes screenplays. Having dropped out of formal education, he went on to study film-making in Minnesota. He is currently working on a TV show and his first novel. Pagedar is also a hobbyist musician.

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london fashion week diaries

e l l e despatch

Brit pack

Zoey Goto trails three Indian-origin labels as they prep, show and wow at LFW

The pro

What does it take to put together a collection for fashion week? Ashish Gupta takes time off from his frantic schedule to talk us through the process

shish Gupta has been showing his kaleidoscopic designs at London Fashion Week (LFW) since 2004. The Delhi-born designer has created a signature style combining sportswear with dazzling sequins and distinctively Indian craftsmanship. For Spring/ Summer 2015, Gupta presented his catwalk collection at the Topshop-sponsored venue in London’s King’s Cross. He gives us all the goss on what it takes to put up a show.

DRAWING BOARD “This season, I looked at faninspired art, party girls, ’50s housewives and disco. I wanted to create this fantasy of a rich girl going months to a party, and all her to LFW jewels falling off because she is so laden with them.”

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DesIGN AND cRAftsmANshIp

months to LFW

“The fabrics are all designed and handmade in India, where I spend three months of the year at my factory. I am constantly inspired by the level of craftsmanship — the handbeading is very specialised and I have the most amazing artisans working on my garments. Every season, I do something different

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with the textiles; this time it was jewel-encrusted gingham checks, sequinned snakeskin and beaded celebrity portraits. I also love Indian street style; the men on bicycles in their crisp cotton shirts and trousers, the women in their saris of wonderfully saturated colour and the girls in their clashing Indian ghagras and polo T-shirts.”

fINAlIsING the lINe-up AshIsh GuptA

rapper eve getS Snapped BackStage

Beauty taBLe

Back to London

winnie harLow

“I flew back to London the week before the show and arranged everything. I Week have a great team and for to LFW four days before the event, the studio was taken over by styling assistants, hair and makeup teams, models, production people and casting agents. I worked closely with the stylist, Anna Trevelyan, editing and fixing the running order. We also decided which 15 girls have the ‘look’ to walk the runway. I usually end up doing 16 to 18-hour days in the lead-up to the show.”

the caSting Sheet

to LFW

“The shoes are usually organised a couple of months beforehand; this season, they were fluffy and disco-inspired.”

ticket requeStS

view from BackStage

“My PR agency looks after the invites for the show. In the weeks running up Weeks to the show, they collated to LFW ticket requests from press and buyers, allocated seated and standing tickets, and drew up a seating plan, which is like a map showing where each guest should be.”

The highs were America’s Next Top Model star and vitiligo spokesperson, Winnie Harlow, flying over from Canada to walk in my show, and the fabulous discoinspired beauty looks. The lows were the long hours of hard work and sleepless nights.” All worth it, we bet.

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zoey goto

“In the morning, we were at the studio having last-minute fittings and castings, shuffling looks around and organising the accessories with the assistants. Our call time to arrive at the venue is three hours before the show. We do one rehearsal, then allocate shoes to the girls and get them in hair and make-up, while we brief the dressers. It’s very intense!

Shoe Story

2 months

The big day

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the magpie

The presenTaTIon

Accessory designer Mawi Keivom may have found global fame, but London is her soulmate

CITY lIghTs

The daughter of a diplomat, Manipurborn Mawi Keivom (a perennial ELLE favourite) spent her childhood travelling the globe and collecting a diverse mix of references, from punk culture to Hollywood glamour, that continue to define her aesthetic. She then settled in London, and in 2002, launched her eponymous label. The brand is now synonymous with cheeky statement jewellery, chunky clutches and epic collaborations (steely cuffs for Hugo Boss, body harnesses for Mark Fast and skateboards for Selfridges).

The s/s ’15 mood

Mixed bag

mawI aT her warehouse

vInTage mawI shoes geTTIng papped aT lFw

The designer works from her desk, using Sellotape and Blu-Tak to montage together jewellery prototypes, while surrounded by a mix of Disney characters and comic book prints, twinkling clutch bags and boxes of vintage jewellery; the studio is a riot of colour cultures. Her latest collection is just as eclectic, inspired by a diverse range of references — the novel Valley Of The Dolls, the English country garden and traditional camera bags, which have been emploYee board In The sTudIo reimagined in vibrant hues and named after famous photographers such as Testino and Rankin. “For Spring/ Summer 2015, we’ve created a vintageinspired collection that’s very pretty and feminine. The high-street has cottoned onto what we have done and there have been too many replicas,” says Mawi, explaining the move away from their signature spikes and industrial tubing.

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Mawi’s headquarters are housed in a vast, atmospheric warehouse in Dalston in East London. Despite the collection being exhibited in fashion meccas Milan and Paris, the British capital has always been Keivom’s first love, with its hip sub-cultures and indie underground scene. “The city is special to us as it was the first place that we showed,” Mawi explains. “It is really exciting to be part of the creative scene in London, which is very different to somewhere like Paris where the focus is on super brands. There is an international platform here for small brands that are doing exciting things.”

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FashIon week pro

Mawi is no stranger to London Fashion Week, having shown there for over a decade. Overlooking the main catwalk tent, her stand at the Designer Showrooms attracts influential press, buyers and fan girls who are there for the sensory experience of her neon baubles, boxy bags and crowd-pleasing classics. In the courtyard outside, the fashion paparazzi are snapping the peaco*cking crowd; an aspect Mawi says she enjoys about London Fashion Week. “It’s super-fun to see everyone parading here. My only complaint is that it doesn’t last long enough!”

on The sTreeT ImaXTree.Com/vInCenZo grIllo (sTreeT sTYle), ZoeY goTo

london fashion week diaries

E L L E despatch

london fashion week diaries

e l l e despatch

Ones tO watch Young label Nom De Mode is an exploration of twins Hardeep and Mandeep’s East-meets-West journey SIzINg UP

On the day of their debut showing at London Fashion Week, in between the hustle and bustle of business meetings with buyers and retailers, sisters Hardeep and Mandeep Chohan chat about what it’s like to be there. Hardeep Chohan: This is so exciting! (laughs) London is where we fit in best. Mandeep Chohan: Yeah, the influence of London is vastly international; everyone comes here, and leaves with an impression, and the hope of leaving an impression. It’s really special because of that. There is a sense of the unexpected and openness in the city. HC: And also, Mandeep, there’s so much culture here — the theatre, arts, the Tate Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum. And we’ve got parks everywhere. There is so much inspiration; it’s like a melting pot, with so much happening at the same time. Fashion week is a reflection of all that. Showcasing along big fashion houses can be a bit intimidating, but the opportunity to take the British Fashion Council through our story, our ethos, has been wonderful. MC: It’s an exciting challenge actually — that we’re in the same arena as these designers and brands. I think, this is also what we feel most natural doing, in terms of having a product that we’re really proud of — for example, our S/S 2015 line — and letting people judge it for themselves.

PATTERN-MAkINg SESSIONS

HARDEEP AND MANDEEP OUTSIDE THEIR STUDIO

in Biarritz, France in the 1920s, this is what you’d wear. And we love the idea of people coming by, trying, feeling, and speaking to us about the collection. Having a quick catwalk (as opposed to a showroom presentation) means that we don’t get to tell you about the clothes. (laughs) MC: Or talk about our story! Like the fact that we’ve wanted to work together for a long time. HC: And that we have mixed backgrounds; I’ve studied literature and you’ve trained as a lawyer. MC: But fashion was always there; we both did summer courses at Central Saint Martins, took an inspiration trip to Punjab in India (where our parents are originally from) and we decided to build something of our own. HC: Yeah, we wanted to bring a slight influence of our Indian heritage into our British brand. The mix has contributed to an international outlook, which makes it hugely satisfying creatively.

bUyER MEETS

zOEy gOTO

HC: I think our line has elegance — some silk here, some chiffon there, and signature brocade. There was a focus on the final silhouette (the long and the lean), pastel colours and beautiful embroideries. The idea was if you were summering

THE lOOkbOOk

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CITY HOMES AND OFF THE GRID ESCAPES

the DIWALI SPeCIAL ISSUe WIth A FRee sHoPPInG GuIde DIvINE DwEllINGS AND FAMIlY RETREATS FROM ACROSS THE GlObE – GET INSPIRED bY HOMES FROM bORDEAux TO kASAulI. GIvE YOuR CHIlD’S ROOM AN OvERHAul wITH OuR SPIRITED SOluTIONS.

PluS, DISCOvER A TREASuRE TROvE OF TRENDY DIwAlI bOOTY TO kICkSTART THE FESTIvITIES! THE OCT-NOv ISSuE NOw ON STANDS

Ideas you can use

rolling in

the deep

Photograph HORMIS ANTHONY THARAKAN

Styling ARUSHI PARAKH

Make-up and Hair SONAM KAPOOR

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His clothes reflect his love of the performing arts and the search for duality that has defined all his creative pursuits. Anand Bhushan gets a look inside the head of notoriously reticent designer Arjun Saluja

Location courtesy Hauz KHas sociaL, new DeLHi

E L L E INSIDER

On Arjun: Cotton jacket, cotton trousers; both Rishta by Arjun Saluja. Canvas sneakers, Arjun’s own. On Noelle Kadar: Leather jacket, cotton pleated skirt, printed cotton wrap-around skirt; all Rishta by Arjun Saluja. Leather brogues, Vanilla Moon. On Raoul Amaar Abbas: Printed cotton shirt, leather jacket, twill pleated dhoti pants; all Rishta by Arjun Saluja. Leather sandals, his own

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RAHIm BAlOCH PAINTINgS

It’s a Thursday, and Saluja has started to fidget and zone out a bit. I ask if he has an appointment with a client or a buyer, and after a pause, he says, “An appointment at Nizamuddin Dargah, perhaps.” Sounds from the dargahs of Lahore, mixed with the blues, have often defined his runway shows, while the words and notes of Amir Khusro, Jahanara Begum, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Begum Akhtar and Farida Khanum have engaged the audience. It’s no wonder his Fall/ Winter 2014-15 runway showcase ‘Between Time’ is set against the backdrop of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore. Rejected, denied, and yet charting their own destiny — it’s the creative rebels of the city (like young artists at the National College of Arts, and even Arzoo, a transgender trying to make a dignified living, working at a restaurant) that have inspired Saluja’s search for the duality of reality. It’s led to a collection in which multiplicity is explored via motifs, print, darting and panelling, yet all this is unified in simplistic, clean, even monastic silhouettes. “The printed motif is a nod to the geometry of Pakistan’s Khais, a dying tradition of weaving from Sindh,” says Saluja. “This winter, I question the intimacy of identity, of progression and regression. And everything in between.”

THE INSPIRATION: COmPlEx PATTERNS, lATTICE TExTuRES ANd Old-wORld ARCHITECTuRE

“

BONE ART BY mOmINA muHAmmAd

I question the intimacy of identity, of progression and regression. And everything in between

“

gulSHAN SACHdEvA (BACKSTAgE)

THE lAHORE lANdSCAPE

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Saluja has inspired a handful of today’s next gen designers, but what inspires him, gets the creative juices flowing? “I like expressing myself through fashion,” he says. “I was always into theatre and dance. The performing arts excited me the most. I guess the motion and movement of dance filters into my clothes. Before I launched ‘Rishta’, I was doing odd jobs in New York. Art was all around me. The beauty about it was that it was not displayed art, but raw art. Drum and bass, a new wave of electronic sound, all synced so beautifully with me. There is this imagery that you will still find in my aesthetic.” Buying that first pair of ‘Rishta’ hakama pants and a leather jacket is something of a rite of passage for anyone who loves fashion in this country. Saluja’s clothes are all about culture and sub-culture in ways you can’t quite describe. There’s something refreshingly simple about what the man sets out do to. He’s not into reinventing the wheel or pushing lofty concepts — he simply makes cool, infinitely wearable clothes in the best possible way.

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fashion

your uninterrupted well of style inspiration

farrokh chothia

Shraddha Kapoor plays Factory Girl, Lisa Haydon flaunts the season’s most extravagant couture creations, textures get bright and bold, and boy meets girl in tweed classics Knit top, ` 49,900, Cavalli Class. Faux fur gilet, ` 7,000, 431-88 by shweta Kapur. Net stockings, stylist’s own. Patent leather boots, ` 40,000, stuart weitzman. Metal earrings, ` 8,600, outhouse at Bombay electric

for DEtaiLS, SEE aDDrESS Book

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Shraddha Kapoor is the quiet contender, the languid overachiever and the next megastar in the making, says Cheryl-Ann Couto

the

good

girl

Photographs FARROKH CHOTHIA Styling NIDHI JACOB Creative Director PRASHISH MORE Make-up and Hair SUBHASH VAGAL

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Knit top, ` 49,900, Cavalli Class. Faux fur gilet, ` 7,000, 431-88 by Shweta Kapur. Net stockings, stylist’s own. Patent leather boots, ` 40,000, Stuart Weitzman. Metal earrings, ` 8,600, Outhouse at Bombay Electric On Jason: Knit sweatshirt, ` 2,890, Zara. Cotton trousers, ` 2,990, Marks & Spencer. Leather brogues, ` 7,500, Clarks. Acetate sunglasses, ` 8,990, ray-Ban

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FARROKH CHOTHIA

Velvet and chiffon dress, price on request, Emilio Pucci. Net stockings, stylist’s own. Leather ankle-strap sandals, price on request, Valentino. Mirror earrings, ` 8,880, Isharya at Bombay Electric. Stone ring, price on request, Amrapali

Satin blouse, ` 9,500, Munkee.See. Munkee.Doo. PVC leggings, ` 3,500, Huemn by Pranav Mishra and Shyma Shetty. Metal and pearl earrings, ` 21,650, Tom Binns at Le Mill. Metal and pearl cuff, price on request, Chanel

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FARROKH CHOTHIA XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Knit polo, stylist’s own. Woollen vest, ` 52,000, Miuniku. Thread-embroidered canvas skirt, ` 5,650, Morphe. Metal ring, ` 4,000, Valliyan by Nitya Arora

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ou know, I just can’t tell with Shraddha Kapoor. Is she bored by the volley of star-kidspecific assumptions — carrying on the family baton, balancing stardom with craft and such? Is she just the chillest ever? Or then a master of that elusive, possibly ancient Japanese, art of being thoroughly likeable while revealing nothing at all? When I’m connected to her over a conference line by her rep who is keeping time, she listens attentively to each of my questions, appears to turn them over and then, more than once, comes back with an affirmation that begins as an answer and ends as a question: “Yaa-aa?” Vexing, as her interviewer, but as a matter of philosophy, I feel her. Can we really ever be sure of anything? Do convictions fetter or free us? Does anything matter ever? She says she thinks so. She wants, for example, to be known as a versatile actor and is actively laying the groundwork for it. At 25, she’s already played a wronged ex-girlfriend baying for blood (Luv Ka The End, 2011), a music protégé in a volatile relationship with her mentor (Aashiqui 2, 2013), a terminally-ill victim of a serial killer (Ek Villain) and a journalist in love with a madman (this month’s Haider). Right now, she’s en route to the set of the dance film ABCD 2, which releases next year. “I’ve turned down some really good films because my role in them was the same old thing,” she says.

Kapoor may not have burst through the ‘great face, better talent’ door like contemporaries Alia Bhatt and Parineeti Chopra, but she’s priming for a quiet, confident rise. I ask her if the two of them make her nervy and territorial, even as I feel it just doesn’t fit the girl with the easy laugh, who only has wide-eyed praise for the work of others. “Yaa-aa? There is a sense of competition with Pari, Alia, but not enough to get mean about it. More like ‘Damn, I have to get better.’” I can’t wait much longer — she must tell me about being Crime Master Gogo’s daughter, seeking career counsel from Nandu-Sabka-Bandu, and whether she jumps every time she hears “Aaoo!” Her father Shakti Kapoor, Bollywood’s most recognisable on-screen (and quite often, off-screen) villain and goof, is still one of the more interesting things about her (and I expect, her brother, actor Siddhanth Kapoor’s) life. All but exiled by the film industry after his infamous 2005 ‘casting couch’ controversy, the veteran actor has remained mostly in the shadows since. “He is fairly disconnected from this whole world now,” Kapoor says. You’ll get just that much and then blanket adoration: “Unlike me, my father wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth — he had to work very hard to make it and I couldn’t ever be as dedicated as him,” she says. “Our journeys have been very different, but I really like to take his advice and he always tells me what he thinks.”

Kapoor may not have burst through the ‘great face, better talent’ door like contemporaries Alia Bhatt and Parineeti Chopra, but she’s priming for a quiet, confident rise These are brave decisions for a young star in an industry that runs on goodwill and being beholden as much as anything else. Kapoor famously removed herself from Yash Raj Films’ three-film package for newcomers, that has by now become the opening gambit of any present-day superstar (Ranveer Singh, Parineeti Chopra, Anushka Sharma), to take on Mahesh Bhatt’s much-debated sequel to his 1990 blockbuster Aashiqui. Risky as hell, and, as it turned out, bang on. The film, directed by Mohit Suri, was declared a worldwide hit, made stars of both its leads (Aditya Roy Kapur graduated from inoffensive sidekick to smouldering protagonist instantaneously) and brought them love, too, say the papers (“I’m single,” Kapoor corrects, her voice a degree cold). Aurangzeb, the YRF film she was meant to do, bombed. She understandably doesn’t want to put too fine a point on it — never close your CV to possibilities, especially YRF possibilities — but says, “I knew I had to be in Aashiqui at any cost.” Suri was party to another milestone for Kapoor — her playback singing debut in his 2014 thriller Ek Villain, upon his insistence. “I have never been so frightened as I was entering the studio to record ‘Galliyan’,” she says. She managed swimmingly, though, and has become known for the gently vulnerable ballad as much as for any of her films. We’ll hear her sing the Kashmiri folk ‘Roshe Valle’ in Haider. Also, and most importantly perhaps, Kapoor says she’ll embrace that good fear now on — “you discover things you didn’t know about yourself; it’s the best way to cultivate instinct, I think.”

Family means everything to Kapoor. Ask her what’s the most fun she’s had recently and it isn’t shopping for Jimmy Choos (which she is obsessed with — “I’ve lost count of my collection”); or tending to her “magical” window garden full of “anthurium, dracaena, raat rani and aloe” (“[I get] beautiful purple caterpillars, squirrels, little birds with bright yellow beaks visiting me”); or the American road trip she took with friends recently. It was Ganpati, at her granny’s house, with the whole family. “It was like an asylum basically. I loved it. Best thing ever.” Her rep interrupts to say time’s up — I’d forgotten she was on the line the whole while. Kapoor has reached the set and must go into make-up. “Is there a plan?” I ask, kicking myself for getting caught up in her casual friendliness and not grilling her more. “No, I am not organised at all,” she says. “There is no system in the way I approach things. I just want to stay open-minded. That can be the biggest challenge.” Thirty minutes and do I feel like I know Shraddha Kapoor any better? Yaa-aa? PRODUCTION: PARUL MENEZES; ASSISTED BY: NEHA SALVI, APARNA PHOGAT; MODEL: JASON/TOABH MANAGEMENT

making of the cover

ELLE TV Can’t get enough? Go behind the scenes of our cover shoot on ELLE.in/shraddhakapoor E L L e OCTOber 2014 |

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reibeauty gning Model and actor Lisa Haydon transforms into a warrior princess, resplendent in the season’s most extravagant couture creations

Photographs JATIN KAMPANI

Styling MALINI BANERJI

Creative Director PRASHISH MORE

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Make-up and Hair CLINT FERNANDES

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Lycra and acetate gown, price on request, Amit Aggarwal. Metal necklace, ` 5,300, Maleka at Bombay Electric

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JATIN KAMPANI

Embroidered tulle and silk jacket and lehenga, price on request, Anamika Khanna. Metal earrings, ` 7,500, Sanjay Garg

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Embroidered chiffon dress, ` 2,95,000, Sabyasachi. Metal necklace, ` 32,400, Pretty Stoned at Bombay Electric

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Silk-jersey gown embellished with Swarovski ELEMENTS, spikes and crystal chains, ` 94,950, Monisha Jaising. Feather and leather headgear, ` 15,000, Nez by Neha Agarwal. Silver-plated earrings, ` 8,300, Suhani Pittie. Satin peep-toe sandals, price on request, Manish Arora

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Tulle-embroidered dress with Swarovski ELEMENTS appliqué, ` 1,95,000, JJ Valaya. Metal earrings, ` 14,850, Eina Ahluwalia. Metal and stone cuff, ` 33,000, Manish Arora for Amrapali

Acrylic chip-embroidered chiffon dress, ` 2,02,950, Indian by Manish Arora. Tulle skirt, price on request, Shantanu & Nikhil. Leather and feather headgear, price on request, Namrata Joshipura. Metal choker, ` 15,000, Suhani Pittie. Metal necklace, ` 15,000, Valliyan by Nitya Arora

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Tasselled and beaded blouse with Swarovski ELEMENTS, ` 45,000, Suneet Varma. Embroidered silk lehenga, ` 3,70,000, Anju Modi. Metal and acetate cuff, ` 20,200, Pretty Stoned at Bombay Electric

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Crystal-embellished tulle blouse and tulle-lace sari, both prices on request, Tarun Tahiliani. Acetate harness, ` 21,000, Suhani Pittie

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JATIN KAMPANI

Chiffon sari-gown embellished with Swarovski ELEMENTS, ` 4,00,000, Gaurav Gupta. Metal mask, price on request, Outhouse. Metal chain choker, ` 10,000, Silvense by Vrinda

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JATIN KAMPANI

Tulle blouse embellished with Swarovski ELEMENTS, ` 24,000, Jyotsna Tiwari. Embroidered tulle lehenga, price on request, Rimple & Harpreet Narula. Metal harness, price on request, Outhouse. Metal cuff, ` 7,999, metal armlet, ` 5,999; both Raakesh Agarvwal

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Tulle bodysuit embellished with Swarovski ELEMENTS, price on request, Shantanu & Nikhil. Velvet skirt, price on request, Manish Malhotra. Floral metal cuff, ` 15, 000, Mrinalini Chandra. Metal cuff, ` 12,000, Silvense by Vrinda MODEL: LISA HAYDON/BLING ENTERTAINMENT SOLUTIONS; ASSISTED BY: ARUSHI PARAKH, NEHA SALVI AND APARNA PHOGAT; PRODUCTION: PARUL MENEZES

fashion film

ELLE TV Watch our original fashion film featuring the glamazon model and actor on ELLE.in/lisahaydon

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super

What are you afraid of ? Colour? Ha! Print? No way. Texture? As if…So why not bring them all together in the strongest look of the season?

BOLD

Photographs THOMAS WHITESIDE Make-up CIARA O’SHEA

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Styling ANNE-MARIE CURTIS

Hair CYRIL LALOUE/JULIAN WATSON AGENCY

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Satin shirt, felt coat; both Roksanda Ilincic. Shearling collar, LK Bennett. Gold and diamond rings, Noor Fares. Gold rings, Laura Lee Jewellery. White-gold ring, Bulgari. Nose ring (with chain and earring), stylist’s own. All jewellery worn throughout

Silk dress, wool jacket, leather and rubber shoes; all Dior. Wool collar, Eugenia Kim. Cotton-mix socks, Falke. White-gold and diamond ring, Ruth Tomlinson. Gold ring, Laura Lee Jewellery. Socks and all jewellery worn throughout

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Embroidered lace dress, wool and cashmere jacket, leather boots, cashmere scarf, leather belt; all Burberry. Acetate sunglasses, Italia Independent. Gold-plated ear cuff, Maria Black. Gold vermeil horseshoe earrings, Giles & Brother. Gold and diamond ring, white gold and diamond ring; both Ruth Tomlinson. Silver ring, Maria Francesca Pepe. Silver ring, Monica Vinader. Gold-plated ring, Maria Black. Gold and diamond ring, Annina Vogel. All jewellery worn throughout

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THOMAS WHITESIDE

Felt hat with chain, Grainne Millinery. Faux-fur collar, Unreal Fur

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Satin dress, leather and sheepskin coat, silk-crepe scarf; all Prada

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Lurex polo-neck top, velour top, glitter silk skirt (worn underneath), Lurex skirt, nylon and Swarovski crystal socks, leather sandals, sequinned silk shawl, all Rodarte

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Silk shirt, wool and silk coat, wool culottes, shearling shoes; all Chloé. Nylon tights, Falke

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Wool jumper, silk bomber jacket, wool and silk skirt; all Dries Van Noten

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Wool dress, Bottega Veneta. Leather shoes, Manolo Blahnik

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Wool top, cashmere skirt, shearling muff; all Céline. Silver bangle, Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane

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Silk and lace top, wool and cashmere cardigan, silk-twill skirt; all Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci. Acetate sunglasses, Italia Independent. MANICURIST: ADAM SLEE/STREETERS LONDON; MODEL: JASMINE TOOKES/IMG LONDON

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Faux metal and tulle skirt, price on request, Amit Aggarwal. Metal and leather body harness, price on request, Outhouse

COME

UNDONE Evening sheer takes an eerie, romantic turn with sculpted, perforated shapes, layered with light-as-air fabrics

Photographs TARUN VISHWA

Styling KARUNA LAUNGANI

Creative Director PRASHISH MORE Make-up and Hair GEORGE P KRITIKOS/ANIMA CREATIVE MANAGEMENT E L L e OCTOber 2014 |

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Leather and guipure dress, price on request, Chanel. Tulle veil, stylist’s own. Metal and stone choker, price on request, Outhouse

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Embellished mesh jacket, ` 48,000, Anand Bhushan. Fishnet stockings, stylist’s own

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TARUN VISHWA

Metal and stone headgear, price on request, Outhouse

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Organza dress with felt appliqué, ` 45,000, Varun Bahl. Sequinned cotton jacket, price on request, Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna. Embellished suede and mesh sandals, ` 87,500, Jimmy Choo. Fishnet stockings, stylist’s own

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Embroidered tulle dress, ` 9,46,154, Valentino. Metal and stone bustier, ` 65,000, Anand Bhushan. Leather booties, ` 6,990, Gas

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Net and lace bodysuit, stylist’s own. Fringed faux metal and tulle veil, price on request, Amit Aggarwal.

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Lace and net bodysuit, stylist’s own. Mesh dress with appliqué, ` 32,500, Dhruv Kapoor

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Embroidered PVC blouse, embroidered organza skirt; both prices on request, Tanieya Khanuja

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#ELLEBOOKCLUB Embellished jersey and net gown, price on request, Malini Ramani MODEL: ARCHANA AKIL KUMAR/ELAN CELEBRITY AND TALENT MANAGEMENT; PRODUCTION: PARUL MENEZES; ASSISTED BY: PRABAL GUHA NIYOGI (ART), AKANKSHA KAMATH (STYLING)

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Spooked? Good. Now go find our favourite ghost stories on ELLE.in/spooks

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BOY,

OH BOY Charming, laddish classics meet waifish grace to give you the new dandy

Photographs MICHAEL SANDERS Make-up JO FROST/CLM

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Styling MICAELA SESSA

Hair NICHOLAS JAMES/PIERO BASTIANI

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Tulle and wool bouclé suit, tweed coat, leather gloves, metal chain necklace; all Chanel

Woollen pullover and pants, Trussardi. Nylon sneakers, Car Shoe. Felt hat, Stephen Jones. Leather backpack, Ally Capellino

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MICHAEL SANDERS

Woollen polo neck sweater, Sportmax. Woollen blazer, ottod’Ame. Cotton blend pants, woollen beret; both Dolce&Gabbana. Wool and leather sneakers, Chanel. Silk bow-tie, Polo Ralph Lauren. Woollen socks, Calzedonia

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Cashmere sweater, Giorgio Armani. Woollen hat, Ermanno Scervino

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MICHAEL SANDERS

Woollen pullover, woollen pants; both Alpha. Tweed bomber jacket, Vionnet. Leather lace-ups, Pierre Hardy

Cotton shirt, woollen blazer, woollen pants; all Polo Ralph Lauren. Leather sneakers, Dolce&Gabbana

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MICHAEL SANDERS

Woollen coat, woollen trousers; both Céline. Leather boots, Michael Kors

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Embroidered woollen top, Ports 1961. Woollen blazer, Hermès

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MICHAEL SANDERS

Woollen cape, Salvatore Ferragamo. Felt hat, Stephen Jones

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Sequinned georgette top, embroidered woollen mini dress, woollen coat, net tights; all Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane. Leather moccasins, Gucci MODEL: BENTHE DE VRIES/NEXT MODEL MANAGEMENT

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available in salons worldwide. | Distributed by leWaNNa | 022 67031273/74

ToTal Hair repair RestoRe and Revive weakened haiR with RepaR ative essentials. intRoducing the RepaiR collection by moRoccanoil. www.moroccanoil.com

The resulTs of the biggesT beauTy baTTle of the year are now ouT!

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elle

beauty

top trends, hot buys, expert tips & health how-tos

months of dabbing, testing, voting

and choosing later, we finally have

the winners

eLLe beauty awards 2014.

over

of the

800 products

from 118 brands have been narrowed down to

stellar finalists in 33 72 categories, with help from our

always-willing in-house team,

bloggers and, of course, editors and beauty editors from

45 new favourites. international editions of ELLE. PrEsEnting your

ELLE TV Where’s the animated version, you ask? Watch the EBA video at ELLE.in/ebafilm

Photographs jignesh jhaveri

Styling Prashish More

e l l e october 2014 |

FOR DETAILS, SEE ADDRESS BOOK

www.elle.in

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CategOrY Make-uP

E L L E beautyAwARDS

NAIL COLOURS l 1.

Colorbar Glitterati Top Coat l 2. Maybelline New York Color Show Nail Color l 3. Clinique A Different Nail Enamel For Sensitive Skins

BLUSHES l 1.

Chanel Le Blush Crème De Chanel l 2. L’Oréal Paris Le Blush True Match

LIP COLOURS l 1.

Maybelline New York Bold Matte by Color Sensational

l 2.

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

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photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

CAtegOry MAke-uP

E L L E beautyAWARDS

EYESHADOWS AND LINERS l 1.

L’Oréal Paris Super Liner 24H Waterproof Gel Eyeliner l 2. Chanel Les 4 Ombres MultiEffect Quadra Eyeshadow

MASCARAS l 1. l 2.

Benefit They’re Real! Mascara M.A.C In Extreme Dimension 3D Black Lash

photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

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CategOry make-uP

E L L E beautyAwARdS

CONCEALERS l 1.

Chambor Radiant Touch up Concealer l 2. Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit l 3. L’Oréal Paris True Match Super-Blendable Concealer

fOuNdATiONS l 1.

Lakmé Absolute face Stylist foundation l 2. Lancôme Miracle Air de Teint Perfecting fluid Matte Glow Creator SPf 15

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

304

E L L E october 2014 |

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photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

Category skinCare

E L L E beautyAwARDS

BB AND CC CREAMS l 1.

Lakmé CC Complexion Care Cream All In 1 Instant Skin Stylist SPF 20 l 2. Bobbi Brown BB Cream SPF 35 2

MOISTURISERS l 1.

Chanel Hydra Beauty Gel Crème l 2. Za Perfect Solution Moisturizer

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

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photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

CAtegOrY SkinCAre

E L L E beautyAWARDS

FACE MASKS l 1.

Lakmé Absolute Skin Gloss Overnight Mask l 2. Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Pure Retinol Express Smoothing Eye Mask

2 1

TONERS l 1.

L’Oréal Paris Revitalift AntiWrinkle + Firming Aqua Milky l 2. YSL Forever Youth Liberator Lotion

PORE MINIMISERS AND PRIMERS l 1. 2

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

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E L L E october 2014 |

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M.A.C Prep + Prime CC Colour Correcting Crème SPF 30 l 2. Clinique Superprimer Universal Face Primer

photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

PROMOTION THE RanGE

Eau dE PaRFuM FoR MEn

Raw: Created by Master Perfumers nadège Le Garlantezec and olivier Pescheux (two-time FiFi Award winner), it features a fresh, citrus top with bergamot, mandarin and lime; violet and carnations at the heart; and patchouli and woods at the base. EXTREME: This one is a

French affair

Want delicious-smelling, exotic fragrances without breaking the bank? Titan’s got just the thing, with their Skinn range of perfumes

heady co*cktail of lemon, basil, patchouli and intense woods like cedar and sandal, created by Master Perfumer Michel Girard (FiFi Award winner).

STEELE: Master Perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin combines the spicy notes of pink pepper, nutmeg and pimento with musk, leather and praline.

Eau dE PaRFuM FoR woMEn IMERa: This scent by nadège Le Garlantezec brings together the fruity notes of lemon and white vineyard peach with tonka bean, Texan cedarwood and vanilla. CELESTE: Master Perfumer

Fragrances have the power to immediately lift your mood. Created in France by renowned perfumers with the finest exotic ingredients, SKINN is the latest offering from Titan Company Limited and is perfect for a quick lift-me-up. The range of six perfumes — three each for men and women — as something for everyone and every occasion. SKINN perfumes have been specially formulated to last longer, with notes that stay with you through the day. Plus they’re affordable, so you won’t feel guilty buying them all for yourself !

Harry Fremont (three-time FiFi Award winner) combined notes of blood orange, ginger, grapefruit, jasmine, water lily and amber for this delicious fruity-floral concoction.

nudE: Sweet notes of lychee and raspberry combine with rose petals, violets, firwood and sandal in this fragrance created by Master Perfumer alberto Morillas (five-time FiFi Award winner). Titan Skinn perfumes are available at ` 990 (50 ml) and ` 1,790 (100 ml), at World of Titan outlets and multi-brand lifestyle and accessory stores nationwide.

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category skincare

E L L E beautyAWARDS

ANTI-AGEING DAY AND NIGHT CREAMS l 1.

olay Total Effects 7 in One Day Cream l 2. chanel Le Lift Firming - AntiWrinkle Crème

ANTI-AGEING SERUMS 3

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

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E L L E october 2014 |

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l 1.

artistry Youth Xtend Serum Concentrate l 2. Lakmé Youth Infinity Skin Firming Serum l 3. estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex II

photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

caTegOry Skincare

E L L E beautyAWARDS

CLEANSERS l 1.

Lakmé Clean Up Clear Pores Face Wash l 2. Shiseido Ibuki Purifying Cleanser 1

1 2

EXFOLIATORS l 1.

photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

Pond’s White Beauty Tan Removal Scrub Daily Gentle Facial Scrub l 2. Organic Harvest Exfoliating Face Scrub l 3. The Body Shop Tea Tree Squeaky-Clean Scrub 3

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

312

E L L E october 2014 |

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CatEgory sKinCarE

E L L E beautyAWARDS

BRIGHTENING DAY AND NIGHT CREAMS l 1.

Forest Essentials Lightening & Brightening Tejasvi Emulsion l 2. Clarins White Plus Total Luminescent Brightening Hydrating Emulsion SPF 20 PA+++

UNDER-EYE CARE l 1.

Kiehl’s Powerful Wrinkle Reducing Eye Cream l 2. Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Serum Infusion

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

314

E L L E october 2014 |

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photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

LT COO / HEA setting

Hair straightener Hair dryer facebook.com/vega.co.in

Scan this QR code with your smartphone and visit our website

Customer Care: +91 120 4170000

www.vega.co.in

category skincare

E L L E beautyAwARDS

SUNBLOCKS AND SUN CARE l 1.

Lakmé 9to5 Mattifying Super Sunscreen SPF 50 PA+++ l 2. Vichy Capital Soleil SPF 50+ UVB + UVA

BRIGHTENING SERUMS

L’occitane en Provence Immortelle Brightening Essence l 2. Lancôme DreamTone Ultimate Dark Spot Corrector Beautiful Skin Tone Creator

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

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E L L E october 2014 |

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photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

l 1.

For further details please contact Baccarose on 022-22817766 or E-mail [emailprotected]

category body care

E L L E beautyAwARDS

BODY LOTIONS l 1.

the body Shop Blueberry Body Lotion l 2. Nivea In-Shower Body Moisturiser Skin Conditioner

HANDS AND FEET l 1.

burt’s bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream l 2. oriflame Feet Up Advanced Foot Scrub

BODY SHAPING AND FIRMING l 1.

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

318

E L L E october 2014 |

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photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

Kama ayurveda Dhanwantaram Thailam Pre-Post Natal Treatment l 2. bio-oil

category hair care

E L L E beautyAwARDS

SERUMS AND LEAVE-INS l 1.

Kérastase Initialiste Advanced Scalp and Hair Concentrate l 2. toni&guy Prep Smoothing Detangler Anti-Breakage l 3. L’oréal Paris 6 Oil Nourish Extraordinary Oil

2 2

photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

SHAMPOOS l 1.

treSemmé Keratin Smooth Shampoo l 2. Moroccanoil Hydrating Shampoo

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

320

E L L E october 2014 |

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categOry hair care

E L L E beautyAWARDS

CONDITIONERS AND MASKS

l 1.

HAIRSTYLING PRODUCTS

l 1.

Moroccanoil Molding Cream l 2. Kérastase Powder Bluff Dry Shampoo l 3. L’Oréal Professionnel Fix Move Tecni Art

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

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E L L E october 2014 |

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photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

Moroccanoil Weightless Hydrating Mask l 2. Dove Hair Therapy Damage Solutions Intense Repair Conditioner

CAteGORy fRAGRANCes

E L L E beautyAwARDS

NIGHT l 1.

DAY

Giorgio Armani Si Eau De Parfum l 2. Carolina Herrera Eau De Parfum Sublime

l 1.

Nina Ricci Nina L’Eau l 2. BVLGARI Omnia Indian Garnet Eau De Toilette

MEN’S FRAGRANCES l 1.

BVLGARI Aqva Amara Eau De Toilette Spray l 2. Dior Fahrenheit Parfum

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

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E L L E october 2014 |

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photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

The best of the beauty blogosphere took up our series of challenges on Ellebeautyawards.in. We scored them on their ingenuity, use of products and beauty know-how, and their fans across the country voted in. After three weeks, we have a winner. Congratulations to the ELLE Beauty Awards Blogger of the Year 2014,

Devina Malhotra from Guiltybytes.com !

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CatEGOry MEN’S PrODUCtS

E L L E beautyAWARDS

SKINCARE l 1.

Garnier Men AcnoFight 6 in 1 Pimple Clearing Face Wash l 2. Clinique For Men Oil Control Mattifying Moisturizer

HAIR PRODUCTS l 1.

Wella SP Men System Professional Refresh Shampoo l 2. Clear Men AntiDandruff Nourishing Shampoo Cool Sport Menthol

2 2

GROOMING l 1.

L’Occitane En Provence Cade Reinvigorating Shower Gel l 2. Dior Homme Sport After-Shave Lotion

l Popular Choice l Editors’ Pick

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E L L E october 2014 |

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photographs: jignesh jhaveri; styling: prashish more

PROMOTION

STYLE FILE

Studded rose gold ear cuffs, Mawi 2. Give your lips a punch of colour with Color Riche Moist Matte ‘Black Cherry’.

Woven satin clutch, Bottega Veneta

Matching your bag and shoes is passé: coordinate your lips and clutch instead.

1. Prep with True Match Liquid Foundation for full, even coverage.

4. Lightly dust a layer of Lucent Magique Blush ‘Sunset Glow’ on your cheeks for a soft glow.

328

Shine on Evening is the time to go glam. Channel daring eyes, paired with a bright pout to sail through the night

TIP: When wearing bright colours that tend to bleed, ensure you line your lips with a matching lip liner first.

3. Next, create a thick line of Superliner Gel Matic Pen ‘Glamor Gold’ and quickly blend upwards with help of a smudger. Make sure that the edges do not stand out. Next, draw a thin line on your upper and lower lash line with Super Liner 24h Gel Liner and giving it a wing at the outer corner. Open up your eyes by coating your upper lashes in three and lower in two coats of Butterfly Mascara.

For more details, log on to Getthelook.co.in

Tip: The length of a winged liner should stop right under where your eyebrows end. 1. Even out your skin tone with True Match Liquid Foundation.

2. Use Glam Shine 6H Lip Gloss ‘Infinite Desert’ for hot siren lips.

4. Add a hint of blush on the apple of the cheeks with True Match Blush ‘Rose Wood’.

Retro Glam Give yourself a ’60s update by adding the oomph with the extra-long, fluttery lashes

3. Line your lower lash line with Kajal Magique and wing it upward. Line the upper lash line with Super Liner Black Lacquer and join it to the winged kohl line. Add glam with giving your lids a line of Infallible Mono ‘Hourglass Beige’ above the liner. Finish the eyes by coating the lashes in three coats of Volume Million Mascara.

STYLE FILE

Flora drop earrings, Suhani Pittie

Statement accessories help accentuate a structured outfit.

For more details, log on to Getthelook.co.in

Chain rose gold-plated bracelet, Eddie Borgo

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PROMOTION

1. Begin by applying True Match BB Cream. It hydrates while giving you sheer coverage that’s great for covering up little flaws.

2. Use the Superliner Gel Matic Pen ‘Blue Force’ on your lash line. Smudge the edges of the top lash line to give it a smoky look. Finish your eyes by lining the inner corner with Superliner Gel Matic Pen ‘Silver Mania’.

3. Add a soft flush of colour to your cheeks with Lucent Magique Blush ‘Blushing Kiss’.

Barely there 4. Give your lips a high-shine, glossy look with Shine Caresse ‘Bella’.

STYLE FILE

Emerald and diamonds earrings, Swarovski

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Muted tones speak volumes when done right. Get practicing with these hues to perfect an understated, elegant day look

Add bling with accessories; but stick to muted tones – you’ll never go wrong. Studded dull gold clutch, Judith Leiber Studded dull gold heels, Christian Louboutin

For more details, log on to Getthelook.co.in

Tip:

Nude shades of make-up can make warm skin tones look grey. Avoid this by neutralising your skin tone with foundation.

STYLE FILE

1. Begin with a clean, hydrated face with Hydrafresh All Day Hydration Source Aqua-Créme for a natural, fresh glow.

Throw in pop of colour to brighten your black and gold outfit.

Glow Getter The mid-day high tea or brunch calls for fresh, dewy, luminous skin. Earthy nude tones help you achieve the look

3. Finish by giving your cheeks a little glow with True Match Blush ‘True Rose’ and Colour Riche Matte Mania ‘Velvet Rose’ for your lips.

For more details, log on to Getthelook.co.in

Gold-plated polka earrings, Mahesh Notandass Pink swirl clutch, Lovetobag

2. Keep your eyes simple by a lining them with Kajal Magique and accentuating your lashes with two coats of Volume Million Lashes Mascara.

Tip: For a day look like this, always pick tones that are not more than two shades darker that your own skin colour.

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PROMOTION Add a polki necklace and a hand harness to a lace dress to give it an ethnic twist.

STYLE FILE

1. Begin with a clean face and blend in a layer of Nude Magic Liquid Powder Foundation into your skin.

Polki necklace, Amrapali Gold-plated finger bracelet, Arme De L’Amour

2. Give your cheeks a hint of colour with Lucent Magique Blush ‘Fuschia Flush’. Form a ‘C’ beginning at the apple of your cheeks and end on the sides of your forehead.

First Blush

3. Pick Superliner Black Buster to line your eyes. Line only 3/4th of your eye leaving the inner corner to be filled by Superliner Gel Matic Pen ‘Glamor Gold’. Liner your lower lash line with Superliner Gel Matic Pen ‘Silver Mania’.

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A pop of colour on lips and a fresh bloom on the cheeks: the perfect duo for daytime celebrations Tip: When using a bright hue on the lips, balance your eyes with muted tones to avoid a clash of colours.

For more details, log on to Getthelook.co.in

4. Finish by painting your pout in the luscious Infallible Lipstick ‘Forever Fuschia’.

Artistry Amway.in

Benefit Sephora, 51 Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4134 9797. Bio-Oil At stores nationwide. Bobbi Brown G13B Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4101 8275. Burt’s Bees Sephora, 51 Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4134 9797. BVLGARI At Shoppers Stop stores nationwide. Tel: 022 2643 5424/011 4609 8300/080 6664 1200.

Carolina Herrera Parcos, 2 Grand Galleria, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 3002 5123. 241 DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4652 9850. Chambor At Lifestyle stores nationwide. Tel: 011 4209 0016/022 6666 9203. Chanel 2 Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 4004 8534. The Imperial, 1 Janpath, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4111 6840. Clarins 34/14B Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 3071 4098. At Shoppers Stop stores nationwide. Tel: 022 2643 5424/011 4609 8300/080 6664 1200. Clear At stores nationwide. Clinique S10 Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 4347 3773. Colorbar At Pantaloons stores nationwide. Tel: 022 3003 4848/011 4350 5001/080 4160 4212. At Big Bazaar stores nationwide. Tel: 022 6730 5453/011 3252 7115.

Delhi. Tel: 011 4615 1752. UB City, 24 Vittal Mallya Road, Bengaluru. Tel: 080 4098 2000. F

Forest Essentials S4A Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 6615 0356. 46B Khan Market, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4175 7057.

Garnier At stores nationwide. Giorgio Armani 123 DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 022 4102 7122. At Shoppers Stop stores nationwide. Tel: 022 2643 5424/011 4609 8300/080 6664 1200.

Dior The Oberoi, Dr Zakir Hussain Marg, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4150 5161. At Shoppers Stop stores nationwide. Tel: 022 2643 5424/011 4609 8300/080 6664 1200. Dove At stores nationwide. Estée Lauder S10 Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 4347 3773. G12 Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New

Kama Ayurveda 22A Khan Market, New Delhi. Tel: 011 2465 4885. GOODEARTH, Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2495 1954. Kérastase Jean-Claude Biguine, 11S Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 6511 3311. Kiehl’s G13 Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4087 0067. Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 6671 2837. L’Occitane En Provence F9B Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 4004 3884. G48 Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4053 4518. L’Oréal Paris At Shoppers Stop stores nationwide. Tel: 022 2643 5424/011 4609 8300/080 6664 1200. L’Oréal Paris The Boutique, 10B Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2491 0044. L’Oréal Professionnel At stores nationwide. Lakmé At Lifestyle stores nationwide. Tel: 011 4209 0016/022 6666 9203. Lancôme 1 Grand Galleria, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 3209 5531. M.A.C 33 Melange, Altamount Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2352 1097.

E L L e october 2014 |

www.elle.in

Dynamix Mall, JVPD Petit Scheme, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai. Tel: 022 2670 5603. G49 Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 0 93136 50722. Maybelline New York At Lifestyle stores nationwide. Tel: 022 6666 9203/ 011 4209 0016. Moroccanoil Taj Salon, The Taj Mahal Palace, Apollo Bunder, Mumbai. Tel: 022 6665 3366. N

Nina Ricci Parcos, White Hall, 143 August Kranti Marg, Kemps Corner, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2364 3685. Nivea At stores nationwide.

Olay At Big Bazaar stores nationwide. Tel: 011 4600 0789/022 6730 5453. At Health & Glow outlets in Mumbai. Organic Harvest Organicharvest.in. Oriflame Oriflame.co.in.

Pond’s At stores nationwide.

Shiseido At Shoppers Stop stores nationwide. Tel: 022 2643 5424/011 4609 8300/080 6664 1200. Parcos, White Hall, 143 August Kranti Marg, Kemps Corner, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2364 3685.

The Body Shop 14 Skyzone, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 6612 0071. F10 Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4053 4541. Toni&Guy At stores nationwide. TRESemmé At stores nationwide.

Vichy S2 Oberoi Mall, Oberoi Garden City, Goregaon (E), Mumbai. Tel: 022 2849 3638.

Wella Butterfly Pond 58, Royal Terrace Building, Wodehouse Road, Colaba, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2218 2516.

YSL At Shoppers Stop stores nationwide. Tel: 022 2643 5424/011 4609 8300/080 6664 1200.

Za At Shoppers Stop stores nationwide. Tel: 022 2643 5424/011 4609 8300/080 6664 1200.

address book

E L L E beautyawards

333

The future of wrinkle reduction is here! FOR MORE INFORMATION AND PROFESSIONAL MAKE-UP ADVICE, PLEASE VISIT oriflame.co.in OR SMS ORIFLAME to 59994

@oriflame_india

facebook.com/oriflamein

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Improved, lightweight, paraben-free formula

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*Plant Stem Cell Extract, tested in vitro

E L L E BEAUTY

No dark eyes or lips — Varun Bahl’s version of biker chic is fresh, but with a strong street vibe. The make-up artist behind the look, Clint Fernandes, tells us:

“We wanted to create something that was very edgy, yet prêt-à-porter.”

backstage brief

Decoding the pretty-meets-grunge look at Varun Bahl EYES

Eyes donned a floating block of teal shadow along the crease line. We love the shade — cool and perfect for warmer skin tones. Pair with voluminous lashes — apply two coats of mascara, and while still wet, clump together three to four lashes at a time with the tip of your wand.

Not sure how to DIY? Follow us on Instagram @elleindiaofficial to see ELLE staff test-drive 15 of the trickiest trends for eyes.

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TRY

Fernandes used lots of TIGI Bed Head After Party Smoothing Cream, ` 900, and Bumble and bumble Styling Lotion, ` 1,695, to hold up the do.

SKIN AND LIPS TRY

L’Oréal Paris La Crème True Match BB Skin Idealizing BB Cream, ` 550, and Chambor Glitzy Gloss, ` 550

E L L E october 2014

Fernandes balanced the statement eyes and hair by keeping the rest neutral. “The skin and lips were very fresh, dewy and simple. The lips were accentuated with lip gloss, keeping the tone closest to the natural colour,” he says.

| www.elle.in

TRY

Maybelline New York Color Show Glitter Mania ‘Starry Nights’, ` 125, or Lakmé Absolute Color Illusion Nails ‘Illusion’, ` 200

PHOTOGRAPHS: SHivAji juvekAR; cOmPiled by jAHnAvi PRASAd

#elleTRieSiT

TRY

M.A.C Eye Shadow ‘Aquadisiac’, ` 1,200, or The Body Shop Colour Crush Eyeshadow ‘Something Blue’, ` 695

HAIR The braided mohawk adds hardness to a pretty face. All you need to know is how to do a French plait. Divvy up your hair into three sections and French-braid it till the ends. Tie at the nape of your neck and tuck into the braided part. For a simpler version, just pin the crown of your hair into a quiff, and pull the rest back tightly into a ponytail.

NAILS Nails in metallic grey complemented the supersized sequins and accents on the garments. We recommend a textured nail colour or an ombré gradient to take it up a notch.

E L L E BEAUTY

FOSA RM FE UL A

? am he ood t cre ng our g on tha in y pin arm als jum e h mic hy mor che u w do the lls yo may te n out ab pre ago a ndw ed rri a S Wo him al ba r Rid -natu all

ELLE piCkS Which chemical-free products are good for you? We have the list on ELLE.in/ allnatural

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E L L e OCTOber 2014 |

THE CASE FOR CHEMICALS

It’s natural (pun intended) for the C word to make red flags go up in your head, but the fact is, everything is chemical, from organically grown fruit to vitamin supplements. Many of the synthetic compounds that are used in cosmetics are also derived from nature — glycolic acid, a commonly-used ingredient that helps you get glowing skin, is made from sugarcane; hyaluronic acid is a product of the bacterial fermentation of sugar; retinol is a form of vitamin A. If carrot juice and eggs were as effective at erasing wrinkles, the queues would be at the grocery stores, not in front of beauty counters. “Synthetic products were specially formulated to produce desirable and documented pharmacodynamic changes in skin quality and functioning, and to improve the skin and hair to the level that is not obtainable by natural products,” says Mumbaibased cosmetic dermatologist Dr Nina Madnani.

www.elle.in

jatin kampani

very few months, there’s a research study in the news telling you how dangerous your cosmetics are. You now know that the Brazilian blowout — that insanely popular trend — can cause cancer. A report by the Centre for Science and Environment India (CSE) earlier this year stated that banned heavy metals like mercury and lead were found in a number of products from very popular skincare and make-up brands. These can lead to everything from learning disabilities to hormonal imbalances. Is there cause for concern? Certainly. But the knee-jerk reaction to switch to all-natural, chemicalfree cosmetics is not as safe an option as you think. Look up the label of one of these brands. Sure, they have the words ‘natural’, ‘organic’ or ‘botanical’ in bold in front — but then, they have silicones and parabens on the ingredient label at the back. Before you blanket-ban all synthetics, hear us out on why natural may not always mean good for you.

“Yes, yoghurt and milk have lactic acid, but to actually have a cell-level improvement on the quality of the elastin, collagen, or even the melanocytes, you need products that have been developed after intensive research and trials.”

NATURE NEEDS HELP

A study in the 1990s found that parabens, a class of chemicals commonly used as preservatives in all kinds of cosmetics, mimic oestrogen in the body and were found in cancerous tumours taken from the breast. Soon after, paraben-free products were being sold by the bushel. Since then, the link between breast cancer and parabens has been contested and shown to be highly unlikely and weaker than the link between soya — a common, healthy protein alternative — and a host of oestrogen-related hormonal issues. Parabens are still known irritants, so it’s best to stay away if you have sensitive skin. But whether zero parabens decreases the risk of using the product, is debatable. The thing is, cosmetics need preservatives. Creams and lotions are a mix of an oil base and a water base. Without stabilisers, oil goes rancid; add water and some fruit extracts, and within a week, that bottle is a mouldy-bacterial frat party. Mumbaibased cosmetic dermatologist Dr Jaishree Sharad says, “Natural, preservative-free products must be manufactured in small batches, and in many cases, they are only produced when the order is placed. Once made, they may not last for more than a week, even if you store them in the refrigerator. Just opening and closing the lid of the jar can lead to contamination. Synthetic preservatives make products safer.” Plus, if a product isn’t using parabens, it probably contains another synthetic or natural preservative, which might be more harmful, but we don’t know about them because no studies have outed them — yet.

In India, the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act are responsible for keeping a check on false and misleading labels on products, but enforcement of the rules is weak, at best. There’s a term for using words like ‘natural’, ‘with herbal extracts’, ‘all natural’ and ‘safe’ as a marketing strategy — it’s called greenwashing. Unless backed by the logo of an external, authentic organisation that certifies products as ‘100% natural’ or ‘safe’, these words mean absolutely nothing, and there’s no one to hold brands to their claims.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

We’re not saying natural is all bad. We’re saying that if you’re lactose intolerant, you probably shouldn’t eat ice cream. If your skin is hypersensitive, products with parabens might not be a good idea, and neither would lemon essential oil. That’s no reason they might not work for someone else though. Dissing something just because it has synthetic compounds is like refusing to take vaccinations, because hey, medicines didn’t fall off trees. Science is good. Science is on your side. The best anyone can do is be aware of what’s in their products — natural or synthetic — and make the right choices. According to Amit Khurana, project manager of food safety and toxins at CSE, and the one who headed the study on heavy metals in cosmetics, “There should be an independent assessment system to approve the products before they hit the market. We have also suggested that there should be a public disclosure and warning system that makes the consumer aware about the types and levels of heavy metals and toxins present in all cosmetic products.” For now, we’ve made a list of online resources you can look up for more information (see box). Read. Learn. And whether you use certified-organic cocoa butter or the latest high-tech lotion, don’t forget to moisturise.

GREENWASHING?

The problem is, even if you’re sure an earth-to-bottle route is the only one for you, a natural label doesn’t ensure your product is free of lab-made compounds. Many other claims, including ‘dermatologist-tested’ and ‘allergy-tested’, are not verified by any other body but the company itself. According to Greenerchoices. com, a comprehensive resource on labels and claims, “manufacturers are not required to perform any tests or provide supporting evidence to demonstrate that products labelled ‘allergy tested’ produce fewer allergic reactions than other products. The FDA also states that nearly all cosmetics are likely to cause an allergic reaction in certain sensitive people.”

More resources on making safe choices: Shopsmart.org Greenerchoices.org/eco-labels Ewg.org/skindeep

BAD NATURE Here are a few all-natural high-risk allergens. Dr Sharad says, “These natural ingredients, used for their benefits or for fragrance in many creams and cosmetics, have been known to cause allergies, skin irritation and sensitivity to sunlight.”

cERTIFIED GOOD Look out for these true-to-their-word labels

ESSENTIAL OILS Geranium Lavender Peppermint

USDA Organic NSF Contains Organic Ingredients Cosmos Organic ECOCERT Approved

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FRAGRANcES Bergamot Grapefruit Lemon Lime

HERbAL ExTRAcTS Clove Cinnamon Lemongrass Rose Thyme Witch hazel Ylang ylang

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skin-surance Find the route to a younger, plumper, healthier complexion with Pond’s Age Miracle Four women reveal their secret to praise-worthy skin that will keep you guessing their age

Juhi Singh,

Shreya PraSad,

Educationist Entering the 30s was the point at which my skin’s downfall began. Suddenly, I woke up to problems like wrinkles and dark spots. In need of a remedy, I tried the Pond’s Age Miracle ReGen Day Cream and Overnight Repair Cream. These two products together have reversed all the telltale signs and my skin has bounced back. Everyone around me is always second guessing my age, which I keep a secret.

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I have an extremely stressful job that not only drained me mentally but also started showing on my skin. Then I found the perfect fit for my busy schedule: the Pond’s Age Miracle Intensive Cell ReGen Serum. Enriched with Pro-Cell Complex, this water-based serum gets absorbed into the skin in seconds and boosts its regenerative capacity. All I have to do is massage it in and leave the serum to take care of my skin while I tackle the compliments.

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HotEliEr Standing tall in a maledominated industry is a big challenge. And it’s not just my knowledge that’s put to the test but also my assertiveness and appearance. When I wake up each morning, I love to boost my confidence by looking at a face that has been given ample nourishment and care. I pamper my skin with a regimen of Pond’s Age Miracle ReGen Facial Foam, Serum, Day Cream and Overnight Repair Cream, and in return, I step out each day with self-assurance, ready to make a mark.

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dEsignEr Between fittings before a big show, a model came up to me asking what I did for my glowing skin, and that just gave me confidence in the products I use. When you’re constantly surrounded by models, celebrities and A-listers with flawless skin, you cannot ignore your own. I was introduced to the Pond’s Age Miracle range by a friend a year ago and the products haven’t left my shelf since. I have skin that is plumped up without any signs of ageing like dark spots, wrinkles or dullness.

I N S T I T U T E

E L L E health

stir crazy

t ELLE INSIDER Want a diet that’s doable? We asked the experts to tell us (and you) on ELLE.in/ easydiets

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Are you sitting in the best restaurant in town, scanning the menu with rising panic, for the one thing that won’t throw your organic, fat-free diet out of whack? Anuradha Anupkumar tells you why you might have orthorexia — an unhealthy obsession with healthy food

wo years ago, I took a sabbatical from small-seeded fruit (on the permitted list were chikoos, mangoes and figs only), seafood (which I occasionally snuck into my meals), all foods with artificial preservatives and colours (I never liked co*ke and potato chips anyway; totally kidding) and the kind of ajinomoto-ridden, schezwan sauce-soaked IndianChinese food that you accidentally smell from a nearby cart on the way home, leaving you with an agonising gnawing in the stomach and a mouth full of saliva. Needless to say, I didn’t go down easy. But after a year of coughing through the night and drinking hot liquids through the day, I was desperate, and ready to try anything my homeopath suggested to be rid of this respiratory allergy. And I had to admit that most of what was verboten was pretty legit, right? I mean, artificial food colour and preservatives? Who needs that junk in their system? I was doing my body a favour — eating healthy, nourishing food. So I did, and six months later, I was duly rewarded — with pneumonia. To skip to the end of the story, I went to a doctor who put me on a three-month course of anti-allergens, and after that, it was like I’d never been sick (yay, drugs!).

But this is not a story of how modern science beat alternative medicine. This is, quite simply, a story of how it never, ever pays to deny your body anything it bloody wants.

Self-righteouS grub

Dr Steven Bratman might have told me I had a form of orthorexia nervosa. It’s a term he coined in 1997 in an essay (adapted from that other eating disorder, anorexia nervosa), and even wrote a book about (Health Food Junkies, Random House, 2004), where he described orthorexia (ortho: right or correct, and orexis: appetite) as “an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy”. It was true that an expert had recommended my deprivation diet, but I really did believe that I needed to eat better and avoid foods I knew were toxic if I wanted to feel pure, healthy and clean. It came to a point that I rarely ate out with friends and never at Chinese restaurants or Indian dhaba-style joints (you don’t think they get their tikka masala that vibrant red with tomatoes, do you?) My family had to pretend they didn’t miss the seafood, because it would be cruel to tempt me with that stuff at home. But I rallied on, convinced I was eating right.

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healthy obSeSSion

While orthorexia hasn’t been recognised by psychiatric bodies as a disorder — as anorexia or bulimia are — many mental health professionals have acknowledged that it is a real problem, as they are increasingly confronted by patients’ obsessions with new fad diets — vegan, raw food, glutenfree, low-fat, organic, farm-totable, blood type, paleo and even baby food. For instance, in 2009, Ursula Philpot, then chair of the British Dietetic Association, described people with orthorexia nervosaas being “solely concerned with the quality of the food they put in their bodies, refining and restricting their diets according to their personal understanding of which foods are truly ‘pure’.” Like most experts, Delhi-based Dr Samir Parikh, director, mental health, Fortis Healthcare, will explain that orthorexia falls under the area of obsessive behaviour, not eating disorders. “It’s a debilitating compulsion to be healthy, similar to a fear of falling ill, and thus doing an unnecessary number of medical tests,” he says. “You become preoccupied with the idea and it takes over your life. Orthorexia may be one of many obsessions that this person may have.”

LEE BROOMFIELD

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“

I was doing my body a favour — eating healthy, nourishing food. And six months later, I was duly rewarded — with pneumonia

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Are you A cAndidAte?

When Dr Bratman first came up with the term, he proposed an initial self-test that comprised all of two questions: 1. Do you care more about the virtue of what you eat than the pleasure you receive from eating it? And 2. Does your diet socially isolate you? Since then, professionals have come up with longer lists of questions that revolve around these, but all agree that a pretty good way to assess whether you’re in the orthorexia club is by simply answering honestly, whether your diet has taken over your life. Citing one of his cases, Mumbai-based psychiatrist Dr Dayal Mirchandani says, “I know a patient who lived on salads and a vegan diet. She carried her dabba with her everywhere she went. Going to parties or seminars was difficult for her, and travelling became a problem because she had to worry about what she’d eat. Her husband was quite troubled by it and she recognised she had a problem herself.” Anyone who’s dealt with orthorexia will admit that their upside-down life and becoming something of a social pariah were the first signs they had a problem. Like 23-year-old New York-based blogger Jordan Younger of The Blonde Vegan, who surprised her readers when she changed her blog name to The Balanced Blonde, declaring that she was reevaluating her diet. Her turning point was a panic attack at Juice Press (a raw juice and smoothie bar), when they didn’t have her “green juice with a tiny bit of apple” leaving only the “too sugary” option with extra apple juice. Things got worse when her mum and sister visited, and Younger realised she hadn’t enjoyed a single meal with them. “I ate before or after seeing them, panicked that the food at the restaurants we were going to was going to make me feel like crap,” she wrote.

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diet bomb

Perhaps most worrying is Dr Bratman’s observation that “emaciation is common among followers of certain health food diets”, sometimes even leading to death. Mumbai-based nutritionist and counsellor Karishma Chawla says, “If one has only raw foods and salads, or fruit juices that are high in sugar, it compromises immunity and can also lead to muscle breakdown. When I recommend a short-term diet to someone, it’s tailor-made for them and constantly monitored. But no extreme diet is ever balanced.” Even veganism, Chawla says, isn’t entirely healthy. “You can’t drop an entire food group, eliminate dairy. You’d need to be given lots of products and supplements to make up for it.” Instead, she recommends what grandma’s been telling us all this while: eat everything in moderation. And if you don’t, you might want to look out for these telltale signs: lethargy, susceptibility to colds and other illnesses (inadequate protein); low energy levels, hunger and mental fatigue (inadequate fat); and muscle cramps or insomnia (inadequate calcium — and no, just chomping down on bananas won’t do).

breAk the cycle

The way to break this cycle is like dealing with any other obsession, says Dr Parikh. “It involves working on the rigid rules you’ve put up, and telling yourself that maybe one samosa, once in a while, is not going to hurt you.” Dr Mirchandani has a useful tactic. “I often tell my patients to imagine that someone else is controlling your diet, looking over your shoulder and telling you what to do, narrating scary stories of what will happen if you don’t follow the diet. It’s called externalisation and makes your decision seem like an imposition.” After all, let’s be honest, you won’t be bossed around.

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ARE THESE CELEBS TAKING IT TOO FAR? Gwyneth Paltrow’s frequent detoxes are a whispered internet joke. The macrobiotic junkie advocates a “clean” lifestyle; she has frequently talked about how cleanses (the most elaborate of which is probably the 21-day cleanse prescribed by Dr Alejandro Junger) make her feel “pure and happy and much lighter”. Victoria Beckham makes no secret of her love for healthy food. Curious about that freakishly unchanging svelteness? She attributes it to a breakfast of algae and seaweed shakes, edamame bean snacks — and bee pollen! The designer recommends 1 tsp of Virgin Raw Food’s Bee Panacea, a mix of 20 superfoods (spirulina, chlorella, maca root) and herbs (cinnamon, ginseng) in a sweet base of raw royal honey, bee pollen and royal jelly. Angelina Jolie literally started eating like a bird earlier this year, when she allegedly went on an ancient grains diet — with no fruits, veggies or meat in the mix. Fans promptly blamed her newfound love for spelt and amaranth for her skinny frame.

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E L L E BEAUTY

GOOD AS GOLD True Indian sandalwood is a complex, beautiful fragrance, but it took a special kind of loss for Divrina Dhingra to discover all that it can be

ike all life-altering incidents I’ve experienced, it happened in the summer. In the intense 45-degree heat that swept over the northern plains and all but incinerated everyone’s will to carry on, my life habitually bounded forward, leaving me to catch up — relationships were forged or crumbled, careers ended or changed, and as in this case, death came calling.

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It was May 22, at 7:30am, when after a restless night, I bolted out of bed, awakened by a sense of sleep-cloaked dread, to see my dog silently breathe his last on the terrace, against the contrast of the bright summer sun. The grief I felt was all-encompassing. I walked about in a cloud of pain, disbelieving and tearful. For a few nights, I marked the spot on the terrace with a few flowers and sticks of sandalwood incense, as a soothing ritual.

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For a while, I imagined he was still there; I saw a white-tipped tail disappearing around the corner, heard contented sighs from under my bed. I missed his endearing doggy smell and I searched for it, desperate enough at times to crouch on all fours and sniff the carpets, the way he used to. Always in the background was the lingering scent of sandalwood that had begun to permeate the house insidiously, and after a spell, its sweet, mysterious fragrance became a substitute, as comforting as the canine smell I sought, the two now thoroughly linked in my mind. I was desperate, of course, but this encounter with sandalwood — which up to then had been a scent so commonplace in the country that I barely registered it — got me thinking. As I read more about it, I discovered that by seeking solace in its fragrance, I was merely following a centuries-old tradition. Within the history of Indian religious and social ritual, there is ample precedent for regarding sandalwood as sublime. Considered healing and calming, sandalwood’s associations with the spiritual hark back to a time when perfume referred, quite literally, to billows of fragrant smoke, i.e. the Latin ‘per-fumus’ meaning ‘through smoke’. The smoke, when used as part of prayer rituals, forms the metaphorical veil between this mundane world and the supernatural, its fragrance imbued with the power to carry forth our mortal thoughts and wishes to a higher plane. This use of fragrant sandal smoke and incense originated in India, from where it extended outward across the mountains to China and the Far East. The use of sandalwood in ancient India wasn’t restricted to religious use, though. In the 1st millennium BC, and for approximately a thousand years after, during India’s Classical Age, towns and cities mushroomed across the Indo-Gangetic plains. Their inhabitants were affluent urbanites who lived cultured lives that included such pastimes as poetry and music — and an elaborate toilette. The urbanite (or nagarika) of the Indian Classical Age was a sensualist, comparable to a modern-day dandy, and his daily bath was a ritual in which fragrance played the starring role. On the subject, seventhcentury Chinese traveller Hsuan Tsang wrote: “They are very particular in their personal cleanliness and allow no remissions in this matter. Every time they perform the functions of

nature, they wash their bodies and use perfumes of sandalwood or turmeric…” In the Ramayana, there is mention that Sita was particularly fond of red sandalwood paste, known for its beautiful scent as well as cooling properties. In Kautilya’s Arthashastra, a manual on Mauryan administration from the 3rd century, there is a list of precious articles, including sandalwood, added to the treasury. Within Ayurveda, sandalwood has been prescribed as a panacea for various ills for the last 3,000 years. It comes as no surprise then that this precious wood has always been expensive and consequently, much coveted. A brief look at the story of Indian sandalwood, or Santalum album to be scientifically precise, shows how this singular fact has shaped the history of this tree into the equivalent of an old-fashioned musical with a cast that includes ancient kingdoms and powerful rulers, beautiful damsels and racy courtesans, modern but corrupt government officials and a gang of ruthless smugglers. So what makes Santalum album so special? Excessive as it might seem, it really is all about the wood’s essential oil, and its fragrance. The oil is harvested from the heartwood (literally the heart of the tree) and only mature trees — those over 15 years old — yield oil; pure South Indian sandalwood oil sells for over one lakh rupees per kilo. This is a fragrance that is incredibly complex. Despite being classified as a wood, it is exceptional in that it also contains creamy, floral facets that make it warmer and softer than others in the woody category, like cedar wood or agar wood, both of which are dry and somewhat austere. Singapore-based perfumer Gauri GokhaleGarodia, creator of the niche Code Deco line of fine fragrances, says that while she likes woody notes in general for the depth and heft they add to a perfume, sandalwood is her all-time favourite. “I love the soft, creamy transparency of sandal. It adds depth, warmth and a rounded mellowness to the base making it the most elegant woody note available,” she says. Though vintage perfumes contained (or claimed to contain) pure Indian sandalwood in their compositions, modern fragrances turn to synthetic scent molecules to create the same effect. And while these are as beautiful, and sometimes more easy to appreciate, given

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that vintage perfumes can seem over-the-top voluptuous (remember Guerlain’s Samsara?), for an introduction to the real McCoy, I turned to traditional attar. Attars, of course, are the Eastern, primarily Islamic traditional perfumes that eschew the use of alcohol. These are simpler distillations of plants and flowers over sandalwood oil, and though adulteration is rife, sometimes with a bit of a search and some luck, you strike gold. Liquid gold, which smells creamy and enveloping. At a cave-like attar store in Old Delhi, I smelled my way across vials of attars, marvelling at how each settled down to reveal the layer of sandalwood, which lingered longest. Other perfumes were exciting, revelatory or off-putting, but sandalwood with all its refined beauty, was familiar. I had known it all my life, but as of this summer it had left an indelible mark. I encountered wafts of sandalwood inflected smells in unexpected places — squalid markets, steamy and crowded after a monsoon shower, metro stations or subways, anywhere that incense found a place. And each time, I felt a small charge. A mix of emotions as complex as the fragrance itself: sadness and remembered grief, but also a small calm. I found myself pursuing the fragrance, using my nose more than I ever had before, imagining that this newfound skill might have pleased my dog. I read about sandalwood trees and their

history and origins and I began to swap my goto perfume, an Impressionistic floral, for ones with discernible notes of sandalwood, perfumes that I’d previously dismissed as “too much”. At the Tom Ford boutique, I discovered Santal Blush, a modern and stylish version of the wood, and at Hermès, I spent long minutes inhaling Hermessence Santal Massoïa, which is both familiar with the warm and milky sandal smell, and intriguing with its other pungent notes — though I finally decided it wasn’t really appealing. At home, I bought and burnt scented candles — which until then had struck me as unnecessary at best, fire hazards at worst — as well as squat brown sticks of Mysore Sughandi Chandan Dhoop, which burned slowly and trailed smoke as they were carried from room to room. These scents lingered and eased sleep, which had been playing cruel games with me all that summer. Wrung out from crying (or trying not to cry), I would fall quickly, blessedly asleep the minute I lay down, but awaken with a start a few hours later, convinced I’d heard a sound that only my dog could have made: a soft whine or a clack of nails on tile. My heart would expand with relief, and then break all over again as cold reality dispelled the sleepy chimeras. That was when I learned to take a deep breath, and depend on the sweet, woody fragrance that clung to the walls by now to comfort me. Sandalwood had become the scent of my solace.

SWEET SPOT Get your sandalwood fix with these evocative perfumes

tom ForD Santal BluSh

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Diptyque tam Dao

hermÈS hermeSSence Santal maSSoÏa

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Donna Karan BlacK caShmere

on the sheLf RoUGe LoUboUtin

E L L E BEAUTY

Red alert

The priciest little bottle of nail colour = the wallet-friendly way to own Louboutin

Christian Louboutin Beauté Nail Colour, ` 3,040, expected in India mid-next year. Christianlouboutin.com

ELLE PICKS Tempted? Wait till you see our pick of the Louboutins every woman needs, only on ELLE.in/loubs

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PHOTOGRAPH: FABRICE BOUQUET; STYLING: JULIE CHANUT-BOMBARD

A towering — 20 cm! — stiletto applicator on a bottle of nail colour that costs a small fortune. Trust Christian Louboutin to make nail polish ridiculously luxurious. Does it have enough bang for your buck, you ask? Well, the formula (which took two years to perfect) gives you in two coats what regular nail paint gives in 20 and the applicator offers calligraphy-like precision. And honestly, how else are you going to score a Loub in under 4k?

E L L E BEAUTY

ON THE SHELF MARC JACOBS BEAUTY

1 1. Marvelous Mousse Transformative Foundation, ` 4,650 2. Lovemarc Lip Gel ‘Saboteur’, ` 2,300 3. Lash Lifter Gel Volume Mascara, ` 2,190

4. Lust For Lacquer Lip Vinyl ‘Truth Or Dare’, ` 2,140 5. Style Eye-Con No 3 Plush Shadow ‘The Punk’, ` 3,280 6. Enamored Nail Glaze ‘Ultra Violet Bright Purple’, ` 1,750

Bold face

The new beauty line by Marc Jacobs is all luxurious colour, designed to make heads turn

Lush, rich colours with names that take cues from his numerous tattoos and favourite movies: the Marc Jacobs beauty line, launching this fall, is one to get excited about. What’s coming to India (exclusively at Sephora) is an extensive 120-product collection, with a few pieces that can be shared with the opposite sex. Ranges include: Smart Complexion (foundations, concealers and powders), Blacquer (precision eyeliners, lash lifters and gel crayons), Hi-Per Color (lip products, blush, eyeshadow, bronzer and nail lacquers), and Boy Tested, Girl Approved (a unisex lip balm, brow tamer and concealer).

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PhotograPh: Prabal guha Niyogi; iNPuts by JahNavi Prasad

“

I’M WEARING PINK TO WORK ON OCTOBER 17. ARE YOU? supports the

“

SONAM KAPOOR

FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER

EllE.in/ebcc

#WearPinktoWork

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Log on to OgaanCancerFoundation.org to sign up your company

OGAANCANCERFOUNDATION

A REGISTERED NON-PROFIT UNDER SECTION 25 OF THE COMPANIES ACT, 1956

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The Wear Pink to Work Day campaign is in its fourth year and we’re counting on your participation.

You did it.

en years ago, the Ogaan Cancer Foundation was formed, as our commitment to spreading awareness and education about breast cancer. This was a disease affecting thousands of women across the country, across the world — and not nearly enough was being said about it. How could it be prevented? Could it be prevented? How to deal with it? Could you ever come back from it, physically and emotionally? Lack of knowledge meant fear, and evasion. We wanted to do something to break this cycle of terror, rid the topic of its stigma. And all our talks with the experts would arrive again and again at one single, resounding conclusion:

early detection, made possible by awareness, could save lives. We had to get the word out. And that’s where you came in. Over the last decade, as we wrote stories, talked to survivors, brought celebrity ambassadors on board, initiated fundraisers and joined hands with other organisations working in the field, you were with us. You always reached out, you always showed up and you gave whatever you could.

Here is what you helped us achieve: This year, with the 10th edition of our annual fundraiser, the ELLE Carnival For A Cause, we were able to donate ` 37.35 lakh to the Women’s Cancer Initiative, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. This brings your contribution, to date, up to ` 2.62 crore. This number is particularly significant because it is made up of thousands of small contributions from readers like you. It has meant subsidised medical care — including free check-ups — for hundreds of women who couldn’t afford it. Every donation has also gone towards funding critical clinical trials and research, conferences for the medical community, and outreach and awareness programmes. YOU did this. Isn’t that amazing? From all of us to all of you: tight squeeze. Thank you for making a difference.

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new delhi

E L L E BEAUTY

real

deal mumbai

Forget subtle, sun-kissed highlights. Super-bright, strikingly bold stripes, dipdyes and global colours are making heads turn. It’s time to upgrade the ombré mane.

new york

TIP: Nail art, at first, can look like a toddler’s mess. Take it to pro-level perfection with a smooth top coat.

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Paris

When fashionistas step out, their look is polished from head to toe, with even their nails making a statement. From dots to half-moons and metallics — nail art made its presence felt.

milan

as seen at: alice + olivia, ruffian

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imaxtree.com/vincenzo grillo and samir rana (street style)

as seen at: easton Pearson, yohji yamamoto

milan

TIP: Hair colours demand commitment. Brights are bound to bleed in the first few washes, so ensure you towel-dry and blow-dry well before you put on your clothes. We suggest you clock at least 20 minutes for the process.

colourful MANES

digit diAl

new york

From ridiculous feather headdresses to neon hair, models make anything look good. But, honestly, so can you. We’ve got inspiration from women around the world: not models, not perfect, but totally ontrend. Here are the top four standout styles off the runway at the F/W 14-15 shows.

mumbai

Runway trends too daunting for you? These super-stylish ladies will change your mind, says Jahnavi Prasad

NEw DElhi

TIP: If you want to channel the messy look, flip your hair forward and give it a good shake — this will give you volume and texture. Collect your hair in the middle and loosely tie it up with a hair tie; don’t bother about neatness.

loNDoN

getting knotty AS SEEN AT: Anita Dongre, Missoni

NEw DElhi

loNDoN

MuMbAi

Supersized, doughnutshaped or straight-outof-bed sexy, knots are extremely easy to pull off and totally chic.

TIP: Use the chart below to pick the murky shade that best suits your skin’s undertone.

AS SEEN AT: Prama by Pratima Pandey, Anna Sui PAriS

Dark lips are no longer a punk-only trend. These ladies ditch the safe, subtle hues and make everything from blackish reds to burgundy and carmine look seriously posh. rm Wa

S ONE IN T

uNdErTONE yelloW/orange PAriS

MuMbAi

dark times

Colours with bluish-red hues are your best bet. You can still play with textures but we suggest you steer clear of sparkle.

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find your colour

lig

SKIN

TON ES

medium SKIN TONES uNdErTONE olive Go for the deepest shades of burgundy but in matte finishes. Anything light or bright may look garish.

uNdErTONE pink/red Glitter, gloss or matte — most textures and pale colours work with light skin colours. Avoid very dark hues; they may make the rest of your face look pasty.

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Memory makers The whiff of cologne in the office that reminds you of a first kiss, the floral-lavender fragrance that takes you back to summer afternoons of quiet naps with grandma — we decode three perfumes’ emotion-evoking quality

MUST-TRY OF THE MONTH

BusTlinG Busy sTreeTs in A mAjesTic ciTy

nuDE PErFECtion TOP NOTES Mandarin orange MID NOTES Tuberose, lily, Chinese jasmine, jasmine sambac, honeysuckle BASE NOTES Patchouli, patchouli leaf, amber, musk, Madagascar vanilla Estée Lauder Modern Muse, ` 7,900

Burberry My Burberry, price on request

TOP NOTES Sweet pea, bergamot MID NOTES Geranium, quince, freesia BASE NOTES Damask, centifolia roses, patchouli

A privATe dinner dATe

There’s a good reason make-up artists stress on using fingertips to apply foundation — the warmth of skin can create remarkable results. Meant to be blended only with your fingertips, L’Oréal Paris Magic Nude Liquid Powder Bare Skin Perfecting Makeup SPF 18, ` 850, made me ditch my foundation brush. The initial grainy texture might make you doubt your choice, but give it 10 minutes and you’ll see that it settles flawlessly. PS: If kept undisturbed, the powder settles at the bottom. Just shake it well and you'll be good to go.

ralph Lauren Midnight Romance, ` 5,700

organiC haVEn TOP NOTES Italian bergamot, juicy lychee MID NOTES Peony, jasmine sambac, freesia BASE NOTES Black vanilla, iris absolute, ambrox

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Looking to build an all-organic beauty kit? Head to The Kirana Shop in New Delhi. Shelves stocked with scrumptious goodies, all-natural beauty products and a host of brands that have a shared philosophy — this is a definite must-visit. 131, Mehar Chand Market, Lodhi Colony, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4905 1822

gulshan saChDEVa (BaCkstagE)

A summer GArden in london

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elle pick

kiran uttam ghosh

BEAUTY UpdATEs NEws, rEviEws ANd BEsT BUYs

E L L E trending

new launches

aneeTh arora

HOT OFF THE SHELVES

SPACE EFFECT

Winter wonders Make the seasonal switch

Goodbye hot sweaty days, hello cool wintry nights. If you’re going to get your wardrobe ready for the changing season, your beauty regimen deserves the same attention. Here’s what you need...

When we see beautiful, coloured cosmetics, we can’t wait to try them. But the galaxy-like surface of the M.A.C Mineralize Eyeshadow, ` 1,200, left us so starry-eyed that it took us a while to let loose our brush on it. The pigment is creaseresistant and super-blendable. We love ‘Blue Flame’ the most.

sKincare

3 Gulshan sachdeva (BacKsTaGe)

hair care If the wet, humid months made your hair frizzy, the cold air of winter is going to leave your mane brittle and unruly. Make the switch in your hair care before your mane starts to rebel. Minimise the need to wash your hair, and when you do, deep condition and blow-dry every strand. A good tool to invest in is the blow-dryer (plus hairbrush) Philips Air Straightener, ` 2,395.

Yes, we know you’ve religiously slathered on the SPF every day. But it’s that time of the year, when your moisturiser needs to do the hard work. Start early and you won’t have to deal with any of that dry scaly skin. Pick formulas that are heavier and infused with ingredients like olive oil, cocoa butter or argan oil. Try Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion, ` 545, or The Body Shop Olive Body Butter, ` 1,095.

SOAK IT UP You can really benefit from a product when your skin completely absorbs it. Looks like the folks at Lancôme were listening, because the brand’s Rénergie French Lift Night Duo, ` 8,250, comes with a nifty massaging tool. In a single application ritual, you get plumper and firmer skin.

FraGrances Crisp, light and refreshing fragrances are perfect for summer months, and even for the monsoon, cutting through some of that grey gloom. But winter is a time for woody, dense notes. Just as citrusy and fruity scents keep things fresh in the blazing summer, musky notes wrap us in their warm, toasty embrace in the winter. Our favourite is Tom Ford Café Rose, price on request.

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LIP SERVICE We can’t stress enough how important it is to hydrate your skin and as winter draws closer, your lips need extra care too. With the creamy goodness of a balm, Bobbi Brown’s Rich Lip Color, ` 2,100, also gives you a pop of colour. If gloss is your jam, get some instant plumping action with Revlon’s Super Lustrous Lipgloss, ` 480.

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BEAUTY UpdATEs NEws, rEviEws ANd BEsT BUYs

E L L E trending

Capital gain Zehen, a new members-only club in Delhi, is a delightful little bubble of wellness Take a spin class, exchange notes on your morning Pilates sesh and meditate with the capital’s swish set. Sound like you? Well then, you might just be invited by Zehen, Delhi’s spanking new private club, to become a member. This wellness sanctuary in the middle of the chaos of the city is exactly what every frazzled, high-powered executive needs — a place to indulge, unwind, exercise desk-bound muscles and find respite from a restless mind. As I check in for a long weekend, my stress levels are at their usual high.

The circuiT

The extensive list of experts at Zehen has every issue covered —

from nagging chronic back pain to inner peace. I was taken through a series of consultations, which they like to call the Zehen Circuit – the nutritionist was away at the time, but I saw a fitness expert, a yoga teacher/counsellor (an interesting combination), an Ayurvedic doctor. There are also alternative healing experts, some on hand and some who visit for a short while (these sessions tend to fill up in an instant).

Work iT

Yoga, spin cycling, TRX, Pilates — these are just some of the fitness options available, apart from a well-equipped gym. If you’re in for more relaxing fare (I certainly was), head to their stellar hydrotherapy

room and try a watsu water massage. This is a strange and wonderful treatment, where a therapist will get in the warm pool with you and sort of swish you about in the water, allowing it to massage your muscles. You feel weightless and like you're dancing, but it is also quite intense, so stay hydrated throughout. The Ayurvedic treatments here are upon the doctor’s recommendation, and seen more as medicinal than recreational — as they should be.

to help you stick to the guidelines prescribed by their nutritionist, without compromising on flavour. And I can tell you, it's delicious — I do not say this lightly. Healthy food isn't supposed to be this good. If you can’t make it to the club every day for your fix, you can opt to have their special tiffins and bento boxes delivered. Of course, no one would blame you if you decided to pop into Indian Accent for some blue cheese naan once in a while.

GourMeT heALTh

Membership by invitation only. Zehen at The Manor, 77 Friends Colony (W), New Delhi. Tel: 011 4323 5151; email: [emailprotected]

At Zehen, you’ll get a taste of ‘gourmet diet food’ with their Food for Thought menu, specially created by Chef Manish Mehrotra, which aims

— AishWAryA subrAMAnyAM

dark flowers Time to switch over to deeper, heady floral scents

Forest Essentials Light Day Lotion Madurai Jasmine & Mogra, ` 1,595

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NEsT Fragrances After Midnight Oriental Orchid, ` 5,088

L'Occitane en provence Néroli & Orchidée Gel, ` 1,200

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Korres Jasmine Lip Butter, ` 1,200

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ren Moroccan Rose Otto UltraMoisture Body Oil, ` 3,600

Titan skinn Celesté, ` 1,790

AwArds 2014

• 3 winners will win inr 50,000 each • Get to intern with Gaurav Gupta, suneet verma or masaba Gupta • winners will get to showcase at the eLLe Graduates show • internship with max LoG on to www.elle.in/maxdesignawards/ for more !

IllustrAtIons: PrABAl GuHA nIYoGI

StudentS from top faShion deSigning inStituteS acroSS india have participated! Watch out for the 15 finalists!

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E L L E trending spas & saLons

BEAUTY UpdATEs NEws, rEviEws ANd BEsT BUYs

hot spots

NEW IN TOWN The Benefit Brow Bar is finally here! Tired of the tugging and pulling by foul-tempered threading ladies and badly-shaped brows? The international facial hair experts are here to make browshaping a breeze. The trained professionals at Brow Bar will help you find the right shape for your face, and wax and tweeze even the most difficult arches into perfection.

Take a break

five reasons you need to visit the brand-new eSPA Spa at The leela Palace, chennai — stat

Hot stuff It is home to the best thermal suites in the country — one each for men and women. Each suite has a sauna room, a steam room, rain showers and an amazing vitality pool. After a quick steam and shower, we gave the pool a go. The underwater body jets hit the right points and are perfect for a quickie massage if you don’t have time for a full spa treatment.

take Home All rituals use UK-based spa brand ESPA’s range of products, including massage oils, potent serums and creams, and hair products. The therapist will suggest products for you based on a thorough consultation, which you can buy at the spa, if you choose to.

tHe treatments, of course There’s a wide range of extremely indulgent facials, massages and signature rituals to pick from, each customised to suit your preferences and concerns. The therapist will take you through some delicious-smelling aromatherapy oils out of which you pick out a couple. The thought behind the process is that your nose picks out the scent based on what your body needs at the moment. Smart!

nap nooks Knackered from all that pampering? You can head to one of the sleeping booths in the relaxation room — cosy little alcoves with pillows, cushions and a blanket, hidden away behind sheer curtains — drink some jasmine tea, read a magazine and take a small nap.

french lovin’

Good food Yes, we know, healthy stuff — who wants tofu if you can have butter, right? Surprisingly, you probably wouldn’t even notice that Executive Chef Dharmen Makawana’s Spa Menu uses no butter, no cream and only low-glycemic sugar for desserts and smoothies. Try the perfectly flaky panseared salmon, served on a bed of quinoa, the saffron cream seafood pasta (no dairy, glutenfree) and the chocolate tofu mousse cake. If all health food tasted like this, we’d gladly give up butter. The Leela Palace Chennai, Adyar Seaface, MRC Nagar, Chennai. Tel: 044 3366 8190

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Benefit Brow Bar, exclusively at Sephora, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4134 9797

— rIdHIma sapre E L L e october 2014 |

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Delhi-NCR peeps have a new wellness hideout. Anya, Gurgaon now hosts the newest L’Occitane spa in the country – Amaltas. Indulge in French-style pampering with Provençal steam experiences, treatments using their popular Aromachologie essential oils and a whole range of massages. 42 DLF Golf Course Road, DLF City V, Gurgaon. Tel: 0124 490 1111

PinkRibbonPROMOTION

www.jabong.com

look good EllE.in/ebcc

#WearPinktoWork

Treating yourself to beauty goodies can make you feel fabulous in more ways than one. For a little over a week in October, Jabong.com will contribute `5 for every purchase made in the beauty and fragrances category to the Ogaan Cancer Foundation. Check Jabong.com for details

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PinkRibbonPROMOTION

Skin Perfect Dermalogica supports the ELLE Breast Cancer Campaign and the brand has introduced special products that will be sold at their head office and through their website all through October and November. So log on to dermalogicaindia.com and start shopping – 10 per cent of all sales proceeds will be donated to the Ogaan Cancer Foundation.

OGAANCANCERFOUNDATION a registered NON-PrOFit uNder sectiON 25 OF the cOmPaNies act, 1956

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#WearPinktoWork

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Campaign

historic moments, breakthroughs & survivor stories

The ELLE Breast Cancer Campaign celebrates women who have fought a hard battle — and own their bodies, scars and all. As ever, the message remains simple: get checked now. Early detection saves lives.

The SCAR Project by Australian fashion photographer David Jay attempts to raise awareness about the early onset of breast cancer through a series of raw, emotional portraits of young survivors. e l l e OCTOBER 2014 |

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e l l e campaign Shop for a cauSe

OCTOBER

Breast Friends, Pune, will host the two-day Indian Breast Cancer Survivors Conference for patients and survivors from Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur and Goa. They’ve planned workshops on breast cancer care and will help survivors connect to a support system. For further information, visit Breast Friends Pune on Facebook.

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DATE

It’s that time of the year again, when we curse the heat and do all we can to spread awareness about breast cancer. This October, there’s more ways than one to start the conversation

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The Taj Group of Hotels is the official hospitality partner of the ELLE Breast Cancer Campaign and to mark breast cancer awareness month, Taj properties across Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai will be lit up in pink.

Wear pink

Dressing in head-to-toe pink is a pretty good way to get the conversation started. Celebrate Wear Pink to Work Day with the Ogaan Cancer Foundation. To register your organisation, log on to Ogaancancerfoundation.org. Tag #WearPinktoWork and tweet to let us know how it went.

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take in the Spectacle

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SAVE THE

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Meet, Mingle, heal

Snag the ‘Sparkling Pink’ watch by GUESS Watches, shop at Perniaspopupshop.com, or buy any of Bata’s ‘pink products’, and earn karma points — all three brands will donate part of the sales proceeds to the Ogaan Cancer Foundation. Need a beauty fix? Dermalogica will donate 10 per cent from every purchase of specially-selected products to the cause through October and November, and Jabong will contribute ` 5 from every purchase in the beauty and fragrances category, for a week in October (details on Jabong.com). When you’re all shopped out, head to Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru or Pune (all of them will be illuminated in pink on October 17) to unwind with a drink — they’re celebrating ‘PINKtober’ with a special menu.

Make a run for it

If you’re going to be in Ahmedabad on this day, sign up for the Pinkathon — a 10 km marathon for women. Hot bonus: you could run into organiser Milind Soman; the actor has joined hands with the Women’s Cancer Initiative (Wci.co.in) at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. Physical activity not your jam? Do the shorter 5 km run or 2 km walk — proceeds from the event will go to the WCI. Pinkathon.in

PinkRibbonPROMOTION

W0032L3 Rs. 9900

timE AND AGAiN EllE.in/ebcc

#WearPinktoWork

GUESS Watches returns for the ninth year with its ‘Sparkling Pink’ watch, to raise awareness and funds to support the fight against breast cancer

OGAANCANCERFOUNDATION a registered NON-PrOFit uNder sectiON 25 OF the cOmPaNies act, 1956

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E L L E campaign

1973

making the cut

1894

William Stewart Halsted introduces the radical mastectomy for breast cancer, which involves removal of the full breast, surrounding lymph nodes and chest muscles. This improves rates of survival but has side effects that include diminished quality of life.

seaRch tool

The American Cancer Society invests in a mammography study that demonstrates it is the best tool for early detection of breast cancer.

LEAP YEARS 1971

Our century-old fight against breast cancer is dotted with scientific breakthroughs, medical marvels and feats of modern technology

A more limited procedure called total mastectomy or removal of just the breast tissue (instead of the whole breast, chest wall muscle and underarm lymph nodes) is found to be effective — with reduced post-surgical pain and a more speedy recovery.

1940

Raging hoRmones

pick and choose

rescue women

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L -C

AIRE KING

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NE-CLAYP

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Research shows 75 per cent of breast tumours in pre-menopausal women are fuelled by ovarian function and hormones like oestrogen and progesterone. Doctors suggest hormone inhibitors, radiation therapy or removal of ovaries.

E LOV

The researcher

The geneTicisT

The DOcTOr

In 1923, in the first large-scale epidemiological study of its kind, LaneClaypon (the first woman to receive a research scholarship from the British Medical Society) isolated some of the major factors — like menopause — that caused breast cancer. Most of these are considered valid to date.

In 1990, while on the faculty at University of California, Berkeley, King demonstrated that a single gene onchromosome 17, later known asBRCA1, was responsible for many breast and ovarian cancers. Other scientists had previously ignored her ideas on how genetics might tie in with complex diseases.

Love advocated lumpectomies in the 1970s, when radical mastectomies were the norm and women had little say in their treatment. She even wrote Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book (Da Capo Lifelong Books) — The New York Times called it “the bible for women with breast cancer”.

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1974

drug use

SMALL WONDERS

Chemotherapy drug doxorubicin is found to shrink breast tumours in women with an advanced condition. It remains a major part of the treatment to this date — along with other drugs.

1975

1977

after effect

Dr Bernard Fisher and Dr Gianni Bonadonna show that adjuvant chemotherapy (or chemotherapy after surgery), using drugs like tamoxifen, prolongs the life of women with early-stage breast cancer.

keeping a breast

A lumpectomy — removing only the tumour and some of the surrounding breast tissue — followed by radiation therapy proves to be as effective as mastectomies in early-stage breast cancer cases, and also reduces recovery time and cosmetic side effects.

1994

gene catcher

Researchers at the University of Utah discover that women with mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes (made famous by Angelina Jolie last year) have a 50 to 85 per cent increased risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. This discovery allows women with the mutation to opt for more frequent screening or preventive mastectomies.

Ibreastcheck.com

Chemo’s foremost distressing effect, hair loss, is reduced considerably with the cooling DigniCap System, which protects the head and reduces the intensity of chemo delivered to the scalp. Dignicap.com

ComfyBreasts Lying on their stomach is painful for those who’ve had a mastectomy. The hollow depression in the pillow takes the pressure off.

Called digital breast tomosynthesis, the 3D mammography can detect more invasive cancers than its 2D counterpart, especially for women with dense breast tissue.

short take

iBreastCheck Leave it to the app to remind you to do a self-check (the demo video is good for novices). Plus, you can key in your details and it will compile a risk report based on your lifestyle.

DigniCap

2013

3d vision

Little things go a long way to ease the journey

Comfybreasts.com

2014

iPharmacy The app keeps a tab on all the medication you’re taking — there will be a lot — and informs about all possible side effects, warns against potentially dangerous combinations and even finds discounts for certain medicines.

While regular radiotherapy requires some 15 sessions conducted over weeks, and sometimes months, after surgery or chemotherapy, intrabeam radiation therapy is a single dose therapy given during surgery, and in some cases, will be the only treatment breast cancer patients will need.

Medconnections.com E L L e october 2014 |

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E L L E campaign

#ELLEINSPIRE How does cancer affect those we love? Read actor Nargis Fakhri’s moving story on ELLE.in/survivor

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Beating breast cancer is not the end of the battle. As ELLE UK beauty director Sophie Beresiner discovered, finding your way back to a changed reality, at 33, is a fight all of its own

t is normal to be nervous on your wedding day. It’s December 1, 2012 — one of those perfect winter afternoons with low, hazy sunshine — and I am waiting to walk down the aisle with my emotional father. I’m self-medicating with Rescue Remedy while a string quartet strikes up ‘Love Theme’ from The Godfather and the registrar tells me my dress is the most beautiful she’s ever seen. It is beautiful — a Rachel Gilbert tiered gown, sweetheart neckline overlaid with an Audrey Hepburn-esque high neck in sheer chiffon. What isn’t normal are the chunky heels on my glittery Givenchy sandals, the bargain price of my gown or the left-side mastectomy I have concealed beneath it. I am now a master of disfigurement disguise and rising to this challenge (a sweetheart neckline is very near the top of the can’t-wear list) makes me feel proud — although this emotion is dwarfed by the occasion. Our wedding was the shining light at the end of a very unpleasant two-year-long tunnel. I won’t dwell, but a breast cancer diagnosis at 31 is not something any Beresiner has been through before. My family and I, along with my boyfriend of only 12 months, stumbled blindly through the year of diagnosis after I found an egg-sized lump: chemotherapy, operations, scans, radiotherapy and eventual good news that set me back on the path to a normal life, aged 33. By now, two years into my recovery, I should have joined the ranks of the brave cancer survivor. I am not yet brave. But cut me some slack; I just regrew my hair from nothing. If, as experts say, there are five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance — I’m still on the upward climb to acceptance. It’s a steep hike, but I have my ‘Sophie Was Here’ flag ready to stick in the summit. Let me tell you what went before… Denial: I got my debut round of condolence emails on the first day back at work, a month after my initial diagnosis, December 6, 2010. Yes, at work. My first

E L L e OCTOber 2014 |

question to my diagnostic consultant was not, “Will I need chemo?”, or even, “Will I lose my hair?” (that was the second question), but, “Can I still work?” One colleague shared the heart-warming story of her own journey through cancer, with a sign-off that filled me with dread: “Welcome to the club.” I am allergic to camaraderie and the group therapy that is expected of you. There are few things worse to me than the idea of becoming a member of the wig-burning sisterhood (“There is no shame in being bald!”). I do not want to sit in a circle and compare horror stories of collapsed veins and mutated genes. I still can’t even read the word ‘cancer’ in a newspaper headline without mentally switching off. Like I said, I am not yet brave. To read someone else’s cancer story is to imagine myriad scenarios where I will soon be dead. Suddenly having to consider my mortality at such a young age is strange; my mind tried to wander there of its own accord during treatment, but I didn’t tend to let it. Even now, I’d rather avoid any prompts — I’ll take denial over morbid misery, thanks. Anger: I kept waiting for the ‘why me?’ meltdowns, but there were none. I didn’t even rage at my mastectomy news. The anger arrived as I watched the effects on my cancer cast of characters; the circle of support comprising family and friends, old and new. How mine came together for me was a simultaneous high and low of the whole experience. These include my husband (then boyfriend): expected to make me laugh in the face of my abject fear, without showing his own, and to both eat and enjoy the organic-only rabbit food I serve (while not raising an eyebrow at the price of an Abel & Cole organic meat delivery box). Of course, he must find me just as attractive when emotional, hormonal and bald. Yes, this may give him grey hairs, but I didn’t have any hair at all, so no complaining. The parents: they may live a two-hour drive away but Self-pity, are at every chemo session. depression’s A strong but comforting irritating presence, expected to have the answer to everything cousin, crops up without once showing with alarming me they’re scared, too. I challenge anyone to admire frequency to their parents as much as this day I now do mine. When life gives you lemons, Mum and Dad make lemonade. The sister: on hand for late-night freak-outs and online medical investigation — the internet causes early-onset hypochondria in cancer patients, so must be avoided. She is also the middleman, seeing the parents’ and the patient’s fear, and dealing expertly with both.

“

the switch

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Jan Welters

My best friend: an always-available ear into which I can pour the bad stuff even two years on, without her getting bored. And it must be boring by now, listening to me fight my way back, stumbling over all the same hurdles. The husband and the parents have enough to worry about — there are some things only a good friend can listen to. The colleagues, all of whom were told during my initial absence, so were — and still are — expected to treat me like a normal person whilst being sensitive to the fact that I am now not sure what ‘normal’ is. At least, not in the former sense of the word. To have to watch the effects on all of the above because a terrorist took up squatters’ rights in my left boob is enough to necessitate the dreaded group therapy. And I hate that, too. Bargaining: Okay, scan results, you say nine months of extreme abstinence did nothing to shrink my tumour, so I must still have a mastectomy? Well, I’m still glad I did it. It’s a control thing. There is a medical professional to tell me what care I’ll receive in hospital (where I sometimes feel like a broken-down car at the Ministry of Transport garage), but what about when I’m at home, on my own? I need to do something. The internet tells you anything gives you cancer; my oldest (now ex) friend said I gave it to myself by not eating a caveman diet, so I cut out everything delicious to do my bit — alcohol, sugar, wheat, dairy, soya, red meat, anything carbonated and artificial sweeteners. This is boring, difficult at dinner parties and had no discernible effect on my outcome. But now I know I have willpower and discipline.

Depression: Perhaps the most difficult stage. It permeated — but I’m proud to say didn’t overwhelm — the whole journey. The movies don’t tell you things about cancer treatment. Your white blood cell count can be knocked out by chemo to the point where a tiny rise in body temperature may indicate septicaemia. Your body has no mechanism to fight infection, so anything from a paper cut to a cat scratch is potentially fatal. Daily injections help boost the count, but even so, I find myself admitted to hospital three times, for fourday stretches, kept in an isolated cell — sorry, room — on an antibiotic drip. There is nothing more depressing than not being at home when you aren’t well, let alone somewhere with no visitors and fluorescent strip lighting. The third time I felt my temperature rise, I ignored it, such was the misery of a 3.00am cab ride to solitary confinement. Self-pity, depression’s irritating cousin, crops up with alarming frequency to this day, but with it (and it pains me to admit this) comes a ‘special’ status that almost balances it out. Something relatively rare happened to me, and that makes me a bit more interesting than those who haven’t been through cancer by their early thirties. ‘Special’ is the antidote to self-pity. So there. On the plus side, I am now qualified to inject myself at will — no small thing. If you’ve never tried it (and I wouldn’t recommend it), wilfully puncturing yourself with a syringe to the stomach is like attempting to punch yourself in the face. Try it. Impossible. Due to my self-imposed abstinence, I couldn’t even rely on Dutch courage. So the pride in administering my own drugs, in the face of needle-phobia and a self-harm aversion, is something I want to shout about and forget at the same time. So now, after a tumultuous two years and an enforced sabbatical from my own life: Acceptance. There’s a saying that you can’t step in the same river twice, since by stepping in it the first time, you have altered it irrevocably. I can’t simply jump back into my old life unchanged; my reflection may look a lot more like original me than its bald predecessor, but that’s about as far as the similarities go. But there are positives to an experience such as this: now, I am almost grateful for what happened. I have uncovered genuine heroes in my immediate circle. I do not care about my appearance as I used to, since I looked like someone totally different for a considerable period of time. I forget I am lopsided until I get into the shower, and sometimes even then. A mastectomy hasn’t done anything to lessen my love of fashion; it has just armed me with better judgment of what looks good on me, down to my non-compromising, sweetheart-neckline, dream wedding dress. I have different, but arguably better and more life-enhancing, priorities — life is as important as work, and every day is a bonus. Although, annoyingly, I am now even more terrified of flying. A newfound awareness of your own mortality will do that to you. Getting back to the old normal is impossible: out-ofthe-blue, world-tilting, life-threatening cancer has no consideration for the ‘afterwards’. But now I will find a new normal — that is my plan. And once I do that, then I will be officially BRAVE.

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E L L E campaign

#EBCC Need a push? India’s top ad agencies made breast cancer awareness ads just for EBCC at ELLE.in/ campaign

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come from a long line of women whose bodies have been their mules rather than their temples, meant to serve them, not be served, and then after exhausting their usefulness, to shut down and die without a fuss. Getting on with things is a family tradition; annual, full-body check-ups are not. So the night I found a lump — the size and density of a standard Nataraj eraser after five or six uses — in my right breast, besides the icy dread that began to leak into my stomach, I also felt ridiculous. I was literally the least cancer-y person I knew. My family got arthritis, we got heart attacks, we got fatal car crashes — we didn’t get cancer. I’d never had gutkha like in the movietheatre PSAs, I didn’t smoke much, I definitely ate more chicken than lamb — and then I ran out of things I knew about cancer off the top of my head. I looked over at my mother, snoring confidently, probably never having imagined her own daughter would do a stupid thing like go and get cancer. CANCER. My mind refused to take to it, sliding resolutely to the dog lying between my legs, his gold hairs shed across my floral quilt, my mother’s mesh crucifix in front of our bed, the blast of the AC on my neck, not a single mosquito on that May night. If I got out of bed now, it would mean starting a new reality in which a dramatic nuisance might be in the offing. I wanted to delay it as far as possible. I did get out eventually — 20 minutes is a lifetime when you’re lumpen — and did a quite rudimentary breast check, squeezing them, pushing them from side to side, prodding at them. Sometimes I could feel the lump, sometimes I had trouble finding it again. A Google search suggested I had nothing to worry about — more than 80 per cent of breast lumps are benign, being in my 20s was a major ace for my cancer odds and the hide-and-seek business was a good sign. It also suggested that none of this might matter and countless women with these excellent chances have died long and hard

all the same. What I needed, the interwebs agreed, was a good doctor, a mammography and to STAY CALM. There was nothing else to do that night but pore over reams of breast cancer trivia. And let me just say that having to confront the sheer volume of my ignorance is one of my least favourite human experiences. Did you know being fat increases your chances of breast cancer enormously, for example? And lumps are not the only symptom either; just irritated breast skin could be a red flag. Electing not to have children or postponing them to let your career have a fighting chance, too (well played, Mother Nature). Actually, if you’re a woman, just continuing to live and age makes you vulnerable. I was a 26-year-old magazine writer, make that women’s magazine writer — how on earth had I managed to know close to nothing about this disease that pretty much shadows our gender? This kind of grinding ignorance was almost impressive to me. And now I might die from it. I didn’t die from it. I didn’t, er, have it. Four mid-totop-level doctors (I like to cover my odds-spectrum) and two mammograms over the last three years have confirmed WebMD’s original diagnosis: a fibroadenoma, the quite common solidifying of regular breast tissue over the milk glands and duct. Also, that’s more visits to the doctor than I’d had in years. My mother, it turns out, was willing to thwart family values for the safety of her daughter. I’d seen her terror that morning when I told her about the lump — no sign of the brusque nonchalance ill health usually warranted. She accompanied me to all my appointments and didn’t snigg*r once. And when I elected to do a full-body check-up of my own free will last year, she asked me “what for?” and then quickly conceded, “good, good”. Knowing and becoming better informed had turned out to be an unexpectedly happy experience for both of us. We’re still a bit touchand-go as far as trusting doctors is concerned, I’ll admit; I can’t say I won’t go get checked again next year and the year after that, even though all four of mine assured me I didn’t need to. Meanwhile, I still carry around the Nataraj eraser (it won’t ever go away, apparently) like a little fibrous souvenir of my unbelievable good luck.

a good

scare One suspicious lump was enough to convert Cheryl-Ann Couto into an awareness junkie for life

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now we know Out the other side of their battle with breast cancer, six survivors share the big, small and unexpected lessons

neeti Leekha chhaBRa, 33 lecturer

Shikha Manchanda, 35 volunteer health coach and blogger I learnt that steadfast love can be the greatest motivator. “At 28, after eight months of fighting breast cancer, with my family standing by me, I believed the worst was over. That's when I tested positive for the BCRA1 gene which meant the cancer could recur; I was advised to have a bilateral mastectomy. I couldn't believe it — after enduring the effects of chemo and beating cancer, I was still going to lose my breasts. I thought of my husband and daughter, my family and friends. Would they run out of support? Would he stay with me through this as well? He did. They all did. It gave me the strength to love myself, which is why after the mastectomy, I wanted my body to be whole again. I made the choice to get reconstructive surgery. Before cancer, I was never the kind to be vocal about my feelings. But watching them shower me with affection — my husband brought seven different slices of cheesecake to my recovery room because he couldn’t remember my favourite flavour, my friends threw me a braless party and used humour to counter my pain — taught me to never hesitate to tell someone you love them.”

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I learnt that faith can make you stronger than you ever knew you could be. “Life hasn’t been the same since I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012; it’s transformed completely — and for the better. I have always had faith in god and it’s only gotten stronger with this experience. I've become more spiritual. Somehow, I knew I’d be okay; my belief and positivity kept me going. I never questioned why cancer happened tome; instead, I prayed for faith and strength, and I was blessed with both. My perspective on life and relationships changed as well. I have started to appreciate the little moments now. I let go of things more easily. Most importantly, my faith has given me purpose — I started an NGO ‘Yes to Life’ to spread awareness regarding breast cancer and support those affected by the disease. I have learnt that gratitude is the purest form of prayer. I thank god for everything I’ve been blessed with. I’ve learnt that every thought, word or action reflects our faith — and unshakeable faith creates an unshakeable reality.”

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Ritu Biyani, 54 dental surgeon I learnt that friends can make the terror less terrifying. “My daughter and I moved to Pune in 2000, and after two decades of living like a gypsy — I was a dental surgeon in the Indian army and we moved a lot — I was ready to settle down. In September that year, I found out I had breast cancer. I didn’t know people in the new city, so I turned to my friends across the country for support and laughter. We had a joke for everything — from how chemotherapy is like getting drunk on rum for the first time (it’s a knock-out punch) to how if I didn’t have a breast, I could always look for a man with one ball. They kept me sane. I launched Highways Beyond Cancer (Highwaysbeyondcancer. org) in 2006, which uses adventure sport to spread awareness — my daughter and I were in the Limca Book of Records in 2007 for being the first mother-daughter duo to connect adventure drives and cancer awareness. I’ve made great friends along the way, and I want to connect with people every chance I get.”

Vimmi Deepak, 45

maDhulika Sikka, 52

entrepreneur

author

I learnt you have to do whatever it takes to own and enjoy your body.

I learnt that your sex life, like your hair, will grow back. All you need is love.

“After I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was told that I’d have to get a mastectomy. It was a very difficult, emotional time; I went through all the phases — from anxiety to low selfesteem. I didn’t like how I looked after the surgery; I didn’t have one of my breasts! I wondered how I would walk out of my hospital room and make it to my car, I wondered how I’d put on my bra. After the postop chemo, I decided to have my second breast removed as well, as a preventive measure. I was safer now, but I felt incomplete. So in 2012, I went in for breast reconstruction surgery in London. It was beautifully done; I asked the doctor to go a cup size up, and my new breasts were so much better than my old, saggy ones! Many Indian women choose not to have reconstructive surgery. But I was adamant. I used to be someone who had a very positive body image — I took care of myself and fitness had always been a big part of my routine. After my treatment, I’ve tried even harder to not take things for granted. The surgery made me feel confident and attractive again. I couldn’t be happier with my decision.”

Seema Jaya Sharma, 37 DJ I learnt to make the best of the new face in the mirror. “When I found out I had cancer, I took a long hard look in the mirror — everything about me was going to change and I was terrified. Before this, I couldn’t walk past any reflective surface without checking myself out and used to get a fair amount of attention from the opposite sex. I’m more confident when I feel I look good and I was not going to let cancer take that away from me. After treatment, I became determined to maintain my appearance, albeit with a few changes. So when I had to wear a sari recently, instead of panicking that I may not look ladylike, I paired the feminine silhouette with edgy accessories — spiky studs instead of dangling earrings and a chunky, eye-grabbing neckpiece. I got lots of compliments. I find dramatic eye make-up or bright lips draw attention away from my bald head. But the strongest weapon in my make-up kit? A big smile. Every time I wear one, I look bloody good.”

“There is no doubt that your sex life is one of those things that ‘goes’, just like your hair, when you're being treated for breast cancer. Medication dulls your libido. I felt like my body had been mutilated by the mastectomy and poisoned by chemotherapy. I felt unattractive and sex was the furthest thing from my mind. But you know what? Your partner may not feel that way. In fact, he might feel that you are as beautiful as you were when you first fell in love, that the surgery and nine-inch scar across your chest, your baldness and bloating, changes none of that. The most important lesson I learnt was that I was the same person I was before the cancer. Would sex be exactly the same as before? Probably not, not while you're still dealing with the residual effects of the treatment. But like most other side effects, those pass with time. With the encouragement of a loving partner, your sex life, like your hair, can come back, better and stronger than before.”

Early DEtEction 101 Start in your twenties; do a breast self-exam (BSE) every month. Download the iBreastCheck app to know how.

In your late twenties and thirties, get a clinical breast exam (done by a doctor) every three years. Make that every year for women in their forties.

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A mammogram can detect breast cancer almost two years before your doctor can feel a tumour. In your forties, an annual mammogram is recommended.

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Women at high-risk — based on family history, past radiation therapy or having the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation — should get an annual MRI and mammogram.

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just cause

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I know how busy life can be, but we cannot let that get in the way of taking care of ourselves

If there’s one thing you should do, Naomi Watts wants it to be a self check-up. Oh, and maybe pick up Tommy Hilfiger’s latest limited-edition handbag for breast cancer

THE OTHERS Tommy Hilfiger and BHI campaigns with Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell (2013), Renée Zellweger (2011) and Milla Jovovich (2010).

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aomi Watts is no stranger to causes. The award-winning actress and Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS has used her star power to create awareness for a series of charities and foundations. So when Tommy Hilfiger approached the actor earlier this year to be the ambassador for the brand’s new limited-edition handbag — proceeds from which will go to Breast Health International (BHI) — Watts jumped at the opportunity. “Everyone has a story of how breast cancer affects them or someone they know, and it’s a deeply important issue to address with all women,” she says. “I’m honoured to [be a part of it].” In its eighth year now, the campaign was shot

by iconic lensman Patrick Demarchelier. Previous stunning ambassadors have included supermodels Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and now-photographer Helena Christensen; actors Charlotte Gainsbourg, Renée Zellweger and Milla Jovovich; and France’s former First Lady, Carla Bruni. This year, Hilfiger was excited to have Watts, “a longtime friend of [the] brand”, with “an inspiring commitment to supporting BHI’s incredible work” on board. The 2014 handbag is made of navy blue Italian pebbled leather with tan accents, nifty red piping, asymmetrical pockets and a tasselled keychain in Hilfiger’s signature red, white and blue. It will retail for $299, with $100 from each sale going directly to the Fund For Living, a global BHI initiative that assists women with breast cancer by covering medical costs or addressing unique problems associated with their care. As Watts explains, “It can be a challenge to travel to a doctor’s office, buy wigs or arrange a babysitter — and associated costs aren’t covered by traditional insurance. The programme supports patients with the demands of everyday life, to ensure they can retain their dignity throughout the treatment process.” Most importantly though, Watts hopes the campaign will prod women to take the time and get a check-up — a simple but effective step for early detection. “Between balancing my work and two children, I know how busy life can be — but we cannot let that get in the way of taking care of ourselves,” says the actress. A self-examination only takes a few minutes and it could save your life.” Available on Tommy.com and in select Tommy Hilfiger stores starting October 1.

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shoe soul India’s go-to for comfort footwear that’s high on style, Bata, joins the fight against breast cancer. The brand is offering a ‘pink collection’ that includes shoes and accessories – 10 per cent of proceeds from the sale of this range will be donated to the Ogaan Cancer Foundation.

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lifestyle DESIGN STARS, GREAT ESCAPES AND FANTASTIC FOOD

Textile genius Simone Arora launches a new nature-inspired concept store in Mumbai — think earthy fabrics, rustic accessories and seascape crockery, all housed in a heritage mansion

ArorA’s store opened doors on september 26, At AmerchAnd mAnsion, colAbA. tel: 022 7111 7700

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E L L E spaces

Cross Currents

Architect Niels Schoenfelder creates a weekend retreat that combines laid-back ease with rigorous geometry in Puduch*erry. Celia Barbour takes a peek

hat do you get when you cross a fortress and a windsock? This may sound like a riddle, but marrying such seemingly incompatible qualities was exactly what Chennai-based architect Niels Schoenfelder set out to do three years ago when he began designing a weekend house for his family in Puduch*erry, a mere two-hour-drive away. In Chennai, Schoenfelder has an architectural practice, Mancini Enterprises, and his wife, Malavika Shivakumar, is a partner in Jean-François Lesage’s eponymous firm, which creates and exports exquisite hand-embroidered

textiles to a client list that includes leading interior and fashion designers, as well as royalty, around the globe. Their holiday home is just north of Puduch*erry, where the average annual temperature tops 27°C, and the relentless sun is outfoxed only by the equally ferocious (though short-lived) monsoons. Schoenfelder knew the house needed to offer protection from the dramatic climate while still welcoming the cooling winds that blow in from the Bay of Bengal. The solution was deceptively simple: a thick-walled cube that can be completely opened on opposite ends so that the sea breezes blow through it, like a tunnel. “It is

Photographs rIChArd Powers

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Schoenfelder and Shivakumar at their houSe. left: the Sitting area’S cuStom Sofa and armchairS are upholStered in cotton with Silk-embroidered pillowS, all by Jean-françoiS leSage, and the doorS are reclaimed burmeSe teak

foxtail palmS Surround the houSe

in the library; the Sofa’S upholStery and embroidered pillowS are by leSage

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e l l e spaces The living area and mezzanine library; The pillows on The cusTom daybed are by lesage, and The rug is by shyam ahuja

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the ikat in the master bedroom is from kalpa druma

as if you are sitting in a jet stream,” he says. The house’s daytime spaces (the living rooms, studies and library) are all upstairs, on the double-height second floor, while the bedrooms and kitchen are tucked away below. Heavy masonry gives the house the rugged solidity of a medieval structure, something Schoenfelder had in mind while developing his otherwise severely modern design, with small rooms that appear to be carved into the thickness of the walls, and a staircase that climbs through a close, shadowed space. But the evocative materials serve a more practical purpose as well: they stay cool to the touch. “We are always barefoot in the house,” says Schoenfelder. This is just one of the reasons that the house has become such an essential respite for the family, who spend their weekdays in madly crowded Chennai. “Once the week is done, this house is very much a refuge from the hustle and bustle of the city,” says Shivakumar. The family’s downtime is made even more relaxing by the fact that the property abuts a 35-acre resort — the Dune Eco Village & Spa, also designed by Schoenfelder. A gate from the family’s lush garden opens directly onto resort property, with its swimming pools, spa and restaurants. The site also has historic significance to the couple. “We met more or less on the very property on which we built our house,” says Shivakumar. Back then, Schoenfelder was just establishing his own practice in India. Raised in Germany and trained in France, he had come to the region a year earlier to oversee a renovation project in Puduch*erry. He quickly fell in love, first with the country and then with his wife, and never returned to Europe. Shivakumar, for her part, had studied French and English literature and spoke several languages fluently. “We are both citizens of the world,” she says.

the studio features vintage hindi movie posters from a mumbai flea market, and a chair from a thrift shop in puduch*erry

Schoenfelder also found himself captivated by the Indian approach to building. “It is more of a human adventure than it is in Europe, because you work with all these craftspeople on a construction site,” he says. “You have direct interaction with the people who are really doing the work.” It’s a sensibility he has sought to replicate on all his projects, not least his own house. The metal furniture legs are made by hand. The walls are clay brick covered in lime plaster, a hand-applied finish that results in a beautiful, slightly uneven surface. The floors are hand-polished concrete. And all the wood, both inside and out, is reclaimed from older buildings, so it bears the marks of human wear and care. “When you do a house that is quite rigorous in its geometry, you need the surfaces to be softer,” says Schoenfelder. Softer still are the textiles used throughout the interior, including an antique bedspread from Kashmir and pillows embroidered in silk and gold threads from Vastrakala. Ultimately, these aesthetic details matter only insofar as they contribute to the house’s underlying spirit. Schoenfelder’s goal was to demonstrate that a smart, small-scale house will be more satisfying to inhabit than a sprawling, superficially fancy mansion. For Shivakumar, the objective was somewhat subtler: “I wanted a place where I could feel my entire being. When you enjoy being in a beautiful space, you get a feeling that is almost like a physical experience — a sense of your whole self.” The result of these asymmetrical desires? A house that marries not just fortress and windsock, but also intelligence and poetry. production: anita sarsidi

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E L L E TRAVEL

Kamila Shamsie found architectural mohallahs and unearthly relics from a time when Peshawar knew culture far better than it did violence

#eLLeBOOKCLUB Liked this story? Find our list of essential reads by the author, only on ELLE.in/kamila

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peshawar

city of old

t’s hard to explain the particular excitement and trepidation of visiting a city that your imagination has been inhabiting for over two years. In 2012, when I made my first visit to the city of Peshawar, I was already deep into the writing of my novel A God In Every Stone, which is largely set in Peshawar in 1915 and 1930. I had spent hours in the British Library looking at early 20th-century photographs of Peshawar; read Chinese travellers’ accounts of the place they called ‘Po-lu-sha-pu-lo’,

the capital of Gandhara, from 1,500 years ago; and pored over hundreds of pages of eyewitness accounts of the massacre at Qissa Khawani by the British in 1930. I had invented characters, who moved through the streets of Peshawar, encountering and missing each other by turn, and in falling in love with my characters, I had fallen in love with the city too. Now here I was, with my sister and father’s best friend, driving from Islamabad to Peshawar, along a relatively new highway, which made the journey less

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than two hours long. The outlines an ichthyocentaur (human torso, of the mountains became clearer forelegs of a horse, tail of a fish); the closer we drove, and I thought of further on, dragons and sea-gods. the great archaeologist Dr Ahmad And everywhere, the Buddha, his Hasan Dani’s description of the life depicted on panel after panel city in his Peshawar: Historic City Of in the exquisite grey schist carving. The Frontier — ‘Peshawar is situated I could have spent all morning just away from the Indus in a valley, sitting across from the Starving girdled by a circle of hills issuing Buddha, his deep-set eyes filled torrents of water during the flood with such pity and pain, it seemed season, like the dishevelled hair of a impossible that human hands had voluptuous girl.’ A touch overblown, the skill to carve it. “Michelangelo with all respect to the great doctor, who?” I said to my sister. MAhABAt KhAn MoSquE but it’s easy to see how the landscape From the museum, which is in might make a writer strain for the Cantonment part of town, it’s appropriate metaphors. only a short distance to the Old It’s easy to see how The first few minutes in the city City. Earlier, you’d have to enter were a disappointment, I’ll admit. through one of the city gates, but the landscape might It was a Pakistani city like many those were knocked down decades make a writer strain for other Pakistani cities, with the same ago, along with the walls, to make appropriate metaphors traffic, men wrapped in chaddars space for traffic, so I didn’t quite against the winter cold and notice the moment we entered rickshaws; but then a donkey-cart Qissa Khawani Bazaar, or the moved away from its position beside Street of Storytellers, as the British our window and I saw Bala Hissar fort, looming above called it. Despite changes over the decades and all the the city. History pressing down on the present — that’s storefront signs that cover building façades, you can the story of Peshawar for me, and it’s right there in still see carved wooden balconies and the sturdy mudBala Hissar, which has been the location of a fort for and-brick constructions long favoured in Peshawar. But perhaps as many as 2,500 years. Its present incarnation the finest example of the Old City’s past is Sethi House. though, was constructed during the reign of Ranjit Singh Once the home of wealthy merchants, then in the 19th century. largely neglected, it was bought by the Museums and We drove to the Pearl Continental Hotel, and had Archaeology Department in 2006 and is still being to pass through several layers of security to enter — a restored. Although it wasn’t yet open to the public, legacy of the 2009 bombing by extremists sympathetic Meher knew some of the people working on the to the Taliban. That’s the version of Peshawar known to restoration who were happy to let us wander around. most people — bombs and the Taliban — but we were I’d read some descriptions of Sethi House while writing there to meet a very different face of Peshawar, that about the home of a carpet-seller, a pivotal location in of the young woman archaeologist, Dr Meher Taban, A God In Every Stone, and now I felt as though I was who was our guide for the day. It was still rare, she told walking through a home I had half-imagined, and my me, to have female archaeology students, particularly version of it was becoming clearer with every room because parents didn’t like the idea of their daughters I entered. The multi-storey, many-roomed house is going off to conduct field research. But her parents built around a courtyard with a fountain at its centre had always been supportive. When I asked if the male and exquisite wood panels and window-shutters all students had ever given her a hard time, she laughed around. The attention to detail continues in the glassand said no — they were all just students together. panelled windows, the mosaic ceiling of ‘the bridal She took us first to the place I had most wanted to room’ and the carved wooden balcony on the roof see — the Peshawar Museum, where she’d served as which affords a view of the rooftops of the old city, with assistant curator before taking up a teaching position the minarets of Mahabat Khan Mosque in the distance at the University of Mardan. It’s an impressive brick and the ever-present mountains further beyond. building with cupolas on the roof, and became a I stood on that rooftop for as long as I could before museum in 1906 after a few years of service as a we had to leave. It was both 1915 and 2012; I was in a dance hall. I pushed open the heavy wooden doors and real city and in my imagination at the same time. But stepped into a nearthe most spine-tingling thing was yet to happen: when magical place. In the main we stepped out of Sethi House, a group of schoolboys SEthI MohAllA hall now, as was the case ran past us, shouting and laughing. My father’s best 100 years ago, larger-thanfriend had his video camera out, and it was only days life Gandhara Buddhas later, back in Karachi, that I watched the video and greet you on entry. Smaller, saw a boy step out from the crowd and doff his hat at standing Buddhas line the the camera. I knew that boy immediately. He was walls between the display Najeeb Gul, the schoolboy in A God In Every Stone — my cases which show off the favourite of all the characters I’d created for the novel. world’s finest and largest Gandhara collection. Here, Kamila Shamsie’s A God In Every Stone (Bloomsbury India) released early this year. the goddess Hariti; there,

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E L L E KITCHEN

FOOD

CRAWL

Don’t listen to your mom. Eat bugs, they’re good for you. Sonam Savlani gets some of the world’s biggest chefs to give you a taste

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he first time Alex Atala sampled a spoonful of ants, he was in São Gabriel da Cachoeira, north Brazil, taking lunch with a home chef in the Amazon. “I felt this strong flavour of lemongrass and ginger and I asked her what she had put in the meal,” says the Brazilian chef of the two Michelin-starred restaurant D.O.M. “She said, ‘Ants’. I thought she hadn’t understood me, so I asked again. She said, ‘Son, there are only ants’.” On the streets of Thailand, it’s not rare to see pushcarts full of crisped crickets and grasshoppers. Entomophagy, the practice of eating insects, has existed in China, Ghana, Mexico and Cambodia forever; according to the UN, the creatures are consumed by at least two billion people worldwide. But ever since they crawled their way on to fine-dining menus a couple of years ago — with super chefs like Atala and René Redzepi giving them the nod — they’ve roused curiosity, if not currency.

mezCal, mexiCo The kick of tequila. Bonus? An agave worm.

REAdY to EAt

SCorpion Candy, Germany Lollipops with scorpions in them. Save these for Halloween.

CriCket bar, USa Look ma, no legs. Just processed cricket protein.

dIGGInG In

The chefs argue that we’ve consumed insect produce like honey (“bee vomit”) for eons, then why scrunch up our nose at them now? Nordic Food Lab, Noma’s parent company, is actively looking into their potential. They found that a purée of fermented grasshoppers and moth larvae is like strong fish sauce and bee larvae can be employed to make sweet mayonnaise. Their research has taken them across Sardinia, Kenya, central and southern Uganda, desert regions of Australia, Mexico and north Peru, and soon they’ll cover Japan. “On our trip to east Africa, we focused on termites — the queen termite was a surprise,” says Josh Evans, lead researcher at the Lab. The queen is almost twice the size of an average termite, and a rare delicacy because there’s only one in each hive. “You can cook it in its own fat, and it tastes nutty and fragrant, like porcini.”

GREEn REvElAtIon BUGS ARE BIG

At Atala’s D.O.M., you’ll find the simplest dish ever created: one cube of pineapple served with four Amazonian saúva ants on top. “I’ve used saúva ants in two ways: one focuses on the texture and highlights the natural crispness of it (it goes very well with vegetables), and the second way — better received by the public — is to dry and transform it into powder and add it to pasta, salad or sauces,” he says. Atala’s fellow Time cover star Redzepi was inspired by his presentation of ants at the annual MAD culinary symposium in 2011, in Copenhagen. The next year, when Noma set up a pop-up restaurant at Claridge’s, London, Redzepi’s cache of exotic micro herbs weren’t a talking point as much as the ants he served. At over $300 a pop, unsettled diners were served cabbage topped with crème fraiche and live ants, which they sampled without protest (star power is everything) and found to be pleasantly citrusy. Nowadays, the Danish restaurant routinely serves grilled onions and fermented pears dusted with crushed wood ants or aebleskiver, a pancake made with bee larvae and crunchy, fermented crickets.

You can start slow; there are many substitutes for meat. Larvae of palm weevils taste like beef bone marrow, diving beetles are a little like clams and fried baby bees will remind you of smoked fish or oysters. But novelty aside, why should you try them? Because it’s good for the environment. A recent study suggests that substituting pork and beef with crickets and locusts could reduce greenhouse emissions by as much as 95 per cent. If a cow takes 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of edible protein, then crickets feed on only 2.1 kg; plus, there are close to 1.4 billion insects for every person on the planet. Read: inexhaustible resource. “Besides, only about 0.1 per cent of insects in the world are actually harmful,” says Arnold van Huis, professor of tropical entomology at Wageningen University, Netherlands, and author of The Insect Cookbook (Columbia University Press). They rank higher on unsaturated fatty acids and iron, too. “Seventy to 80 per cent of land is already used for livestock. And the world’s population, from now till 2050, will increase by at least 30 per cent,” says Huis. And what that means is: insects have the potential to ease the food crisis, if not solve it entirely.

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SPREAdInG WInGS

Insects can also be spotted on the menu of some affordable restaurants in the West. Like Archipelago, London, which makes chocolate locusts and crisp cricket salads. Antojeria La Popular gave Manhattan a taste of insect burgers. There are also entire festivals dedicated to them. London’s Pestival celebrates everything creepy-crawly inspired: movies, design, architecture and food. Its first edition in 2006 brought in 10,000 visitors; last year, it was 2,00,000. “The premise of Pestival is that insects are at the heart of being human — we can learn a lot from them. For instance, we discovered more about the human genome by studying fruit flies,” says founder Bridget Nicholls, who created a smaller edition of Pestival called Who’s The Pest? Here, you could spot 3D-printed, high-protein biscuits made from insect flour. Nordic Food Lab chipped in too, creating a special menu featuring anty-gin and tonic (using wood ants), moth mousse and wormhole beer (with oatmeal worm). The biggest return to entomophagy can be witnessed in the Netherlands. “The region is harvesting insects, and partnering with Copenhagen and Denmark-based chefs towards normalising insect consumption in the West. The queen of Denmark is an entomophagist too!” says Nicholls. That’s all we needed to hear. If it’s good enough for the queen, it’s good enough for us. And by us, we mean you.

TASTES LIKE... Raw termites: Pineapple Larvae of palm weevils: Beef bone marrow Fried agave worms: Sunflower seeds Diving beetles: Clams Fried grasshoppers: Sardines French-fried ants: Beef jerky Fried praying mantis: Shrimp and raw mushrooms Fried wax moth larvae: Corn puffs or potato chips Fried spiders: Nuts Fried baby bees: Smoked fish or oysters

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need to invest?’ But I felt like we needed to rebuild everything. All the investment was for us to work better. When you invest to clean your mind, crash everything, it leads to a new energy, new ways of thinking, and that happened in Osteria Francescana,” he says. Bottura has consistently walked the tightrope between old and new. His maxim, “tradition-inevolution”, involves “looking at the past like a critic” and taking what’s best into the future. “If I were to look at the past in a nostalgic way, I’d cook exactly like my mum,” he says. Which is why his bollito misto, a classic 13th-century Italian dish of boiled meats, isn’t boiled at all — it’s cooked using the temperaturecontrolled sous-vide method. He’s widely known for ‘Five ages of Parmigiano-Reggiano in different textures and temperatures’, which was named dish of the decade by the Italian Gastronomic Conference in 2011; ‘Magnum of Foie Gras’, a nutty foie gras popsicle oozing balsamic vinegar; and the deconstructed ‘Oops! I dropped the lemon tart’, which was essentially a salvaged kitchen disaster. All of these are in the book and help piece together his story. From “learning the basics of French cooking” from Georges Coigny, to opening Osteria Francescana in 1995, and then welcoming modernist cuisine with Ferran Adrià in 2000. “The biggest thing that Adrià gave me was not the technique, but the freedom to express myself.” Never Trust A Skinny italian Chef (Phaidon) is out this month.

PAOlO TerzI

assimo Bottura, of Italy’s number one restaurant Osteria Francescana, isn’t above taking duckface selfies with fans, going to Ferrari World with his young team or jumping into the backseat of a car for an interview — like he did for this story. We meet during the Gourmet Abu Dhabi food festival, where I slowly discover why fine-dining tsar Mario Batali likes to call the 52-year-old three-Michelin-star chef “the Jimi Hendrix of Italian chefs”. Over the course of his 25-year-long career, he’s always introduced himself as a boy from “Modena, the land of fast cars and slow food”. And every Superchef Massimo Bottura dish he creates is a turns mumsy Italian fare into nod to his roots — with a modern twist. award-winning precision plates. He’s on stage, Sonam Savlani gives you the scoop deconstructing his risotto cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper risotto), a tribute to his native EmiliaRomagna region in Italy. Usually, cacio e pepe is made with spaghetti or vermicelli, with Pecorino Romano cheese and a sprinkling of black pepper. But Bottura’s dish is more layered. His take was a reaction to the 2012 Emilia earthquake that destroyed over 4,00,000 wheels of the local hard cheese, ParmigianoReggiano. He cooks the rice in a Parmigiano broth and sprays an invisible pepper mist over it. The result? All the flavour of cheese ‘OOPS! I drOPPed with none of the heaviness. The lemON TArT’ You can expect to find the recipe in his first cookbook, Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef (Phaidon), out Cattelan’s stuffed pigeons, ‘The this month. “It’s more an art book. Tourists’, created for the Venice [Italian artist] Maurizio Cattelan Biennale (1997 and 2011), are in has written about the food in Bottura’s restaurant, along with a crazy way, and it has photographs Ai Weiwei’s crushed urns and by [contemporary artists] Stefano Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s Graziani and Carlo Benvenuto. landscapes. Some of these were My wife and I have written the introduced after the restaurant stories — it’s going to be funny,” won its third Michelin star in 2011, he says. The four-part tome has 50 when Bottura made the unpopular recipes in vivid detail, including decision to close for renovation. the music, art and everything else “The director of my restaurant that inspired their creation. It’s and the people in the kitchen said, also evidence of his mad love for ‘Don’t do it, we already have the contemporary art. third Michelin star. Why do you

E L L E SPACES

air balloon birdhouse, ` 2,300, Anthropologie

‘Uchiwa’ lounge chair, price on request, Doshi Levien for HAy ‘Diabolo’ tripod floor lamp, ` 23,000, Colonel

owl clock, ` 1, 500, Thehomelabel.com

Soft focus Skip the acid brights. All trend maps now point to neon pastels for an easy-on-the-eyes do-over

‘Take Kago’ basket, price on request, Rossana Orlandi

Balance is everything. You need colour, but not too much colour. You want change, but just enough. Pastels form the perfect middle ground. Perk-me-up pastels? Even better. Sorbet cravings are to be expected.

Dining set, price on request, Address Home

‘Pachikari’ cushion cover, ` 4,900, Kangan Arora

Hand-dyed cushion cover, ` 3,000, Notonthehighstreet.com

‘The lines’ shelving unit, price on request, EunMyung Soh

‘Playmobilia’ stools, price on request, Tania da Cruz

— compiled by sonam savlani

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E L L E travel

national treasure Egypt is holding on to its past to survive its uncertain present. Vatsala Chhibber comes away charmed, if a little disquieted

he boy Pharaoh’s oddly elongated skull has the hardened, cracking appearance of unused clay. I should feel intrusive, staring at Tutankhamun’s stained teeth (which would have benefited from braces) and shrouded (missing) torso, but I guess it’s all right because only a bajillion have gone before me. Ever since its discovery in 1922, King Tut’s heavily embalmed body at his burial chamber in Luxor (or the ancient city of Thebes), Egypt’s historical gold mine, has been poked, probed, scanned and dismembered. Even the position of his underdeveloped genitals (upright — an anomaly in the mummy world) has been debated by scientists. Of course, King Tut didn’t take this kind of insolence lying down. He did, but not without unleashing his infamous

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curse on everyone who came in contact with his gilded sarcophagus — the offenders suffered mysterious illnesses, disappearances, even suicide. Pharaoh by nine, mummy by 19, King Tut’s inconsequential reign was compensated by celebrity status in the afterlife. You’re not allowed selfies, though — that would be too much. As I climb out of the underground chamber, one of the many in the deceptively barren (to keep tomb raiders at bay) Valley of the Kings, Mourad, my guide stubs his cigarette and steps forward from his little patch of shade in the unforgiving Luxor heat. “So, how was it?” he asks, still hurt from my decision to spend 100 Egyptian Pounds on King Tut’s tomb when he’d expressly recommended the room of mummies at the Egyptian museum in Cairo

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(Sca-egypt.org) instead. He was right too; for the same price, I’d get 11 pharaonic mummies, instead of half a King Tut. Mourad is one of the few locals concerned about keeping my travel expenses in check. For the rest of Luxor, which relies primarily on tourism for employment, I am open game in a poor hunting season — hawkers who come in peace, offering free gifts for their “friend from India”, soon turn aggressive in their pleas for “bakshish”, most perishables have no MRP, and every souk demands you keep your Indian haggling game on point. Luxor, like the rest of Egypt, is suffering from the country’s tumultuous climb to democracy. And it shows; the popular Nile cruise ships, for instance, are gathering dust at the city’s silent quay. Even for a laid-back town, there seems a shortage of activity, and of laughter.

My guide is an exception. “I was bloody rich,” he jokes later that day. “Sold my car last week.” I had refused to be weighed down by “are you sure it’s safe to travel to Egypt?” concerns, partly because travel tends to pique my pointless bravado and partly because I’m, at best, fuzzy about what the situation really is like in the ‘troubled’ Middle East. Turns out, I wasn’t the only traveller tiding against caution. At Karnak, the supersized temple complex, I run into familiar faces (from TV, I don’t know them personally) — Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar are speakers at the annual India by the Nile Festival, organised by the Indian ambassador in Egypt. We’re all rushing to make it in time for the sound-and-light show at Karnak. “It’s my second visit to Egypt,” says Azmi. “I wanted Javed to see it. There’s so much exquisite history here.” So much history is right. Too much history, maybe. With each new monument, from the Roman-like columns of Luxor Temple, to the towering sculptures at the Ramesseum, the complexities turn more intriguing: how Nefertiti, the powerful Egyptian queen (who stars in couple-y PDA reliefs with her uxorious king) and the most popular alabaster bust for hawkers to peddle, all but disappears from history, along with her mummy; how Hatshepsut, the androgynous queen became Egypt’s only female pharaoh; how the great Ramesses II, the longest reigning pharaoh (67 years), signed the world’s first-ever peace treaty with present-day Israel (merciless irony). Landing in Cairo, after Luxor, is like being jolted out of a gentle, melancholic daydream — there’s frustration at every corner, which frequently erupts into angry brawls (mostly surrounded by an invisible force field that prevents curious onlookers from stepping in). KARNAK TEMPLE, LUXOR

The country is nuts for Bollywood, male Bollywood specifically: a catcaller outside the jam-packed Sharia el Souk bellowed, “From India? Hello, Shah Rukh Khan!”

like an EGYPTian Eat the staple koshiri (after gorging on kebabs and falafel, of course), a mixture of macaroni, rice and pulses, cooked in a tomato sauce and topped with fried onions.

EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, CAIRO

“Egyptian men are no good,” says Asmaa Idriss, my loquacious guide in Cairo, after she has psst-ed about the ‘virgin sheet’ tradition Egyptians still practice, confessed her initial disgust with hom*osexuality until she met the sweetest gay couple from Spain, and run out of praise for Amitabh Bachchan. (The country is nuts for Bollywood, male Bollywood specifically: a catcaller outside the jam-packed Sharia el Souk bellowed, “From India? Hello, Shah Rukh Khan! How are you doing?”). “You think the next generation is more open-minded, but it’s not true,” Asmaa is still bridling. Maybe that’s one reason why she turns down the offer to visit a hookah joint in Cairo’s hip Zamalek district later that night (“my father will jump out of his grave”). The perilous Egypt that most tourists expect does not seem unsafe. Just a little sad. We drive past the now-narrowed Tahrir Square (all that space was too conducive to revolting), the most recognisable signpost of Arab Spring, from where “the very angry people” overthrew two rulers — Hosni Mubarak, who locals call ‘The Last Pharaoh’ and the democratically elected but equally autocratic Muslim Brotherhood. We approach the noseless Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza, which surprisingly, are right in the centre of the city, devoid of much romance, but not of thousand-year-old tales. “Was it any good?” I was asked about Egypt on my return, “worth planning a visit to?” Depends, is the answer. This isn’t your scenic getaway abounding in R&R, nor

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Go on a felucca ride. Egypt’s traditional sailboats make perfect picnic spots (carry along a packed lunch). Choose one in Alexandria or Luxor over Cairo to avoid the crowds.

Visit resort-town Hurghada, which is gaining an edge over Sharm el-Sheikh as the new destination for European travellers migrating for the sun. Sunbathe on the virgin beaches by the Red Sea.

Stay at the historic Sofitel Winter Palace Hotel (Sofitellegend.com) in Luxor where Agatha Christie penned Death By The Nile.

is this an itinerary-busting kind of place. I haven’t returned with any once-in-a-lifetime anecdotes, no memorable adrenaline rush to boast of (unless you count the steep, stooped and terribly claustrophobic climb inside the Great Pyramid), no close encounters with violence even. But if you love history, the absolute deluge of it will take you right in. Strain the country of its fracas, and you’ll find a bitter, blustering humour as well as a to-the-death historical pride that drives hope. “Tell your friends to visit,” they all requested. If nothing else, do it for the kebabs.

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LIFESTYLE UPDATES ToP TAbLES, DESIgn IDEAS & TrAvEL hAckS

E L L E trending

Grand design Creative director Anita Lal plots the inspiration for Good Earth’s Silk Route-inspired collection ROUTE CAUSE

IKAT FACE-OFF

“Each year we look to a new destination to inspire us. The Silk Route was really intriguing for us — for its fabrics, its patterns. It went across China, India, Samarqand and Mesopotamia, but we narrowed our focus to the crossroads — Samarqand.”

“In Uzbekistan, you find narrow looms — they’re only 16 inches wide and they use more dramatic colours, bolder designs. The texture of the silk is much heavier than what you get in India. In fact, the nobility was known to wear coats (chapans) made of adras silks. We’re now working with craftsmen in Andhra Pradesh to create something similar.”

TRAVEL DIARIES “We’ve taken a year to put this collection together. It started with travelling to Uzbekistan, Bukhara and Samarqand to meet craftsmen, to understand the place, the mood, buy a few pieces and develop the line. I love adras silk; we’re working with craftspeople in Uzbekistan and Istanbul to produce these silk ikats. We zero in on the colours and select designs from their directories, to give the collection authenticity.”

samaRqand

MUST BUYS “We’ve developed a special line of body oils and room fragrances based on frankincense. It was the key oil of the Silk Route — even Jesus was presented with it! There are also these beautiful lanterns inspired by the souks.”

HOME RUN Good Earth will soon introduce styling workshops to help you create a fabulous home, all DIY. Goodearth.in

need to know

3 things about FRanKinCEnsE 1. It works like a disinfectant. Burn it and the smoke will snuff out the germs in the space. 2. It works like an astringent. It tones the skin and reduces wrinkles. 3. It works like a sedative. It soothes and helps you relax.

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fruit loop “The key motif we’re using is the anar, which was used across the Middle East. The pomegranate was considered a symbol of fertility and is a very popular leitmotif — and we’ve employed it in different ways on dinnerware, in embroidery and with hand-blocked prints.”

colour wheel “There are shades of madder rose, blues, azures and aquamarine, broken by charcoal and gold.”

LIFESTYLE UPDATES ToP TAbLES, DESIgn IDEAS & TrAvEL hAckS

E L L E TRENDING

Love shack

WISH LIST

Hermès HOme décOr

Two hotels perfect for canoodling couples

Whimsical themes and motifs from Hermès can now extend beyond your wardrobe — Mumbai-based design atelier My Tailor Home brings the brand’s signature designs to India with textured fabrics, curtains and wallpapers. Expect those nifty scarf prints to define your home. Mytailorhome.com CHAANDI

Where: The hilton, Jaipur Why: If you’re not the ‘sleeping-in-all-day’ couple, the hotel (and the city) offer you a perfect balance of romantic to-dos and blissful inactivity. Enjoy sunrise views of Jaipur from your Executive suite or dine at the grand multi-cuisine restaurant Aurum with its mega-sized tandoors. You can also go for an al fresco poolside setting at Chaandi, which serves artfully pre-plated contemporary Indian favourites (like gosht biryani), which you can wash down with a surprisingly refreshing paan martini, or you could sip on regular ones at the hip Krystal lounge. Bonus: Jaipur’s star attractions, like the City Palace and Hawa Mahal, are minutes away. Hilton.com Where: Sofitel, Mumbai

IMPERIAL SUITE

Why: If you’re looking for a booster shot of romance, Sofitel, Mumbai has you covered. Book the Imperial or Prestige Suite, fill a pre-stay form and the rest of your break will play out like the dream sequence of a movie — wake up to breakfast in bed arrayed by your private butler, sip on glasses of champagne in your Jacuzzi, indulge in a couple’s spa session, pick a cosy corner (your star-lit terrace or one of the hotel’s five food digs) for a dreamy dinner-for-two crafted by the chef. All this with your favourite tunes playing in the background, cued by a private entertainer. Sofitel.com/Mumbai

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CHILD’S PLAY E-store Hopscotch has an extensive collection of baby clothes and merchandise — from knitted baby sandals to animal-shaped handgloves — with bonus goodies for moms, with new arrivals every day. The catch? They're only available for 96 hours. Hopscotch.in.

lABEl TO KNOW

TRAVEl PlAN

STUDIO WOOD COLLECTIVE

HANDS FREE

This Delhi-based design studio, helmed by Venu and Vrinda Mathur, will make you reconsider junking that old wooden desk. Apart from creating their own contemporary furniture (we're digging this Jenga cabinet), the label also offers space solutions and refurbishes used furniture, stripping it down to bare essentials and returning with an unrecognisable new product. Email: [emailprotected]

How to pack for your next music festival Bacardi triaNgle Festival oct 30-Nov 1 Ames Bros vs MW backpack, Meredith Wendell, ` 12,130

GOA

SEASON'S GREETINGS To help you get through the manic gifting season (think Diwali), La Folie Patisserie in Mumbai has created five handy, packaged solutions — from the indulgent Hat Box Hamper (16 truffles, nine pralines, 12 macarons, a jam jar, plus a box of cookies) to the compact Bento Box with a collection of bite-sized desserts. Weighing scales can go take a hike. Lafolie.in

DISH OF THE MONTH

SAlmON ON FIRE

GOURME PICKS

BERmUDA TRIANGlE

New wave Music Festival Nov 15, 16 So Psyched backpack, Nasty Gal, ` 3,350

Created by Boston-based chef Ting Yen, this simmering dish (citrusseasoned salmon on a lemongrass stick) is available at Mumbai’s new Japanese restaurant, Yuuka, at Palladium Hotel. His other novel (and often dramatic) offerings include hot sizzling saké, red bean crème brûlée and avocado tartare served on ice. Tel: 022 6162 8422

outlaNdish Music Festival oct 3-5

DHARAmSAlA

Navy Tote Convertible backpack, BOTICCA, ` 12,750

DINER DASH You can now avoid the impatient wait for a bill or the awkward excuses of finding a bare wallet. QuikWallet allows speedy cashless transactions, even when you’re missing a credit or debit card. Give the waiter your phone number, get an e-bill on your phone and pay by keying in your card details. Think of all the tree-saving karma points you’ll earn. Quikwallet.com

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FOR DETAIlS, SEE ADDRESS BOOK

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E L L E PROMOTION

GAUTAM VAZIRANI PREETI DHATA, MEGHNA BHALLA AND ERIkA PAckARD

miSS SeLFRidGe

Heady mix ELLE and Jabong hosted a pre-show co*cktail party for Miss Selfridge It’s finally here! Miss Selfridge is now available in India, and ELLE was part of the welcome party. On day four of Lakmé India Fashion Week, we got together with Jabong, right before Miss Selfridge’s show, to host a co*cktail do at the Kingfisher Ultra Lounge. The fashion frat was happy to take a break between hectic show schedules to catch up over co*cktails and conversation. We partied it up with Vikram Raizada, Nachiket Barve, Priyanka Bose, Preeti Dhata and Erika Packard. The happy crowd then headed over to the highly-anticipated Miss Selfridge show.

NAcHIkET BARVE AND ELLE'S SHRUTI THAckER

kUNAL RAWAL

ANUJ BHUTANI

MAYANk ANAND, SHRADDHA NIGAM AND ANUJ SHARMA

UTSAV PRADHAN AND TERESA LAISOM PRIYANkA BOSE AND DEBASHRI SAMANTA

JAYESH SAcHDEV

PRAYAG MENON AND RASIkA NAVARE

SUNJAY GULERIA, ELLE'S MALINI BANERJI AND MOHINI BOPARAI GULERIA

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VIkRAM RAIZADA AND kANISHTHA DHANkHAR

DIPANkAR ZALPURI

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JiGNESH AND ANCHAL JHAVERi

SUkET DHiR, ELLE'S NiDHi JACOb AND GAURAV JAi GUpTA

STYLE SOIREE

CHANDNi MOHAN

London-based high-street fashion brand River Island made its debut at Lakmé Fashion Week, and to celebrate the occasion, Jabong got together with ELLE to host a pre-show party. Guests stopped over at Kingfisher Ultra’s pop-up lounge right before the show to catch up over co*cktails and hors d’oeuvres. The entire fashion pack was in attendance, mingling over glasses of wine and scrumptious nibbles before heading off to enjoy the show. Spotted at the party were Sujata Assomull Sippy, Gaurav Jai Gupta, Chandni Mohan, Suket Dhir and Jignesh Jhaveri.

HASNAiN pATEL AND SUJALA NEWAR

RIVER ISLAND

ELLE and Jabong hosted a party in honour of River Island’s Lakmé Fashion Week show

NAiNA HiRANANDANi AND RiDDHikA JESRANi

SUJATA ASSOMULL Sippy AND AZMiNA RAHiMTOOLA

JAbONG TEAM

LATOyAH TRiNDADE AND GAyATRi LALVANi LEON VAZ AND kARAN bERRy

SURbHi GUpTA

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OCTOBER 2014 ` 150

eLLe beauty awards 2014

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Gucci 1 Galleria, Trident, Nariman Point, Mumbai. Tel: 022 3027 7060. Mawi Le Mill 2 Meherabad Apartments, Warden Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2368 4462.

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FASHION A 431-88 by Shweta Kapur Perniaspopupshop.com. Abraham & Thakore D7 Defence Colony, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4100 9143. Accessorize T15 Palladium Mall, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 6610 4358. adidas Originals Oberoi Mall, Western Express Highway, Goregaon (E), Mumbai. Tel: 022 4003 6773. akaaro by Gaurav Jai Gupta F-344/2 Ground Floor, Lado Sarai, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4070 1360. Alberta Ferretti Albertaferretti.com. Aldo G4 Atria Mall, Dr Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2481 3547. Alexander McQueen Kitsch, D-17 Defence Colony, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4609 8212. Alexander Wang Le Mill 2 Meherabad Apartments, Warden Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2368 4461. Amit Aggarwal F-301 Lado Sarai, Chaudhary Prem Singh Lane, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4603 9900. Amrapali 28/29 Oberoi Shopping Centre, The Oberoi Hotel, Nariman Point, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2384 3687. Anna Karin Karlsson Net-a-porter.com. Anya Hindmarch Anyahindmarch.com. Aquamarine 3 Narendra Bhuvan, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Breach Candy, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2351 0152. B BCBG Max Azria Bcbgmaxazriagroup.com. Bombay Electric 1 Reay House, Best Marg, Colaba, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2287 6276. Bottega Veneta 111A DLF Emporio Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4609 8272. Boticca Boticca.com. Bulgari Bulgari.com. Burberry 241 DLF Emporio Mall, Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4652 9850. C Caitanya Caitanyacreations. com. CaratLane Caratlane.com. Cartier Ethos Summit Cross Road 2, Nariman Point, Mumbai. Tel: +91 92167 09108. Carven Moonriverstore.com. Cavalli Class Roberto Cavalli, 132 DLF Emporio Mall, Nelson Mandela Road,

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Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4696 0000. Chanel The Imperial, 1 Janpath, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4101 7111. Charles & Keith G-69, Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4053 4507. Charlotte Olympia Le Mill 2 Meherabad Apartments, Warden Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2368 4461. Charu Parashar 6-8, Olive Bar, Kalka Das Marg, Mehrauli, New Delhi. Tel: +91 98111 00366. Chopard Chopard.com. Christian Louboutin 111 DLF Emporio Mall, Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4101 7111.

ON THE COVER

new look!

D Dhruv Kapoor (for enquiries) Dhruv Kapoor Showroom 818, Udyog Vihar, Phase 5, Gurgaon. Tel: 0124 423 5266. Diesel G14/ G15, Palladium Mall, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2493 2727. Dior The Oberoi, Dr Zakir Hussain Marg, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4615 1796. Dolce&Gabbana Dolcegabbana.com. Donna Karan New York 22 DLF Emporio Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4604 0753. E Eina Ahluwalia Einaahluwalia.com. Emilio Pucci 115 DLF Emporio Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4694 0000. F Farah Sanjana Chinoy Mansion, Ground Floor, 162 Warden Road, Kemps Corner, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2367 2720. Fossil Fossil. in. Frou Frou by Archana Rao Perniaspopupshop.com. G Gas 135, DLF Place Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4051 2669. Gaurav Gupta 339, DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4104 2989. Giambattista Valli Giambattistavalli.com. Gucci 1 Galleria, Trident Nariman Point, Mumbai. Tel: 022 3027 7060. Giuseppe Zanotti Net-a-porter.com. Givenchy Net-a-porter.com. H Hemant & Nandita E-166, Sector-7, Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Tel: 0120 4214 100. Hublot Rose 3rd Floor, Hormuz Mansion, 72 Bhulabhai Desai Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2368 5287. Huemn by Pranav Mishra and Shyma Shetty Perniaspopupshop.com. Indian by Manish Arora Bombay Electric, 1 Reay House, Best Marg, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2287 6276. I

Isharya Isharya.com.

Jaipur Jewels Dharam Palace, Hughes Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2361 3590. Jimmy Choo 3 The Galleria, Trident Nariman Point, Mumbai. Tel: 022 3027 7070. JJ Valaya 222, The Gallery on MG Mehrauli Gurgaon Road, New Delhi. Tel: 011 410 2038. Jyotsna Tiwari 3rd Floor, Jai Ambe, New Juhu

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Versova Link Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 4259 0000. K Kenneth Cole UG72 Phoenix Market City, Kurla (W), Mumbai. Tel: 022 6180 1578. Kenzo Kenzo.com. L Le Mill 2 Meherabad Apartments, Warden Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2368 4461. Levi’s Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Colaba Causeway, Colaba, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2284 0744. Louis Vuitton 101/102 DLF Emporio Mall, Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4669 0000. Lovebirds 32 Meherchand Market, New Delhi. Tel: +91 98100 36992. M Mahesh Notandass 19, Link Palace, Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri (W), Mumbai. Tel: 022 2634 5090. Malvika Vaswani Malvikavaswani. com, +91 98212 33473. Mango G-40/41 Select City Walk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4265 8160. Manish Malhotra Ambawatta One, H 5/1 Kalkadas Marg, Mehrauli, New Delhi. Tel: 011 2664 6661. Marc Cain Corner View, 15th and 33rd Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai. Tel: 022 3267 5862. Marc Jacobs Safilo eyewear available at leading optician stores nationwide. Marks & Spencer 125–127 DLF Place Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4607 5440. Marni Net-a-porter.com. Max Mara World.maxmara.com. Meredith Wendell Shop Meredithwendell.com. Michael Kors 123A DLF Emporio Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4056 3704. Miuniku Miuniku. com. Monisha Jaising Ground Floor No.3, Shailja Apartments, 50 Pali Hill, Bandra West, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2605 6401. Morphe E 49/7 Okhla Phase 2, New Delhi. Tel: 011 2638 3255. Moschino Moschino. com. Mrinalini Chandra Aza, 21, Altamount Road, Gowalia Tank, Tardeo, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2353 0212. Munkee.See.Munkee.Doo Perniaspopupshop.com. N Nachiket Barve 152/5, New Ashirwad Industrial Estate, Ram Mandir Road, Goregaon (W), Mumbai. Tel: 022 6753 5602. Namrata Joshipura 410 DLF Emporio Mall, 4 Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4607 3438. Nasty Gal Nastygal. com. Net-a-porter Net-a-porter.com. Nez by Neha Aggarwal Atosa, Aman Villa 6B, Anand Vihar CHS, 20th Road, Khar West, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2605 2509. Nicholas Kirkwood Nicholaskirkwood.com O Omega Ethos Summit Cross Road 2, Nariman Point, Mumbai. Tel: +91 92167 09108. Oscar

Tiye Oscartiye.com. Outhouse Perniaspopupshop.com. P Paula Cademartori Paulacademartori.com. Piaget Piaget. com. Pipa+Bella A4, Purshottam Building, Opera House, Mumbai. Tel: +91 92231 84870. Prada Prada.com. Puma Ambience Mall, 104, Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4100 3385. Q Quiksilver Ground Floor, Courtyard, High Street Phoenix, 642 Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 6634 5011. R Raakesh Agarvwal E-54, Sector-6, Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Tel: 0120 4159 288. Rag & Bone Rag-bone.com. Rahul Mishra 301/308 Pragati Deep, Plot 8 District Centre, Vikas Marg, New Delhi. Tel: +91 98730 88814. Reboot by Anuj Bhutani 48, Hauz Khas Village, 2nd Floor, New Delhi. Tel: +91 98996 36636. Rimple & Harpreet Narula E-3, Ring Road, Defence Colony, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4157 2919. Rishta by Arjun Saluja Ensemble Great Western Building, 130/132 Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 4056 4825. Rochas Rochas.com. Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna 407 DLF Emporio Mall, Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4654 7463. Roland Mouret Le Mill 2 Meherabad Apartments, Warden Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2368 4462. S Sabyasachi Ador House, 6K Dubash Marg, Kalaghoda, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2204 4774. Salvatore Ferragamo 121/221, DLF Emporio Mall, Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4660 9082. Sanjay Garg Rawmango.in. Shantanu & Nikhil Shop 1 & 2 Ground floor, Kamal Vishranti Kutir, 104 D, 24th road, Bandra (W), Mumbai. Tel: 022 6523 8385. Shree Raj Mahal Jewellers F-47, South Extension 1, Ring road, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4035 4035. Silvense by Vrinda 2, Asha Colony, Opp. Hotel Sea Princess, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2660 5575. Simone Rocha Simonerocha.com. Sophia Webster Sophiawebster.com. Sportmax Sportmax.com. Stella McCartney Le Mill 2 Meherabad Apartments, Warden Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2368 4462. Stuart Weitzman Level 1 Palladium Mall, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 4347 6111. Suhani Pittie 9 Mid Town Road, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. Tel: 040 2335 2495. Suneet Varma 345, Second Floor, DLF Emporio, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4606 0970. Superdry 24/25, Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011

4087 0784. Surendri by Yogesh Chaudhary Perniaspopupshop.com. Swarovski 142, DLF Promenade Mall, Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4604 0924. T Taneiya Khanuja A-72, Sector 4, Noida, New Delhi. Tel: +91 98187 89996. Tarun Tahiliani Taruntahiliani.com. The Elder Statesman Net-a-porter.com. Tilla Bombay Electric, 1 Reay House, Best Marg, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2287 6276. Tod’s 122, DLF Emporio Mall, Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4666 2700. Tom Ford Tomford.com. Tommy Hilfiger 214, DLF Promenade Mall, Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4607 2700. Topshop Topshop.com. V Vacheron Constantin Dia Precious Jewellery Pvt Ltd, The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, The Heritage Wing, Apollo Bunder, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2204 4400. Valentino Valentino.com. Valliyan by Nitya Arora Valliyan. com. Vans Shop No. 8, Ground Floor, High Street Phoenix Mall Skyzone, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai. Tel: 022 6615 3152 Varun Bahl No. 48, 2nd Floor, Kalaghoda, Fort, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2265 2286. Varuna D Jani Plot no 118, Ramani Villa, Bandra, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2652 2719 Versace 231141, 1st Floor, DLF Emporio Mall, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4604 0711.

Tel: 011 4209 0016/ 022 6666 9203. E

Estée Lauder S10 Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 4347 3773. G12 Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4615 1752. UB City, 24 Vittal Mallya Road, Bengaluru. Tel: 080 4098 2000.

Hermès Horniman Circle Garden, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2271 7400.

L’Oréal Paris At Shoppers Stop stores nationwide. Tel: 022 2643 5424/011 4609 8300/080 6664 1200. L’Oréal Paris The Boutique, 10B Palladium Mall, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2491 0044. Lakmé At Lifestyle stores nationwide. Tel: 011 4209 0016/022 6666 9203. Lancôme 1 Grand Galleria, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 3209 5531.

M.A.C 33 Melange, Altamount Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2352 1097. Dynamix Mall, JVPD Petit Scheme, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai. Tel: 022 2670 5603. G49 Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: +91 93136 50722. Maybelline New York At Lifestyle stores nationwide. Tel: 022 6666 9203/ 011 4209 0016.

Ralph Lauren At Lifestyle stores nationwide. Tel: 011 4209 0016/022 6666 9203. Revlon At Lifestyle stores nationwide. Tel: 011 4209 0016/022 6666 9203.

The Body Shop 14 Skyzone, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 6612 0071. F10 Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4053 4541. TIGI Mad O Wot, Clove, Pali Hill, Bandra (W), Mumbai. Tel: 022 6529 0289. Tom Ford 125 DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4103 3059.

Y Y-3 Y-3.com/in. Z Zara G1/G2, Palladium Mall, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 4347 3850. Zoya, A TATA Product 106 Dhunabad, Warden Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 6634 9606.

BEAUTY B

Bobbi Brown G13B Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4101 8275. Burberry Parcos, 2 Grand Galleria, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Tel: 022 3002 5123. 241 DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4652 9850. Chambor At Lifestyle stores nationwide. Tel: 011 4209 0016/022 6666 9203. Code Deco Le Mill, 2 Meherabad Apartments, Warden Road, Mumbai. Tel: 022 2368 4462. Diptyque Bandra 190, Savanna Court, Turner Road, Bandra (W). Tel: 022 2655 3883. Moon River, D16 Defence Colony, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4161 7103. Donna Karan At Lifestyle stores nationwide.

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LIFESTYLE A

Address Home N-3, Greater Kailash, Part-1, New Delhi. Tel: 011 4171 9292, Addresshome.com. Anthropologie Anthropologie.com.

Colonel Moncolonel.fr.

EunMyung Soh Eunmyungsoh. wordpress.com.

HAY Hay.dk.

Kangan Arora Heals.co.uk.

Rossana Orlandi Rossanaorlandi.com.

Tania da Cruz Taniadacruz.com.

PRICES ARE APPROXIMATE AT THE TIME OF GOING TO PRESS. TAXES WHERE APPLICABLE.

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astro By Bernard Fitzwalter

LIBRA

SEP 23–OCT 23

SCORPIO OCT 24–NOV 22

You’re very busy this month, working hard and getting great results — but you get no praise for it. It’s as though your success makes you invisible. For some people, that would mean failure, but for you, moving onwards and upwards without being noticed is just fine. In fact, you prefer it that way.

SAGITTARIUS NOV 23–DEC 23

After months of lingering in the background, you now act on your own initiative and start to make rapid progress. An unexpected side effect of this is that people who ignored you before may now find you attractive — and that could spark an affair. Do you want to fan the flames, or stamp them out before any damage is done?

CAPRICORN DEC 24–JAN 20

You are caught between #ELLEASTRO two alternatives, looming What does the ahead like huge stone rest of 2014 blocks, making it hard to hold in store? see anything beyond them. For your annual horoscope, head You feel like you’re expected to ELLE.in/astro to choose one of these, but

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AQUARIUS JAN 21–FEB 18

The time is finally right for an idea that came to you years ago. You promised yourself that one day, you would put it into action. It may be that you have already started on it, but for various reasons, haven’t managed to take it very far. All that will change now; in the coming months, you can watch it grow into all you had hoped it would be.

PISCES FEB 19–MAR 20

It’s good to be optimistic, but to assume that everything will always work out is risky. There is a definite surge in the tide of events, and you are riding that current happily, believing nothing can go wrong. You’re probably right, but some active intervention wouldn’t be a bad idea. Just make your preferences clear.

ARIES MAR 21–APR 21

This month offers you an opportunity to completely reinvent yourself, but it’s only going to be around for a few

days, so you have no time to think about the long-term. You’ll just have to go by instinct. Whether it works out or not, it’s worth the risk just to see the expression on the faces of your friends.

TAURUS APR 22–MAY 21

You’re ready for the worst. You’re ready to defend your position, you’ve got a plan of action. But in the end, what you feared simply doesn’t happen. You’re a little disappointed by that, but then you realise that you can put the whole episode behind you, and get on with your life as before.

GEMINI MAY 22–JUN 21

Can you admit that you made a mistake? More importantly, can you get yourself out of the situation you’re in, go back to the people you left behind, say how sorry you are and hope that you can start again? This time, you can. Best of all, the person you need most is right there and always was; you just didn’t notice.

CANCER JUN 22–JUL 22

You have gone as far as you can along the road that you are on. If your intended

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destination is still some way ahead, you will have to find a different way to reach it. But look on the bright side: it may be that you were chasing something you no longer wanted, and being forced to re-evaluate your position lets you aim for something better.

LEO JUL 23–AUG 23

The more unsuitable a relationship is, the more attractive it seems, and that’s true now as well. There are clear reasons why the affair shouldn’t continue, but you choose to ignore them, hoping that if nobody says anything, they will go away. If you want this relationship to work, then you will have to deal with them eventually.

VIRGO AUG 24–SEP 22

Time and money have a strange dynamic. The more you have of one, the less you have of the other. During the next few weeks, you face fierce (but temporary) financial pressures, and in response, you stop unnecessary spending. You then find yourself with far more free time, which seems like a wonderful luxury. Maybe your life should be like this more often.

ANAND CHODANKAR

It seems that you aren’t prepared to compromise with one particular liaison. Maybe it’s not giving you enough, or perhaps you don’t like the direction in which it’s going. Whatever the reason, you feel you’d likelier find happiness elsewhere — and by the end of the month, you make it happen. the answer is to reject both, and look for something that inspires you. There are plenty of opportunities; step past these blocks, and you’ll see.

october ’14

numerology By cheryl lee terry

there wIll be a few what ifs this month, which may cause you to rethink a work situation or a financial settlement/negotiation. This energy will also shake intimate relationships out of their rut. The week of the 6th, discussions will become testy and you may feel you are being used. Settle disagreements and move on. October is not the time to make final decisions about a family situation or love affair. Hold off until after the 26th, and you could find a solution — or someone new.

If You allow emotIons to run wild, you could risk upsetting those you are most anxious to please. It’s time to let go of old beliefs — consider a career switch, change your way of doing business or work on a new home project. Around the 8th, avoid becoming involved in a serious disagreement. Indulge yourself with extra sleep or an afternoon movie with someone you love. After the 27th, others begin to appreciate you and your work, and a new romance shows signs of becoming very serious.

Don’t hesItate to change tactics, but do your homework, discuss options with a trusted friend and wait until after the 25th to make any final decisions. If you allow yourself to be drawn into office politics or power struggles the week of

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Day 28 Month 11

the 6th, you could jeopardise your position. Financially, it’s time to put yourself on a major budget, and make a financial plan you intend to stick to. The weekend of the 25th could be a wonderful, romantic, happy one.

It’s a tIme of power shifts and changes and you’re likely to become caught up in activities that could thrust you into the role of leader. You may be wise to postpone crucial financial decisions until after the 25th. In a close relationship, patience and understanding will see you through. Passionate energy around the 26th, ushers in a cycle of renewal in a serious relationship. Singles will be drawn closer to their friends, but an old friendship could turn into a lifelong commitment.

Your heart now knows that if you are to realise career and personal goals, you must begin to let go of relationships that are no longer a positive force. Expect frustrations in communication and personality clashes. The week of the 6th, an old family disagreement may have to be rehashed. If you feel your anger rising, walk away. After the 26th, you will be given the opportunity to change or end an unhealthy relationship. Romance? On the 20th and 31st, forget who’s right or wrong — and make love, not war.

Numerology is a way to determine the cycles of your life by analysing the numbers in your birth date. To calculate your personal key number, use the following method: just add the day and month of your birth date. Here, November 28 is the sample date:

If You remInD Yourself that the outcome of certain situations will depend on how you react to others’ argumentative attitudes, you will end the month ahead of the game. By the 10th, you may realise that a working arrangement and/ or another’s attitude are never going to change unless you take action. After the 7th, a loved one is going to try your patience. Be careful; when the air clears around the 19th, you will regret harsh words. Fortunately, a supportive lover will come to your rescue, and help you understand the meaning of unconditional love.

Don’t allow others to push your emotional buttons and upset the balance you are trying to find. A series of unusual aspects between the 7th and 11th indicate a time of professional jealousies or personal intrigue. The week of the 17th, an old flame will cross your path, but try to remember why it didn’t work the first time around. A work or home project is showing promise of success, but attention to detail will help you stop a financial leak. After the 27th, contemplate the thought: Love becomes the ultimate answer to the ultimate human question.

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Add 3 and 9 and reduce the sum to a single digit: 3 + 9 = 12 and 12 (1 + 2) = 3. 3 is your key number, which you will keep for life.

You maY be longIng for the past but excitement about the future will overwhelm you with waves of confusing emotions. Around the 9th, tempers could flare and plans may go awry. Stay in tune with your inner feelings because your sensitivity could give you an insightful understanding of yourself and others. After the 22nd, with a little encouragement, your man could start your love affair all over again. Singles could meet someone intriguing — they may not be your soulmate but could help take your mind off worries.

bY the enD of october, you will discover just how strong and self-sufficient you’ve become. Around the 7th, beware of alienating your allies or partner. Important questions about a plan may throw you off balance, but after the 25th, you should feel like you’re on the right track. Reevaluate relationships in your life and without cutting ties or making a scene, begin to distance yourself from those who have been disloyal or unkind. The good news is that a true friend and lover will not let you down.

elle

loves

what we’re obsessing about this month

Presenting the breakfast bag of champions. Goes best with cold milk and tongue in cheek

‘Imperial’ clutches, ` 99,785 each, anya hindmarch

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