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174 SHAPE SHIFTER
There’s more to Vicky Kaushal than meets the eye. By Shikha Sethi SUM THE FASHMER IO ISSUN E
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PHOTO: TARUN VISHWA
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MARCH 2019
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PA S S I O N AT W O R K S I N C E 1 9 9 6
Model: Karl 3 seater Legs & Metal accessories: Virgin Copper Upholstery: Scandinavia Max 1.4mm thick Genuine Leather Collection: Design Glamour
CONTENTS
226
BLAZE OF GLORY
Summer is about daring fashion choices. Photographed by R Burman
PHOTO: R BURMAN
PRINTED COAT BY PAUL SMITH. COAT, TROUSERS; BOTH BY CANALI. PARKA BY NOUGHTONE. SHOES BY ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA. WATCH BY AUDEMARS PIGUET
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CONTENTS 34 Editor’s Letter 36 Contributors 238 GQ Access 243 Where to Buy 248 the last word
157 GQ HOME
FUTURE 188 PROOF Who says runway trends can’t be part of your home décor? Here’s how to do it right – with a little extra insight from architect Rooshad Shroff
49 VIBE Matty Healy, frontman of The 1975, walks around the New York of a bygone era; It might be time to buy a second phone to get over your first; Ritesh Batra wows the cinematic world once again; Battle it out in 1500s Japan, and more of the latest in games, television and movies; Bhumi Pednekar is excited about 2019; Abhi the Nomad is the newest face of international hip-hop
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120 GQ INSIDER: into the blue Sanjay Lalbhai is all about the indigo. By Arun Janardhan
CONTENTS 209
THE LUSH List
194 DRIVE Mercedes-Benz is at the pinnacle of SUV evolution; Don’t miss the new cars hitting our shores
152
How to be a Man in 2019 Spend your summer Down Under with the best of Airbnb; The luxe experiences on our radar this month
What we talk about when we talk about Love 202
183 WATCH
85 STYLE
The low-down on all things new in the world of haute horology; Audemars Piguet sets its eye on newer prospects
It’s time to update your wardrobe with the latest SS19 collections from the biggest houses. The only rule? Do whatever you want. Plus, new ways to do the old DB, and how to pamper your skin properly
76 MANIFESTO: THE Life Aquatic 28 —
MARCH 2019
POWERPLAY The IPL is back, and with a lot of expectations – here’s what we’d like to see change; We analyse and predict each team’s performance this season; There’s a new set of debutants ready to play big; Multirecord-holder Rishabh Pant gets dressed up
131
ILLUSTRATION: ARUN JAITAPKAR
144 THE GOODLIFE
RELAX
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EDITOR'S LETTER
LEAN IN
@chekurriengq
34 —
MARCH 2019
PHOTO: MAX HERMANS/THOMPSON PHOTO IMAGERY (CHE). IMAGE: REX FEATURES (MIGOS)
O
n a chilly evening last December, I walked into Ling’s Pavilion in Colaba to pick up some soup, and spotted David Chang and Aziz Ansari in conversation with Baba Ling. The Americans were in town shooting for the second season of Netflix’s Ugly Delicious, and had picked this 25-year-old gem of a restaurant to represent Mumbai’s diversity and culinary cred – eschewing the trendy for the true. I walked over and introduced myself. Chang didn’t waste a moment, and asked to be on the next GQ cover, as if he were requesting a lollipop. Well, it doesn’t quite work that way. That slot belonged to Vicky Kaushal, who has put in the time, grinding it out in this sparkly, shallow town, earning his stripes on the back of a string of strong performances onscreen. While Uri has been a watershed moment – one that has firmly established him as a leading man – the truth is, he had us at Masaan. This issue also marks the beginning of the new summer fashion season, easily the buzziest set of collections in recent years. Kim Jones took over the reigns at Dior Men, Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton; Clare Waight Keller at Givenchy forayed into menswear and Rick Owens… Well, he continued to just do his own thing. Overall, fashion today is younger, more inclusive, more environmentally aware – and will be increasingly so in the future. And since we’re all seemingly tapping into a collective, global consciouness, it’s not surprising that many of these values were manifested at our own Lakmé Fashion Week a few weeks ago: Presentations from several designers – notably Bodice and Antar-Agni for Raymond – played out these themes, whether through diverse model casting, leaning into the idea of sustainable fashion or co-ed shows, hinting at a gender-fluid future. Exciting stuff indeed.
CONTRIBUTORS
TARUN VISHWA HORMIS ANTONY THARAKAN WHO: Delhi-based photographer who got into the business because his friend told him he looked good while taking photos. Instagram @hormisantonytharakan WHAT: “Here’s the Catch”, page 138 Cricket Fever: “My favourite cricketer is Virat Kohli – I admire his work ethic and discipline – but I will be rooting for the Delhi Capitals this IPL season, because that’s home.”
“A more responsible attitude towards air quality in Delhi.”
WHAT’S THE ONE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE HAPPEN IN 2019?
WHO: Delhi-based, Udaipurborn photographer who’s a mystery on social media. WHAT: “Shape Shifter”, page 174 fast forward: “We asked Vicky Kaushal to emote various expressions for the portrait we printed on crushed canvas. He went all out, like a stage actor. It was as if we were watching a live performance!”
“That people stop buying every disposable plastic bottle out there.”
MANASI SAWANT WHO: Mumbai-based, coffee-obsessed photographer. Instagram @manasisawant WHAT: “Make it Big”, page 110 On Shoot: “A good day on the job is a fun team, where everyone’s on the same page, and we can wrap in a few hours.”
ARUN JANARDHAN WHO: Writer from Mumbai who’s constantly caught between not wanting to do anything and being unable to sit still. WHAT: “Into the Blue”, page 120 On your wish list: “To interview top international sportspeople: spend a day with them in their environments and observe how they engage with the world.”
“That traffic laws get tightened and enforced, so that our streets become quieter and safer for everyone – including pedestrians.”
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MARCH 2019
IMAGE: VIVEK PRUTHI (HORMIS), VAIBHAV VICHARE (MANASI)
“Every individual avoids using plastic on a daily basis. It’s a small change that will have a lasting effect on our planet.”
The 1975 live at the SSE Hydro, Glasgow
VIBE EDITED BY NIDHI GUPTA
WORDS: JOHN SEABROOK. IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES
MUSIC
SPACE ODDITIES
How has The 1975, once called the worst rock band in the world, come to be regarded as the truest voice of the millennial generation? Frontman Matty Healy walks around the New York of a bygone era to look for answers
MARCH 2019
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VIBE
W
hatever attraction The 1975, a British rock band, holds for its many fans, a shared interest in the year 1975 is probably not among them. Certainly the events of that nadir of a year, which include the fall of Saigon and the near bankruptcy of New York City, do not overly concern the band’s frontman, Matty Healy, who was born in 1989 and grew up in Manchester, UK. Nevertheless, on a recent visit to New York, Healy gamely agreed to walk the winter blocks around his East Village hotel in search of the 1975 that New Yorkers of a certain age remember. He soon found himself in a café, Physical Graffitea, at 96 St Marks Place – the building that, together with No 98, appeared on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s 1975 album, Physical Graffiti. Healy wore a long wool coat, a red sweater with white rose patterns on it and different-coloured socks. He is in his late 20s – a fatal age for some of his rock star predecessors – but while vampire-pale and thin, Healy looked healthy. (“I’ve stopped doing drugs!” he declared, after pausing to read a plaque at 57 Great Jones, the Warhol-owned building where Jean-Michel Basquiat died, at 27, in 1988.) What does concern Healy is the problem of how to be a rock star for “people who don’t buy that any more.” Choosing a table in the corner, he explained how he goes about this delicate task. “For every rock star move 50 —
MARCH 2019
I make on stage, I do penance,” he said. He brought his palms together piously. “I will have these true moments of embracing the fucking situation I am in and being what people want me to be, but then immediately followed by feeling like a fraud and that vulnerability being experienced and bought back into by the fans.” He sipped his English breakfast tea. “Because the only place that kind of ego is allowed nowadays is hip-hop. It is simply not allowed in people who are in a rock band.” Healy’s rock star problems are compounded by the fact that he grew up privileged and connected – “which is a challenge, especially for me, because my parents are famous in the UK.” (His father, Tim Healy, is an actor and his mother, Denise Welch, is a former host on the British equivalent of daytime talk show The View.) Record labels want “that kid from Sheffield with his T-shirt hanging off him,” he said. “So we’ve just had to be cleverer than that and speak to the broad middle class, whose search for identity is just as strong.” Healy twisted a strand of his long dark hair, which was worn in an asparagus-going-to-seed style on top of his head. “My existential crisis is lived out a lot on stage,” he went on. “The other day in Orlando, I said, ‘I think I might believe in God.’ And then I left it for a couple of songs, and then I said, ‘No, I don’t actually really know.’” The 1975’s name comes from a handwritten inscription that Healy found in a copy of On The Road. The book was given to him by the painter David Templeton, in Deià, the famous artists’ colony, where Healy’s mother and stepfather stayed when Healy was 19 and impressionable. “You know what it’s like – I was swept away in the decadence of it,” he said, his long fingers fluttering around his face. Graffitea didn’t have much of 1975 to offer, so the party headed west. Healy turned into the former CBGB, on Bowery, now a John Varvatos store. He had never been inside before. “This was CBGB – wow!” he said, skirting the menswear and the merch (including lots of boxed sets) to look at the photographs on the walls. He peered at a shot of the Sex Pistols performing in 1976. Nothing about Johnny Rotten’s aggressively careless posture conveyed penance, vulnerability or any of the other things Healy has to worry about. He could just go about the business of being a rock star. “Where’s our CBGB?” Healy asked, shaking his head sadly. Gone with the rest of 1975. The 1975’s new LP, Notes On A Conditional Form, is out soon
WORDS: JOHN SEABROOK
"the only place that kind of ego is allowed now is hip-hop. It is simply not allowed in a rock band”
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It’s smart. It’s slick. It’s got to be on your wrist. Diesel takes wearable technology to the next level with its Full Guard 2.5 touchscreen watch. You gotta wear it to believe it
Diesel’s always been ahead of the game when it comes to its denim, clothing and accessories. Since its beginning in 1978, it has been a pioneer in denim, and became a true favourite all around the world. The Diesel philosophy of passion, individuality and self-expression, is what has kept this brand brimming with greatness. And now, it’s done it again, with the coolest new item in its arsenal. We’re talking about the Full Guard 2.5 touchscreen smartwatch – it’s pure genius, with badass style. Wrapped in Diesel’s signature bold, moto-inspired design, its intention was to tell the world that fading into the crowd is not an option. And with this bad boy on your wrist, standing out is inevitable. It’s loaded with super cool features. From rapid charging to music control and smartphone notifications to GPS tracking, a swim-proof technology (available in only a few variants) as well as Google Assistant that lets you talk to your watch. Speaking of cool, even the dials are customizable – from the neon Flicker dial which changes colour automatically throughout the day to the interactive heart rate dial
which creates a rippling water effect with the tap of a finger. What’s more, display dial effects change based on local weather behavior. Imagine being notified about ice, snow, rain, thunderstorms, and now, cloudiness, foggy conditions and humidity via weather animations. We told you, seriously cool! The collection features four unique styles: a matte steel case on a black
leather strap, a gunmetal steel case on a brown leather strap, a matte black steel case on a black silicone strap and an all-over gunmetal stainless steel case on a three-link bracelet. It’s compatible with both iPhone and Android phones, is powered with Wear OS by Google and the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100. Like we said, you gotta wear it to believe it.
VIBE TECH
YOUR NEW SIDEKICK
our phone is ruining your life. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, really. We’ve all become so absorbed in the blinking, bleeping monsters in our pockets that even the gadget makers have started dispensing salves for excessive phone use. One of their more out-there “solutions”: Start carrying two phones. There’s a certain counter-intuitive logic at work – shouldn’t we have fewer phones? Maybe. But out of this existential panic, those who created our screen dependency and those who are committed to helping us fight it have come up with a tantalising (and tantalisingly profitable) fix. It’s not about getting off your phone, per se. It’s about getting on a different one. This is the phone that will help you live your best life – a life in which Instagram, Slack, Facebook and email are relegated to the back of your mind. Barely larger than a credit card, this phone relaxes your two-handed grip and liberates more of your pocket real estate. That other phone lures you into a Chinese finger trap. This gadget sets you free. Perhaps you’re now thinking of the first phone you ever owned, Tamagotchi-like with its plastic body and tactile keypad. But these are not the phones of the 20th century. The Light Phone, for example, looks like a glowing calculator. It behaves like a portable landline – it makes and receives calls, through your main phone – and does little else. No internet, no GPS, no music, no texts. (A second version, due to ship sometime in 2019, adds an alarm clock and basic messaging.) With it, you can stash your addicta-phone in a drawer and not go completely off the grid. But maybe you want your Lilliputian phone companion to have greater ambitions. The recently revived Palm (as in: Pilot) lets you choose your own level of escape. It looks more like the phone you’re already using, only downsized to a 3.3-inch screen, a 12-megapixel camera on the back and a suite of Android apps to give you access to everything you want
Y
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– simply subtract that which you wish to leave behind, and nothing you don’t. (Yes, you could just find the strength to delete the addictive apps from the phone you already have, but the admittedly wishful thinking here is that the minuscule display will dissuade you from spending much time on it anyway.) The monochromescreened, bubble-buttoned Punkt MP02 offers a “dumb” experience with a couple of nice features, like 4G connectivity and security software built by BlackBerry. For the more ascetic, there’s the diminutive Japanese Kyocera Card Keitai KY-01L. It has an e-paper screen and handles only calls, texts, alarms, and web browsing. These inventions invite you to leave your phone behind. Unshackled from your ultra smart, ultraenticing device, you can truly focus on your spouse, on the kids, on finally finishing that New Yorker article about brutalist architecture. These are phones that are servants, not masters. What a load of baloney. Face it, you’ll never be the master as long as your eyeball magnet of a real phone is conveniently stashed in your bag. A second phone, however tempting, can’t save you from the desire to capture that perfectly Instagrammable shot, the itch to check your email. It won’t stop the intoxicating hits of dopamine when you finally return to your primary phone, which is brimming with notifications. A minimalist phone can’t save us. But perhaps it can do something else: provide a dose of techno-suboxone. It can ease our addiction, interrupting our habit of compulsive notification-checking and anxious screenglancing without the pain of going cold turkey. Will you return to your smartphone after a brief time away? Probably. But a dumb phone can show us glimpses, however brief, of a life without all the indulgences and interruptions of our pocket supercomputers. A tiny phone gives us a way towards the first and most painful step in recovery: Admitting we have a problem.
WORDS: ARIELLE PARDES. IMAGE: CERA HENSLEY
The best time to start breaking your screen addiction is now. Step one: Get a second phone?!
The Light Phone 2 is available to pre-order at `9,000 approx
FEBRUARY 2019 MARCH2019
——000 55
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confluence of business, entertainment and highend leisure, it has become an excellent choice when it comes to living in style. BKC offers easy access to a wealth of world-class leisure, retail facilities, flagship hospitals and international educational institutes. Sunteck Realty, one of India’s top seven real-estate companies, prides itself on its trinity of exquisite towers that lie right at the heart of BKC which has become a residential area
S P E C I A L F E AT U R E
of choice by those who wish to live a nuanced lifestyle with exclusive amenities for each of the three towers. The 60,000 sqft Signature Club has a temperaturecontrolled swimming pool, a gymnasium, a virtual golfroom, a multi-purpose hall, a squash court, a jogging track and a 30,000 sqft beautifully landscaped garden. To further complement their lifestyle, residents get exclusive access to the five-star hotels in the neighbourhood. SIGNATURE ISLAND – WHERE EACH HOME IS A MASTERPIECE Pegged as the world’s most renowned residences, these sky villas are home to some of India’s most exalted and eminent business tycoons and celebrities. So, acquiring one of the lavishly designed 64 duplexes here puts you in an enviable league. A fine example of architecture and interior design, the tower features two naturally-lit atriums that reach 200 ft into the sky. The seamless and airy feel extends to the residences with sprawling spaces, natural lighting and double-height ceilings. The column-less space gives you the freedom to design it as per your taste. Imagine soaking up breath-taking views of the city skyline from your private deck or a grand lobby, clad in Travertine and Botticino marble, welcoming you after a hard day’s work. SIGNIA PEARL – WHERE THE GOOD LIFE MEETS ELOQUENCE Built for those whose lifestyles are steeped in opulence, Signia Pearl features 80 beautifully designed, four-bedroom apartments. While each residence offers utmost privacy, its innovative Venetian-style layout enables the walls to gently disappear to offer an extended living
space. Better still, the private decks make the perfect venue to enjoy evening tipples as the city lights twinkle like a canopy of stars below you. While the indoor games zone and children’s play area keep your little ones pleasantly occupied on holidays, we recommend that you use the yoga and meditation zone that also has an alfresco deck. SIGNIA ISLES – WHERE THE SUBLIME SURROUNDS YOU Taking glamorous living in the Maximum City to the next level is Signia Isles. Comprising 76 super-spacious four-and five-bedroom residences, measuring approximately 5,000 sqft, this striking tower offers beautifully planned,
large living spaces. A luxury that’s rare in Mumbai. With ample space to host large celebrations, the interiors also make way for intimate nooks to spend quiet moments in – perhaps reading a book or writing your own story. With a grand entrance and state-of-theart amenities, you don’t have
to go too far to entertain your friends and business associates. These bespoke residences enable clients to design every inch of their home to suit their style. Homes that promise unmatched living for the extraordinary league of achievers.
VIBE
Q&A
FREEZE FRAME
As another signature Ritesh Batra slow-burner arrives in theatres, the Mumbai-born, NYC-based film-maker talks about the stories he’d like to tell the world
What’s the seed of the story of Photograph? Growing up, I’d watch these Bollywood movies with the rich-girl-meets-poor-guy arc; that age-old star-crossed lovers’ story, straight from Shakespeare. I wanted to explore that in a more real and grounded way, situate it in modern-day middle-class India. Well, that’s how it started three years ago. But through the process of shooting, it became too full of longing. Neither one of these characters actually quite fit into their lives. It’s a longing for a different way of being. What draws you to Nawazuddin as an actor? The character that Nawaz plays comes from a small town in UP, which is also where he is from, so he fit in, obviously. But Nawaz always gives his whole to his characters. During The Lunchbox, he wasn’t a star yet. Now he is, but that hasn’t changed him. There’s a great 58 —
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humanity about him – and I’ve found that the best actors have turned out to be great human beings too. You returned to shoot in Mumbai after a while – how has the city changed for you? Honestly, as much as I love it, this city makes me nervous now. You’ve got to be very flexible while shooting here; you can’t be precious about locations and plans. We’d begun shooting in Behrampada, which was to be the backdrop for a significant chunk in the film, but it was demolished in 2017. So we had to build a set near Nawaz’s house and just blue-screen it. Still, the entire crew from The Lunchbox came back for this film; it was like a reunion. How different was it to shoot in, say, the US, for Our Souls At Night? We were shooting in a small town in Colorado in a very controlled environment. The American film industry is a very well-oiled machine; which can be limiting sometimes. For instance, when we were making The Lunchbox, I wrote that last scene during the edit stage. Very rarely do you get the freedom to keep chipping away at something to make it as good as it can be. What new directions are you hoping to take with your film-making in the coming years? The thing is, it’s not easy to do the things you love and be employed at the same time. And I’ve always found it difficult to fake the love. That can be restrictive, and I’m not crazy ambitious. But I want to start producing my own work. With Photograph, I launched Poetic License Motion Pictures. I also want to write everything I make, some of which I’ve already committed to page. Now, I’m hustling to get it all on screen. Photograph is in theatres March 8
INTERVIEW: NIDHI GUPTA
H
ave you watched A Very English Scandal? I’m such a fan of Hugh Grant,” says Ritesh Batra over a phone call from NYC. Having just returned from Sundance Film Festival, he’s chatting about his pop culture diet. While there, “I caught Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, the Nicole Kidman-starrer Destroyer and the documentary American Factory.” Batra was no casual cinephile on the prowl in Park City, Utah this year. His latest, Photograph, debuted to 1,100 pairs of eyes. Almost instantly, the Nawazuddin Siddiqui- and Sanya Malhotra-starrer evoked adjectives like “whimsical” and “likeable”, in line with the sort of gentle, empathetic cinema that’s come to be expected of Batra since The Lunchbox took the world by storm in 2013.
www.shantanunikhil.com
SPRING/SUMMER ‘ 19 #ANTITRENDBRIDE
VIBE
GAMES
SWORDS OUT
F
The only game you need to play this month takes you into medieval Japan rom the Japanese creators of the infinitely popular Dark Souls and Bloodborne comes an action RPG set in 1500s Sengoku Japan. In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you star as a katana-wielding shinobi, resurrected and out for revenge in a time and space of constant conflict. While your brooding ninja has a fixed katana in his right arm, the
left is a makeshift limb with access to flamethrowers, loaded axes and a sudden death tool. It may not be an online multiplayer, but the gameplay is notoriously difficult, and the combat as brutal as ever. Since your ninja’s got a voice (another break from tradition), you might as well drop a senryu or two while you’re at it. Out on March 22 for PC, PS4 and XBox One
TV
HOLY WATER
Even as we wait on Good Omens, it’s going to be a big month for the cult of Neil Gaiman
Out on Amazon Prime Video March 10
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WORDS: NIDHI GUPTA
A
merican Gods, the weird AF series based on the British author’s 2001 American fantasy novel, returns to test your (and Shadow’s) faith. As the war between old and modern gods stretches on, the ex-con journeys deeper into this surreal world with the inimitable Mr Wednesday. The action revolves around The House on the Rock as two new gods – Mr World and Technical Boy – make an appearance. And yes, Bilquis is still around to terrify the living daylights out of you Tinder bros.
VISIBLY DENSER HAIR IN 90 DAYS* Healthy hair begins with a healthy scalp! That’s why, after years of research, Kérastase brings to you Advanced Scalp Solutions, personalised to your needs As men, all of us at some point in our lives experience hair thinning, dandruff, oiliness, hair loss or a highly sensitive scalp. And more often than not, most of us gravitate towards the endless range of serums, over-the-counter-pills and products that promise thick, shiny hair. But what if we’ve been ignoring the one thing that can truly cause a significant difference to all these issues? The scalp. External factors like pollution, extreme temperatures and bacterial invasions, in cohesion with internal factors like hormonal changes, age, lack of sleep and the omnipresence of stress significantly affect the scalp.To address this, Kérastase has developed luxurious and holistic programmes under Advanced Scalp Solutions, each of which are customised and tailormade to address woes like hair thinning, dandruff, sensitivity and hair loss. These programmes are a combination of in-salon rituals as well as at home care. Allow us to elaborate. *Instrumental tests
PERSONALISED DIAGNOSIS WITH THE K-CAMERA The Kérastase experience begins in-salon with a personalised diagnosis with the help of the exclusive Kérastase camera. With the ability to zoom into the scalp up to 200 times, it also gives you a 500 times closer look at hair. After understanding your hair and scalp concerns, the Kérastase ambassador will recommend the right programme, be it homecare or in-salon rituals.
GQ PROMOTION
THE KÉRASTASE HAIR DENSITY PROGRAMME A quantum leap in hair care experiences, this programme uses a combination of home care products and in-salon treatments from the Kérastase Densifique range, which makes hair visibly denser in as little as 90 days. Yes, you read right. The treatment jump starts follicular activity by stimulating resting hair follicles with STEMOXYDINE® 5%, a patented molecule by L’Oréal Advanced Research Laboratories, giving you the chance to reclaim your thick crop. Duration: 90 days
THE KÉRASTASE HAIR LOSS PROGRAMME Have you noticed hair fall when you run your fingers through it? Well, this hair loss is usually caused by rigidification of collagen in the scalp. The Kérastase Anti-Hairloss Programme is powered by products with active ingredients like Aminexil, which regenerates collagen, strengthens hair and reduces breakage. Duration: 42 days
THE KÉRASTASE SCALP-SOOTHING PROGRAMME Redness, itchiness, tightness are all signs of a sensitive scalp. A highly sensitive scalp is also prone to dandruff and hair loss. This programme soothes an angry scalp with Calophyllum oil and Piroctone Olamine – healing ingredients that cool off an irritated head. Duration: 30 days
THE KÉRASTASE ANTI-DANDRUFF PROGRAMME For a dandruff-ridden scalp, indulge in The Kérastase Anti-Dandruff Programme. Comprising Zinc Pyrithone and Salicylic Acid, it purifies your scalp, removes flakes and soothes it instantly. Duration: 30 days
To find a salon near you visit us at www.kerastase.in or call 1800-224247 Follow Kérastase on Facebook.com/kerastaseIndia and on Instagram @kerastase_official
VIBE RISING STAR
For those who can’t get enough of her talent and gumption, Bhumi Pednekar’s in an obliging mood in 2019 When Bhumi Pednekar was trying to decide whether to sign up for Abhishek Chaubey’s Sonchiriya, she pitched it to her “sounding board” – a closeknit group of friends that includes the actor’s first director, Sharat Katariya, and her mentor and best friend, casting whiz Shanoo Sharma. “Another hard-hitting film set in the heartland of India,” they pointed out, underlining the possibility of her being typecast as this “rustic” character. “But I think,” says Pednekar, “at least now, when the industry and the expectations of it have gone through such a dramatic shift, these things shouldn’t matter.” Indeed, all four of Pednekar’s big (and small) screen outings, so far, have been as salt-of-the-earth characters in (essentially) slice-of-life films. From her 2015 debut in Dum Laga Ke Haisha to last year’s controlled, powerful performance in Zoya Akhtar’s short in Lust Stories, Pednekar’s gone boldly where most others have feared to tread: Under the skin of synthetic sari-clad ladies, in the kind of films that would have once been categorised as “small cinema”. In 2019, when budgets are no longer indicative of a film’s reach, its clockage on the big screen or its shelf life, Pednekar's out to play. First up: This month’s Sonchiriya, starring a galaxy of Bollywood’s strongest actors and set in the 1970s. Pednekar’s is “practically the only female character in the film. Back then, there wasn’t a lot of difference between cattle and women. You couldn’t raise your voice against any male member, no matter what age they were.” “Still,” Pednekar continues, “my character’s got the balls to save her dignity. Like all of Chaubey’s female characters, she comes out strong and liberated.” Pednekar gets rhapsodic when talking about Chaubey’s directorial vision and admits this was the hardest she’s worked to get into character. “Work on set was so demanding, it became our workout.” Apart from the manually punishing work of going to town on a husk remover (as per the Boomerang she put up recently on Instagram), Pednekar also learned to speak in Bundelkhandi (“There’s a difference of grammar, not just the accent”) and spent months shooting in what was once MP’s dacoit-ridden Chambal region. “It’s very beautiful, but it’s like a maze. We’d come across animal carcasses regularly!” 66 —
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She also draws parallels between Sonchiriya and Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen. “I remember watching it as a young adult and feeling amazed by the brutality; I think I got what he was saying even then. These are great stories about human survival.” Pednekar has also just finished shooting for Alankrita Shrivastava’s Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare. “Alankrita has such a unique, quirky way of telling stories,” she says. “This one’s about a beautiful relationship between two sisters living in Delhi, one of whom is a young, naïve, ambitious girl.” And now she’s shooting “back to back” for Amar Kaushik’s Bala, Karan Johar’s Takht and Mudassar Aziz’s remake of Pati, Patni Aur Woh. All of which means she has no time to catch up on pop culture right now. So it’s a good thing that she likes to live through her characters – travel to parts of the world she wouldn’t otherwise go and generally experience humanity – give or take a few pounds. “I’ve never actually looked at films as projects, they’re always stories. My craft has changed with every film,” Pednekar says. “And this is just the beginning.”
WORDS: NIDHI GUPTA
QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE
FEMME, UNINTERRUPTED A round-the-clock phone, OnePlus 6T is fully equipped to keep up with the busy schedules of the multifaceted women of today, who are always on the go The new OnePlus 6T packs a range of cutting-edge features that make it the single most useful gadget for the non-stop women of today. Built to maximise the day, it packs an 8GB of RAM, the fastest in-display fingerprint sensor, and a dual camera amongst many other features. Faster, smarter, smoother and better – here’s how the 6T effortlessly keeps up with a relentless day in the life of modern-day women.
6AM TO 9AM When it comes to the AM workouts, it is easier to be a wimp than a warrior. But not for the lady bosses who start their day with an unforgiving drill. Whether going for a power-packed run or a sweaty hike, the water and dust resistant features of the phone, along with the crisp sound produced from the Bullets Wireless serve as an ideal companion.
S P E C I A L F E AT U R E
9AM TO 5PM For women who are playing for the win, an equally efficient platform that does so too. Send emails, download heavy attachments, organise meetings, and take a breather by battling it out over a game. The phone’s Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 845 Mobile Platform and the 8GB RAM helps her glide through these gritty work-hours, painlessly.
5PM TO 6PM Be it indulging in some mindful meditation, lounging in the pool, or dabbling in some arts, she won’t stop. Just like her energy, the phone battery too just keeps going. OnePlus’ Fast Charge offers a faster kind of fast charging. It maintains its high-speed charging while you’re using your OnePlus 6T, so that you won’t have to pause, in order to charge up.
S P E C I A L F E AT U R E
AFTER 6 It’s only 6pm and the allures of the night await. This female warrior puts on her finest and steps out to mingle with her comrades. Whether dancing through an all-night soiree or enjoying a quiet decadent dinner, the New Nightscape technology and intelligent scene recognition feature on the 6T is always ready to capture exciting moments, brilliantly.
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.IN AND ONEPLUS.IN
VIBE at SXSW this month, Abhi tells us about a year in his footloose life. Going by the retweets and upvotes, Marbled really put you on the map. I think it put me somewhere on the map, it’s just that not many people are looking at that part of the map yet. I didn’t get a work visa to stay in the US, so I had to move to France for a year before I could re-apply. I was depressed and alone. And I think that gave me a large amount of inspiration.
MUSIC
ALIEN INVASION
Acquaint yourself with the multiculti rhymes of Abhi the Nomad, the next big thing on the international hip-hop scene
K
anye West’s outrageous 2004 track “The New Workout Plan” introduced us to many things: Tracee Ellis Ross’ comic timing; the idea of parody in rap videos at a time when gangs and rivalries ran amok; and Ye’s outsized production talent. Turns out, we’ve also got Ye to thank for the eclectic and bold musical stylings of Abhi the Nomad, the Indian-origin, Austin-based rapper whose Spotify ratings are off the hook these days. “My dad had it on his iPod from a gym playlist,” he says. Even if his dad didn’t get the irony, a teenaged Abhi Sridharan Vaidehi certainly did. Ye, along with Lupe Fiasco, he says, “held the torch for my musical growth. Their ability to shift between being socially conscious and rapping effortlessly about nothing made them stick out.” Born in Chennai, Abhi’s lived in about eight countries – his
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diplomat father was posted around the world – before arriving in the US for grad school in 2011. While he did grow up with Carnatic and Tamil film music in Chennai (“The soundtracks of Ghilli and Pudhupettai had some hip-hop in there for sure,” he laughs); and was lead singer in a school band, Felix and the Cats, while in Fiji (“We often played Rage Against The Machine covers and did a funky rendition of Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love””), it was hip-hop that stuck. “It’s always had a sense of ‘me against the world’,” he says. “And I think I felt like an outsider pretty much everywhere I went.” Last year, he put out Marbled, a marvellous 12-track album after signing on with the mighty Tommy Boy Entertainment label, while in France. And followed it up with a series of upbeat singles that show off his lyrical and verbal dexterity. Before he gets on stage
That’s before you scored the “Alien of Extraordinary Ability” visa? Yeah, it’s a visa that allows you to be an artist of any medium in the US, given your work is significant enough to bring change to the culture. You collect every piece of press you have, a pile of reference letters, scan all government IDs and get a lawyer. Then you give that lawyer every cent you have, sign 30 pages of legal documents, and wait a couple weeks. It’s a tumultuous process. Just how political do you allow yourself to get in your lyrics? I don’t really get political in my lyrics, or in real life. I could just be vulgar and give you my grand opinion on things that I clearly don’t understand to the full extent. Plus, I don’t think I’d be saying anything you wouldn’t already know – seems pointless. Is the single “Run” the first instance of you directly speaking of your Indianness in your music? This is the first time I’ve addressed it largely and it was something that I had to do in due time. A lot of people think I was born in America because of my accent, but they don’t know I’m an immigrant. The story is that this Indian guy is out-rapping 90 per cent of American citizens, on my braggadocious trip. And what’s the story on the slapsfuelled “Flush”? I’m just rapping my ass off and flipping the finger to anyone who didn’t believe in me. It’s produced by 13, who happens to be a 17-year-old brown kid.
FILM
REEL LIFE
With another awards season finally over, we can all get back to the general business of good old entertainment
We’ve seen a definite rise in South Asian representation in American hip-hop lately. Anik Khan, for instance… Anik is tight. He’s made it cool to be an immigrant. And I gotta shout out Heems [from Das Racist]. He’s playlisted my music a bunch of times, and it helps knowing that someone who shares my cultural background is present in the music industry. Any new desi artists you’d say we should get on our radar? I’d say Raveena is putting on for Indians in a big way. I also know this kid Dilip, who’s just produced Soulja Boy’s new song. Crazy.
THE BEACH BUM
DUMBO
Directed by Harmony Korine
Directed by Tim Burton
From the director of the 2013 sleeper hit Spring Breakers comes another manic tale about white dudes searching for themselves on tripped-out beaches. Matthew McConaughey, most definitely not looking like he always does, plays Moondog, a has-been novelist trying to write the “next great American novel”. Except, how can he achieve this when he must also search for acid in supermarket aisles, party hard with Snoop Dogg and participate in Isla Fisher’s warm, warm embrace? Oddly enough, Jonah Hill looks like he might be the sanest thing in this romp.
This month’s drop of nostalgia comes in the shape of a circus, in the first of Disney’s three big live-action remakes of the year. In Dumbo, the spotlight is on Holt Farrier, the circusstar-turned-war-vet who discovers the purpose of the baby elephant’s giant ears. And in the hands of Tim Burton, who’s always handled misfits delicately, this becomes a rare human story about love and exploitation.
CAPTAIN MARVEL
INTERVIEW: NIDHI GUPTA. IMAGE: ALAMY (CAPTAIN MARVEL)
What’s the scene like in Austin right now? I definitely know people are more open to experimental stuff over here. The phrase “Keep Austin Weird” applies to everything and that makes me excited. I saw J Cole when I first moved here: He played through his entire album without stopping to crowd-please. It was insane. What’s on your bucket list? I’d love to play at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. It’s a great line-up of artists, I respect and listen to each and every one of them. And I want to do [the podcast] Sway In The Morning and rap on the “Five Fingers of Death”.
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck The world might be coming to an end, but that’s no reason we can’t have a new superhero or two. Brie Larson stars as a fighter pilot who joins an elite military team out to protect an Earth caught between two warring alien worlds. Set in 1995, this might be the throwback we need to save the Avengers, come April.
US Directed by Jordan Peele Get Out director Jordan Peele takes the myth about doppelgängers – if they exist, they’re your evil twin – quite literally in his next horror outing. A family that takes a beach vacation is confronted with a twisted version of itself and, of course, it’s a fight for survival. And while you’ll want to debate the deeper metaphorical meanings of such a tale, we’ll all agree that there’s never enough Lupita Nyong’o in the world.
Brie Larson in and as Captain Marvel
Who are your freestyle “gods”? I really love that Royce da 5’9” freestyle. He’s, for sure, one of the greats. Black Thought is fire, Your Old Droog chops it up right quick too. How do you introduce Abhi the Nomad to a noob? My god, the eternal question. Indie hiphop? Alternative rap? Anti-pop? Take your pick. I feel like a musical colour wheel at times. MARCH 2019
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LIKE FEET, ONLY BETTER Instead of waging war between efficiency and style, Clarks brings together functionality inspired by the human anatomy, and aesthetics that don’t compromise, to their latest creation – the Trigenic Collection When it comes to footwear, comfort is the first thing one measures shoes by. It should evoke the experience of nothingness — getting as close as possible to feeling barefoot, while still protecting it. The need doesn’t end there. In an ideal world, you’d be thrilled to be able to don the same shoes to the gym, that you also wore to work. To get you on your way, Clarks brings you Trigenic – innovative footwear with a nod to their signature British style. Keeping biomechanics at the heart of the concept, Clark’s designers have pioneered the most natural shoe in the world. The cutting-edge craftsmanship infused with modern elements come together to create a one-of-a kind design. Imagine streetwear, but from the future.
GQ PROMOTION
“LIKE WALKING BAREFOOT WITH THE CUSHIONING AND IMPACT ABSORPTION OF A RUNNING SHOE.” INSPIRED BY YOUR BODY Since its launch, Trigenic has been a game-changer in how we think about style and purpose, the technical and the artistic. The collection has been crafted upon four principles that are intended to aid the natural movement of the foot, hence making them intuitive. Here’s what makes the shoe take a giant leap forward in terms of construction and comfort. 1. Responsive Cushioning for the Man Always on the Go Premium materials deliver unrivalled underfoot cushioning and a contoured fit. 2. Ergonomic Fit for the Comfort Driven Considered ergonomics create a seamless asymmetric fit that respects the shape of your foot. 3. Engineered Deconstruction for Those Meant to Go Places Super-soft, flexible uppers provide a glove-like fit, taking natural movement to a new level. 4. Targeted Flex Points for the Go-Getters Biomechanics respect and optimise the foot’s natural motion with targeted flex points. Inspired by sport but designed for
our lifestyles, The Progressive Sports Technologies Ltd based at Loughborough University, UK describes the experience of Trigenics as, “Like walking barefoot with the cushioning and impact absorption of a running shoe.” Trigenic as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts – each element working together to help you move.
SPRING-SUMMER’S FRESHEST LOOKS TRI VERVE for men is a contemporary twist on sneakers. Clean, supple uppers with touches of vegetable tanned leather, and flexible foot-beds with a lightweight EVA midsole makes these shoes an off-duty staple. The rubber pods on the outsole provides added grip. Try them on to feel the difference. The Trigenic sandal collection for the season includes the TRI COVE CROSS which maximises a cool, transitional mood in premium nubucks that team perfectly with the unique Trigenic outsole. Innovation meets design in the SS19 Trigenic Collection. It embodies Clarks’ pioneering spirit, taking comfort and natural movement to a whole new level. The design is minimal yet radical,
hence making it a perfect pick for your everyday wear. Whether a morning stroll or when meeting the boys for Sunday brunch, the sporty detailing combined with a mix of casual profiles ensures you are on-trend this athleisure season.
For more information, visit clarks.in
LET’S DO THINGS RIGHT
CONSERVATION
THE LIFE As ever-growing mounds of trash continue to find their way into the oceans and the mercury keeps rising, Nayantara Jain of ReefWatch India talks damage control and rehabilitation for India’s coral reefs
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WORDS: NIDHI GUPTA. IMAGE: SUMER VERMA
AQUATIC
ver the 105 minutes that Nayantara Jain spent underwater in the Bay of Bengal one January morning, she had all the usual visitors: Crabs “the size of half a fingernail” burrowing into the sand, crocodile fish that are experts at camouflage, slow-moving sea turtles, burly barracudas, flamboyant parrotfish and flying fish. Amid this riot of colours, “I saw a giant shoal of fusiliers approaching,” she says. From where she stood on the seabed, it looked like “golden arrows falling from the sky.” Being underwater, according to Jain, is much like going on a wildlife safari. Except, “on land, humans might be identified by the animals as predators, and thus something to be wary of. Marine animals have no frame of reference for what you are,” she laughs over the phone, that afternoon, after her dive. “So you’re going to encounter either a deep curiosity (don’t be surprised if you turn around to see an octopus poking at you) or complete obliviousness to your presence.” Jain’s passion for all things seaborn is infectious. When she isn’t waxing eloquent in school classrooms or at TEDx talks about the wonders pooling in our oceans, she’s uploading mesmerising mermaid-like selfies and stunning portraits of fish somersaulting in teal waters on Instagram. As the executive director of ReefWatch India – an organisation with a focus on coral reef research and conservation in the Indian peninsula – the 31-year-old has been operating out of Chidiya Tapu, a tiny village on the southernmost tip of the southern Andaman Islands, for the past five years. “We have the ocean on three sides,” she says, almost as if to invite you to dive into one of the only six coral reef outposts in Indian territory. “As you approach from Port Blair – an hour’s drive – the last 6-7 kilometres are just beautiful mangroves and virgin rainforests.” ReefWatch India was founded in 1993 by advertising guru Prahlad Kakkar and his wife Mitali Dutt Kakkar, after they first went scuba-diving off the coast of Mauritius. “Prahlad loves to tell the story of what inspired him: Finding a copy of the Quran, not quite disintegrated, nestled among the coral reefs,” says Jain. Along with their scuba-diving school Lacadives, the Kakkars’ broader purpose back then was to raise awareness about marine life diversity in Indian waters. “It was important for us to communicate,” says Jain, who joined the fray a decade ago, “that coral reefs aren’t just pretty animals. They’re a whole habitat.” Quick science lesson: Coral reefs might cover less than 1 per cent of the seabed, but are actually home to, and in a symbiotic relationship with, 20 per cent of all marine life on the planet. But, with global warming, and each subsequent El Niño phase and mass bleaching event (ie, the “heatstroke” they suffer in warming waters), their capacity to recover drops. Jain notes that marine ecosystems can get left behind in the larger talk around natural conservation
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LET’S DO THINGS RIGHT
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Nayantara Jain; (below) Prahlad Kakkar and Mitali Dutt Kakkar
"You might ALSO wonder just how big of a deal a "minor" 2–degree change in temperatures over a hundred years can be. That’s until you’re faced with the consequences" – Jain isn’t worried. Despite the rise in “negative tourism”, she disagrees with the school of thought that, “if you remove humans from the equation, nature will be fine.” She’d rather we stay aware of our consumption patterns: Realise that the things we dispose of don’t actually leave the planet for a long time; pay attention to the ingredients in our grooming products; and understand that very little of all those gorgeous clothes we buy in fast fashion stores actually gets recycled or reused. “Conservation,” says Jain, “has to be about finding a way for man and nature to exist together.”
WORDS: NIDHI GUPTA. IMAGE: SUMER VERMA (NAYANTARA JAIN)
in India. It’s possible for us, sitting in landlocked cities, not to gauge the ecological importance of coral reefs, even if we do get their aesthetic value. “Like rainforests or mangroves,” she explains, “coral reefs buffer coastal human civilisation against natural disasters. You might also wonder,” upon reading reports of global warming, “just how big of a deal a ‘minor’ 2-degree change in temperatures over a hundred years can be. That’s until you’re faced with the consequences.” A dive in the Andaman Sea, off the coast of Thailand in 2009, just after a mass bleaching event in 2008, revealed to Jain a terrifying seascape of whitened shrubbery, completely devoid of life. It’s what pushed the philosophy grad and diving enthusiast to seek out a Masters degree in marine biology; and to understand that what’s killing sea life is a complex cocktail of plastic waste, diesel fumes and fishing malpractice. This January morning’s dive was no recreational activity. Jain and her “team” of engineers and biologists had gone down to check on the eight metallic structures they’ve stuck into the seabed, as part of an initiative called Re(ef)Generate. “It’s a sort of rescue programme,” she explains. “We’ve been picking up broken or weakened fragments of reefs and transplanting them onto these structures; giving them a low-voltage electric current that, studies say, helps them grow 7-12 times faster and makes them more resilient to higher temperatures.” They’ve also been “creating corals from scratch,” incubating some in labs and transplanting them to the sea. “Think of it as afforestation. We’re kind of rebuilding the reef.” The day we speak, they were also taking stock of the damage wrought by Pabuk, the cyclone that had just whipped its way through the islands in late December. “Mercifully, there was only some minor denting,” Jain sighs over the phone. “But yes, the frequency of such events is increasing. Small islands like ours are always more vulnerable.” Jain realised early enough that, to sustain a regeneration project of this magnitude, especially when swimming against the tide of ever-climbing temperatures, engaging local communities would be crucial. “When people are unemployed,” as they might be on an island that depends heavily on seasonal tourism for livelihood, “the last thing you can do is preach about plastic disposal.” Every day, she holds skill-building classes with kids from Chidiya Tapu and neighbouring towns (along with workshops for school and college kids from the mainland), training them to be divers or guides, or in any kind of occupation linked to their habitat. “I figured that a lot of these kids don’t even know how to swim, let alone wear a mask and go snorkelling. We’re trying to help them connect with the ocean.” As for the hordes of snorkellers, scuba-divers and general seaside revellers planning a visit – numbers that are bound to grow, with a brand new Taj resort on Radhanagar beach and easier access to Viper Island
Y H
EDITED BY SHIVANGI LOLAYEK AR & VIJENDRA BHARDWAJ
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR
THE
Menswear has never been more herculean, much like the morphology of a Rick Owens silhouette: “Structure vs confusion, constructivism vs chaos,” read the designer’s Spring/Summer 2019 show notes, signalling an all-inclusive era in which high fashion and streetwear are in unison. Which means design gods from mega fashion houses have gone all out to give you the entire spectrum. The key lies in mixing it up and flaunting your individualistic style. Get started
THE MER SUM ION H S A F E ISSU
SPONSORED BY
MARCH 2019
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FENDI VERSACE
CANALI
THE HYPE
Each season there’s a handful of lust-worthy products from hot labels that every influencer and hipster must acquire – lest a tsunami of FOMO hit them and they’re forced to haul up in bed with last season’s wares. This time around, it’s manifested in hardcore logomania best served by Fendi’s delicious sneakers; Versace’s snaking chains intermingled with Union Jack colours and bold typography, so there’s no mistaking what you’re wearing; Balenciaga everything; and OffWhite’s cross-body bags. If you want to jump on the cool train and find a place among fashion’s scenestealers, we suggest you sell a limb and snag these products quick – this fiery merch isn’t going to stick around stores for long.
n r o w B D n o t t u b e l g n i s A sted is as bold as it ab re-che o you dare? gets. D 86 —
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BALENCIAGA
There’s a reason why goodquality tailoring never goes out of style. It’s sharp. It’s luxe. And it makes us nostalgic for Don Draper braggadocio – a trifecta that designers from Canali in Milan to Dunhill in Paris couldn’t get enough of this season. But beware: Unflattering versions can veer dangerously towards you getting dad bod nods. The key then is proportionality. Ashish N Soni’s smart, full-on refresh of the classic has a trim fit, no excess bulk, a slightly cropped length, bold colour and no shirt underneath. (Note: going bare under your suit is officially a movement, with everyone from Zegna to Dior Men on board.) What you’ll achieve is a rugged sophistication that works as well right now as it would have years ago – and will years from now.
OFF-WHITE
DUNHILL
ASHISH N SONI
Tailor Made
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR. IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES (BALENCIAGA), SHUTTERSTOCK (YELLOW PAINT)
The Buzz
PASSION TRIBE:
S P E C I A L F E AT U R E
FOODIE
Malcolm Lee
Pooja Dhingra
COOKING UP A STORM
Candlenut
Here’s what happens when Mumbai’s favourite pastry chef and Singapore’s renowned restaurateur come together to explore their passion for culinary innovations
PHOTOS: THE HOUSE OF PIXELS
POOJA DHINGRA, PASTRY CHEF, LE15 PATISSERIE Mumbai-based celebrity pastry chef Pooja Dhingra has been baking since she was six. She was instrumental in bringing in a new wave to the city’s dessert scene with an exciting range of macarons and other French desserts. Apart from creating designer wedding cakes for Bollywood stars, she also offers healthy, keto-friendly desserts in her café—an offering she created from her own need for having something sweet without consuming processed sugar. MALCOLM LEE, CHEF & OWNER, CANDLENUT Malcolm Lee is a Singaporean Michelinstarred chef and the owner of the Peranakan restaurant, Candlenut. He is extremely passionate about preserving and creating new dishes with traditional flavours and spices from this unique cuisine. Malcolm learned everything about Peranakan food and culture from his grandmother and mother, and has infused his learnings and passion in his menu at Candlenut.
Buah Keluak ice cream, Valrhona chocolate, Chilli, Warm chocolate espuma
Pooja Dhingra’s vanilla cake with Kaya
WHEN POOJA MET MALCOLM When India’s pastry princess met Singapore’s prince of Peranakan cuisine, the two were fascinated by each other’s passion to follow their true calling. A similarity between them is that they enjoy taking traditional methods of cooking and giving them an innovative spin that is modern in presentation, yet takes from traditional methods and cultures of cooking. The two decided to have an inspired cook-off. For Pooja, the inspiration was the new environment and cuisine, with unique Asian ingredients. “I wanted to use some sort of coconut element, so I picked kaya, a rich jam made from a base of coconut milk, eggs and sugar. I mixed it with my recipe of the classic vanilla cake I make at my café,” says Pooja. Malcolm chose to prepare his signature dish, the traditional Peranakan buah keluak–originally served in meat dishes. This time, Malcolm turned it into an elaborate dessert. An inspired rendition of the original, but with dark chocolate, coffee, herbs and ice cream, which fast became her favourite for many. Pooja was all smiles as she said, “I absolutely love travelling for food. Any trip I take is always centred around finding new flavours, something which I also found on my visit to Singapore. I’m glad that my visit here helped me explore new avenues like these. I can’t wait to be back!”
THE HYPE
e e t r u o y f f o T op , d e l i o b d r a with a h ket cropped jac
Ye and Abloh having a moment
a force to reckon with At a time when high fashion is projected as perfectly concocted visuals and product drops are marketed as hard, cold commodities, Rick Owens continues to stick the middle finger to convention. The godfather of deconstructivism hit a nerve by putting out electrifying clothes (sharpshouldered tailoring, octopuslike masks, wide-legged trousers) packaged with a whole lot of soul. The overall mood of his collection, with a thick cloud of blue, yellow, red and green smoke filling the runway, traversed between control and abandon, outrageous and wow. Owens proved he is in no hurry to neglect his mega tribe – devotees who only wear his unorthodox clothes, representing an alternative, individualistic way of life.
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Not since 1984, when punkdesign legend Stephen Sprouse brought street culture to the upper echelons of luxury fashion with a front row made up of Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry, has there been such a loud buzz about “an outsider” and cultish street designer sitting in the hot seat of a mega fashion house. Virgil Abloh wasted no time in setting the ground rules at Louis Vuitton: diversity and inclusivity were the name of his game, with a rainbow-coloured runway and models from every country in every colour imaginable – including Kid Cudi and Tyler the Creator, who sported bright and graphic co-ords with pyrex-happy accessories. If there was any doubt that fashion isn’t as much about tribalism as it is good clothes, an emotionally charged Abloh finished off by crying on the shoulders of his good friend, and ex-boss, Kanye West.
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR. IMAGE: REX FEATURES (KANYE WEST AND VIRGIL ABLOH), SHUTTERSTOCK (YELLOW PAINT)
Like aVirgil
THE HYPE
There were many boxes that Alessandro Sartori checked with his Milanese sojourn. He let the world know that Ermenegildo Zegna wasn’t just the benchmark of exquisite tailoring but very much in the running for creating hypeinducing merch. It commenced with Sartori blowing up the XXX logo and putting it on everything from vests and seenow-buy-now Cesare sneakers that you can customise starting this month, to jogger/trouser hybrids and a three-piece bomber suit. That he chose Palazzo Mondadori as the setting – a monumental Oscar Niemeyer structure that was commissioned in 1968, the same year Zegna launched ready-to-wear – was the ideal architectural incarnation of the collection, titled Weightlessness: “graphic and voluminous, but without weight.”
r e v e n s a h X XX e l b a n o i h s a f e r o had a m connotation 20 years of Sabyasachi When Sabyasachi came on the fashion scene two decades ago, his impact was immediate. He brought bohemian rhapsody to indigenous textiles, made nostalgia seem sexy, cranked up the opulence and pizzazz on Indian fashion and introduced chic touches like all-over florals that still resonate today. His talent, canny business sense and ability to get with the times have carried right through. Now, Sabya runs a bona fide empire uniting all his brand extensions and associations from jewellery to décor under one roof – putting him in a league of extraordinary designers with the promise to continue remaining ahead of the curve.
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WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR. PHOTO: BIKRAMJIT BOSE (SABYASACHI), IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK (YELLOW PAINT)
The second coming of Ermenegildo Zegna
AN ODE TO THE UNSTOPPABLE It’s easy to throw in that proverbial towel and give up. But then, there are those who have the tenacity to hang on to their dreams and pursue it with an unrelenting passion. The few who never let failure or the fear of it define their journey. And here’s a photo-story that celebrates the grit and determination that empowers them
OUTFIT BY SWAPNIL SHINDE. RINGS BY MISHO. EARRINGS BY SAKSHI JHUNJHUNWALA
S P E C I A L F E AT U R E
THE CLIMB CONTINUES, EVEN AT THE TOP
J
UNBREAKABLE. UNTAMEABLE. UNSTOPPABLE
K Rowling’s first manuscript of Harry Potter was rejected on multiple occasions before it became the world’s most widely read book. Steve Jobs not only returned to save Apple after being sacked from it, but also went on to lead the digital revolution. Before becoming the music legend that she is, Madonna struggled to survive and worked at a doughnut shop. These are few of many heartwarming stories where success has come after beating several odds. And in most cases, the credit goes to the persevering protagonist who refuses to take no for an answer. These are a rare breed of people who have an inherent doggedness towards reaching a set goal. The unstoppable few possess personal power and the gumption to go after what they want. They will stare at adversity in the face and say, “You can’t stop me”. Sometimes even laugh at it. Authentic to the core, you’ll never find them pretending to be someone else. Or, succumbing to the pressures of dogmatic societal norms. These are not people pleasers. They are free in body, mind and spirit. Unafraid to throw themselves into an adventure, one often sees them traversing unchartered territories. They don’t care if the road is straight, curvy or bumpy. They don’t even care if there is a road. They always pave a new one for the rest to follow. This photo-story captures the essence of their unrelenting spirit. Our message is simple and clear: Don’t stop until you become the best, most powerful version of yourself.
(CLOCKWISE) OUTFIT BY LECOANET HEMANT. EARRINGS BY SAKSHI JHUNJHUNWALA BODYSUIT BY H&M. EARRINGS BY MISHO | BODYSUIT BY NAMRATA JOSHIPURA. EARRINGS BY H&M
S P E C I A L F E AT U R E
CHOOSE THE PATH. THE DESTINATION WILL EMERGE
OUTFIT BY NIKHIL THAMPI. RINGS, EARRINGS; BOTH BY MISHO
I STAND MY GROUND. I DON’T NEGOTIATE
S P E C I A L F E AT U R E
THE HYPE
Bodice by Ruchika Sachdeva She’s the globetrotting queen of all trades: winning the International Woolmark Prize last year, retailing in the best stores across the world and dropping her debut menswear collection at Lakmé Fashion Week in collab with Reebok Sole Fury. Since launching Bodice eight years ago, Sachdeva has firmly established her place among India’s brightest design talents. Her signature women’s look – luxe, androgynous, layered – created a style movement that’s still building steam. And she’s cleverly bringing the same cool cred to menswear: Cuffed joggers with bombers and shackets over fine-ass shirts in delicious colours like mint and wine.
By casting real people spanning ages, orientations and trades, Ruchika Sachdeva’s heeding a global call for inclusivity and diversity
Welcome to the club
The prominent womenswear heroes who’re catching on to what we’ve been saying all along: designing a guy’s wardobe is way more fun
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Holding your bag like a purse is a legit style move
Jacquemus The fêted womenswear designer known for outrageously big hats and lipstick-sized bags finally launched his menswear line at the Calanque de Sormiou, a beach enclave lining Marseille. Simon Porte Jacquemus went all out to show his men as seductive, freespirited demi-gods, meant to live the good life on the sand, knocking back clear-as-crystal Watenshis.
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR. IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK (YELLOW PAINT)
It started small – Meghan Markle wearing Givenchy for the most awaited wedding in history, watched by over 29 million viewers across the world. That was enough to mark Clare Waight Keller’s artistic direction, after she took over from Riccardo Tisci in 2017 and became the first woman to hold the top spot at the Parisian house. Now, Keller’s launched a men’s line, which, although not available in full until next season, has already found prominence in the wardrobes of Rami Malek and Timothée Chalamet – a clear indication of the kind of man it’s made for: On point, relevant, stylish as fuck.
GIVENCHY
Givenchy
1" 3 & 4 ) - " . # " 4 * ( / "5 6 3 & 4
1"3&4)-".#"
8 8 8 1" 3 & 4 ) - " . # " 4 * ( / "5 6 3 & 4 * /
DEEP BLUE SEA
Would you say this is a genderfluid collection? I can imagine a wide variety of men [and women] who might want to wear these pieces. I believe the common thread is that they are stylishly self-assured.
aren’t going to change this momentum. Men are never giving up T-shirts, hoodies and sneakers. My hope is that we can instead make them more innovative and stylish each season. And I still believe that one must continue to have a sense of occasion. If you’re going to a wedding or a job interview, you had better dress up and you had better look great.
Which are some of your favourite pieces? Since they are all my children, I can’t really choose. I love the outerwear. And the knitwear. And the shorts. And the pants.
As you get older, how does your style evolve? Unfortunately, it’s gotten more casual. This is counter-intuitive, but it’s the sign of the times. It also means you have to be in better shape.
How did this collaboration come about? It was the culmination of working together for two seasons with Paul & Shark, a logical extension of our cooperation and trust. Paul & Shark has the know-how to make great products iconic, and I bring a new set of eyes, a fresh perspective. What’s your inspiration behind it? The only inspiration is my closet. What I’m missing out on and what I want to wear. The line between casual and formal menswear is blurring. How does that figure into your style? Change is happening. Menswear is getting more casual. My personal feelings
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Does that change the definition of luxury for you? The notion is changing rapidly and constantly. Essentially, luxury has always meant scarcity.
"T he future is wide open t c e j b u s d n a , t h g i and br ou Y . e g n a h c l a i n t o p er e n d n a n i a r t e h t n o p can jum _ or not !" enjoy the ride
Fashion is cyclical. Which period in time do you reference the most? The only period I’m interested in is the present. Nostalgia is for scrapbooks. Whose style do you follow closely? I’m constantly looking at people in the world of fashion. There are many stylish people, but style, like a fingerprint, is uniquely your own. I’m not interested in trying to replicate anyone else’s style.
INTERVIEW: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR (NICK WOOSTER). IMAGE: LETIZIA RAGNO (NICK WOOSTER PORTRAIT), SHUTTERSTOCK (YELLOW PAINT). WORDS: TEO VAN DEN BROEKE (GUCCI). PHOTO: FLORIAN RENNER (GUCCI). STYLIST: TONY COOK (GUCCI). MODEL: CHESTER CHAMBERS/NEXT (GUCCI)
Nick Wooster is known for many things: His supernatural ability to wear gender-fluid Craig Green at Milan Fashion Week and still look like the most virile human being in Europe. His distinctive personality, enjoyed by over half a million followers on social media. His enviable tatted arms. His dynamic CV, that includes being an ex-buyer for Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys, design director for Polo Ralph Lauren, consultant for Thom Browne. And now, Wooster just dropped a third collab with Paul & Shark – a capsule collection with national flags and happy Hawaiian flowers on hard outerwear to pair with breezy shorts that everyone from Bruno Mars to Captain Haddock can wear.
THE HYPE JUMPER, TROUSERS, BACKPACK; ALL BY GUCCI
The Scoutmaster Rucksack There was a strong “hard-wearing” theme at the SS19 shows in London, Paris and Milan. A high-function conflation of oversized ripstop windcheaters, heavy-duty hiking sandals and outdoors-ready cargo shorts, the trend was manifested most clearly in durable high-fashion camping rucksacks, a bit like this beastie from Gucci.
ed z t i l b e l e h c i y r e v e AlessandrcocM e d a m d ni to Gu ihainng, bag and boot piece of clobt le mash-up of retro a coveta ndfather cool, Elton glam, gra ired memorabilia and John -inspwhimsy. Take your pick Disney MARCH 2019
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THE HYPE
Hot Spot Khadi’s never looked cooler and more urban, as proved by Raymond’s sexy new sustainable store
When the blizzard of street and urban culture hit fashion, it formed a substantial pillar right next to luxury. But it’s the third, strong, unshakeable mainstay of sustainability that is fast shaping how designers put out clothes, and how we shop for our next summer shirt or navy suit. The fact is, from the scarring environmental effects of
Conscious fashion gets a stylish makeover Antar-Agni by Ujjawal Dubey at Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2019
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polyester – a dominant fibre loved by the industry and consumers – to the impact on soil and water systems from landfills (where many garments are finally laid to rest), the need for sustainable fashion has never been more urgent. And retail giant Raymond’s new dedicated khadi store, The Story Re-spun, couldn’t come at a more felicitous time. Before you associate khadi with a loincloth made for your grandfather’s grandfather, the slick façade of the tony store on the hot style strip of Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda sends out a clear message: You’re not going to find basics to don for a political campaign here. The store instead picks up from Raymond’s recent collab with Antar-Agni at Lakmé Fashion Week – tailored long shirts to pair with breezy voluminous trousers; safari suit-inspired co-ords; asymmetrical blazers; bombers to sport all year round. Besides stocking capsule collections created with cutting-edge designers, there are also block-printed and indigo-stamped shirts, waist jackets, accessories, footwear – all in line to make sure you have a comfortable summer. What’s more, the story behind each individual piece will keep your conscience clear: 100 per cent khadi-made wares worked on tirelessly by handloom clusters from across the country, who are in turn guaranteed a better way of life with every purchase. It’s a productive, healthy cycle that, with a little effort and cognisance, proves that style and substance don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR. IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK (YELLOW PAINT)
The modern façade of Raymond’s new khadi store bears none of the stereotypes attached to sustainable fashion
MR PERFECT’S
SUMMER OF STYLE PRESENTED BY
The clocks have gone forward, the mercury is rising and as a perfectionist, you need to be on point, especially when it comes to style. Here’s how you can dress your personality this season
Perfection is not a buzzword. It’s a mindset, a conviction that opens the doors to an empowered life, regardless of the circumstances. It’s about being prepared for what’s next – the good, the bad, the challenges, the setbacks and the surprises. It’s about focussing on details without losing sight of the bigger picture. It’s about never sitting on your laurels, and setting new goals as soon as you’ve achieved the old ones. It’s dreaming about the impossible and then making it possible. And while there are
many who find the pursuit of perfection exhausting, there is always someone in this crowd of naysayers who sees the merit in it. Mr Perfect, we know exactly who you are. We also know that because perfection is an intrinsic part of your lifestyle, you seek it even in your sartorial choices. And this season, we’ve got your back. After pouring through the latest trends, we’ve handpicked three key styles that will take you through the warm weather months looking effortless yet impeccably stylish.
GQ PROMOTION
MR SOIREE PERFECT For the mid-summer weddings, rooftop parties and formal shindigs slotted on your social calendar, we recommend linen suits. Its lightweight feel and soft texture makes the fabric a high-temperature hero. Luckily, gone are the days of shapeless, pure white linen suits à la 1980’s Miami Beach.
Today, you can easily find form flattering ones in fun colours that range from the traditional blacks and greys to cool blues and canary yellows. Style tip: Pair a well-tailored linen suit with a slim-fit dress shirt. It will keep you looking and feeling cool in the summer heat, whenever it arrives.
GQ PROMOTION
MR DATE-NIGHT PERFECT What if you swipe right on a dating app and she swipes right back at you? You need to be wardrobe ready for date nights. Of course, you want to look your best without coming across as OTT or under dressed. Also, while selecting your ensemble for this night, bear in mind that you will be nervous, which makes some of us perspire.
MR BRUNCH PERFECT There is something about summer weekends that makes people want to brunch. And it’s very likely that you will be on the guest list of a few. When it comes to dressing up for it, keep it casual but fashionable. Trend reports say that dip-dye (read: 60s tie-and-dye print) is making a huge comeback. We say, it’s perfect for a brunch. Dip-
dye is definitely a statement pattern, so if you’re a more solids, less colour kind of guy, then start small with subtler colours and then build up the patterns and hues as you feel more confident. Style tip: Wearing dip-dye from head to toe might be a bit much. If you’re going with a dip-dye tee, set it off with neutral bottoms.
Add to that the summer heat and the wrong outfit, and it’s a recipe for disaster. We recommend that you go with the classic denim and white combo. Style tip: Instead of the usual white shirt and blue jeans, swap the colours around. Don't forget to accessorise with stylish white sneakers and a good watch.
STYLE H O W -T O
MAKE IT BIG You’ll never look at a double-breasted blazer in the same way again
FUTURE PROOF
GUCCI, `1,19,000
EMBR ACE THE BIG SKINNY SUIT
It’s one of the most recapped menswear stories: When suits got way too big as a result of offices getting more casual in the late 1980s. Then Thom Browne and Hedi Slimane showed us the wonders of a slim suit in the 1990s. Today, a combination of the two – less boxy, not too skinny, better-fitting – is flooding the market, and this is how best to cop the trend: straight-fit trousers and an oversized DB left unbuttoned like a bawse.
BLAZER BY HERRINGBONE & SUI, `41,500. JUMPER BY MASSIMO DUTTI, `4,000. TROUSERS BY MITESH LODHA, `5,300. SHOES BY DUKE & DEXTER AVAILABLE AT BERLEIGH, `27,000
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AZGA, `2,900
SALVATORE FERRAGAMO, `65,000
ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA, `61,100
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR. STYLIST: SELMAN FAZIL. ASSISTANT STYLIST: SHAEROY CHINOY. MODEL: RAHUL MUNDA/ANIMA CREATIVE MANAGEMENT. HAIR & MAKE-UP: XAVIER D’SOUZA/FAT MU
PHOTOGRAPHED BY MANA SI SAWANT
JACKET, SANDALS; BOTH BY HERMÈS, PRICES ON REQUEST. LONG SHIRT, `8,900, TROUSERS, `11,000; BOTH BY PAWAN SACHDEVA. WATCH BY PANERAI, PRICE ON REQUEST
GIORGIO ARMANI, `17,000
HERMÈS, PRICE ON REQUEST
GUCCI, `84,000
M I X E D BAG C ONTR A S TING PRINT S SHOULD BE YOUR W E A P ON OF CHOICE
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This summer, flip things around with easy-breezy layering, an arsenal of cheery prints (all worn together) and on-point accessories (we’d give you nothing less than the most lusted-after pieces of the season). Pull off your chill clothes with a brooding intensity, so everyone knows not to break out into a rendition of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” in front of you.
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR. STYLIST: SELMAN FAZIL. ASSISTANT STYLIST: SHAEROY CHINOY. MODEL: RAHUL MUNDA/ANIMA CREATIVE MANAGEMENT. HAIR & MAKE-UP: XAVIER D’SOUZA/FAT MU
STYLE
GQ PROMOTION
JOIN THE
GROOMED GODS' CLUB
Summer is here and so are the revelries. Whether it's brunching with the boys or a late-night rendezvous, stay ahead of the pack with The Man Company’s latest range of grooming products for this season For years, the clean-cut man-boy was ruling the runway. Think parted hair and skin as smooth as a three-yearold’s. Then a gritty crew rolled in and changed the game with edgy new looks that made for a lasting impression. Sure enough, this spring is all about sporting your fuzz and ditching the clean. And what’s better than The Man Company showing you how it’s done?
UPGRADE YOUR BEARD
To achieve the handsome, don’t-mess-with-me appeal, the trick is to make your facial hair look uncomplicated but neat. Nothing too manicured or manscaped. Neither too wild and overgrown. The following beard-care products will help you achieve exactly that. BEARD WAX Nourish your beard with moisturising almond, which is rich in Vitamin E and other nutrients. Thyme lends a woody scent as well as phytonutrients vital for beard growth.
What is The Man Company? The Man Company offers a premium range of head to toe grooming essentials, to make sure the modern gentleman looks and feels his best. Hair pomades, shampoos, face washes, beard oils, beard washes, soap bars, body washes, shave gels and fragrances, this brand offers the finest for all your grooming basics.
BEARD WASH The Almond & Thyme Beard Wash is a natural beard shampoo. Formulated to clean from root to tip without drying your skin or hair, this wash will clear the grime without causing damage.
MACHISMO HAIR STYLING CREAM WAX Packed with 100 percent natural essential oils and beeswax, this styling cream is the no-nonsense solution when you want to achieve a round-the-clock dashing style. It gives a strong hold with a matte finish, while adding volume and shine.
Priced at `350
BEARD OIL With the benefits of almond and thyme, this oil helps manage hair and also enhances hair growth. Beard hair is mostly dry and coarse. Routine application of the natural beard oil will make your hair tame and manageable.
Priced at `349
Priced at `350
Priced at `549
TAME YOUR MANE
From California-surfer hair to messy curls, Spring/Summer 2019 demands a you-do-you, effortless look. The key word being, effortless. The following range of hair-care products from The Man Company will help you maximise your style, while keeping your work to the absolute minimum.
SPORTIVO HAIR STYLE POMADE Providing the ultimate strong hold to give you the bold look you crave, this pomade holds your hair in place while also leaving you with a high shine finish. Priced at `349
For more information, visit themancompany.com
STYLE CURRENT CROP A D O U B L E- B R E A S T E D S U I T NE VER LOOKED COOLER
James Bond brought the DB into the spotlight, while the wolves of Wall Street made conservative versions their daily uniform. Designers are still rejigging the mainstay of men’s tailoring – now worn loose with a single button to look like a cross between a 1960s jazz musician and an Ivy League prepster. Note: Sneakers are mandatory.
TOD’S, `13,000 (EACH )
CORNELIANI, `40,000
TOD’S, `97,000
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WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR. STYLIST: SELMAN FAZIL. ASSISTANT STYLIST: SHAEROY CHINOY. MODEL: RAHUL MUNDA/ANIMA CREATIVE MANAGEMENT. HAIR & MAKE-UP: XAVIER D’SOUZA/FAT MU
SUIT, SNEAKERS; BOTH BY DIOR MEN, PRICES ON REQUEST. T-SHIRT BY ZARA, `1,500. WATCH BY FOSSIL, `9,500
GQ PROMOTION
ON A SUMMER
BREEZE
Westside’s casualwear brand, Westsport showcases three perfect weekend looks, which you can recreate with absolute ease As temperatures rise, and the winds of change sweep across the world of fashion, like it does every year, Westsport zeroes in on three looks that emulate a stylish yet laid back vibe. Think oxford shirts in solids, checks and prints or chinos and shorts, with or without layering. That’s right boys, it’s time to give in to the season of comfort.
WAYWARD WHITES When the mercury begins to rise, nothing absorbs the heat quite like the colour white. If you’re hanging out at the beach, go for this white oxford short sleeve shirt with prints and an over-dyed poplin shorts to exude an effortless cool. Printed Oxford Short Sleeve Shirt: `999
MONOCHROME MAGIC Whether you’re heading out for date night or planning to hang with the boys at the friendly neighbourhood bar, chugging beers, wear a solid oxford, short sleeve shirt over a crew neck, striped tee. We can’t get over this black and grey combination. Solid Oxford Short Sleeve Shirt: `999; Crew Neck Striped Tee: `599
CHECK MATE For a Sunday brunch or a movie, channel an easy-going vibe. All you have to do is pair a Mélange V-neck Tee with cotton Lycra twill chinos, throw on an oxford check, shortsleeve shirt and step out in style. Oxford Check Short Sleeve Shirt: `999; Mélange V-neck: `399
Visit a Westside store near you or shop online on TataCLiQ
STYLE
DIOR MEN, `43,900
CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, `73,500
OCEAN DRIVE YOUR SHOR T SUIT JUS T GOT BUMPED UP TO NO 1
Enigmatic. Fluid. King of Coachella. Even if you can’t make it there next month, that’s what your wardrobe CV should read, feel and wear like right now. Start with snagging a pair of versatile white shorts – you’ll soon realise how often you’ll want to wear them – and switching out your trucker jacket for an oversized, light denim parka. Slides or kicks, we’ll leave that choice to you.
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PARKA BY PEPE JEANS, `15,500. SHIRT, `3,600, SHORTS, `4,500; BOTH BY MASSIMO DUTTI
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR. STYLIST: SELMAN FAZIL. ASSISTANT STYLIST: SHAEROY CHINOY. MODEL: RAHUL MUNDA/ANIMA CREATIVE MANAGEMENT. HAIR & MAKE-UP: XAVIER D’SOUZA/FAT MU
TUMI, `22,900
GQ PROMOTION
YOUR GUIDE TO GREAT HAIR Gentlemen, a quick shampoo and rinse doesn’t cut it anymore. If perfect hair is what you seek, introduce yourself to Schwarzkopf Professional’s all new range of BC Bonacure spray conditioners
W FOR MATURE HAIR Aiming at hair that looks younger and shinier? Schwarzkopf Professional’s Q10+ Time Restore will leave you with a rejuvenated head of hair. After shampooing and drying, just spritz on the Q10+ Time Restore rejuvenating spray to boost shine and elasticity, coupled with lasting protection.
hen it comes to making an impression, it’s not just your outfit that matters. It’s also your hair! If all you do is shampoo and rinse, you’re missing a pretty crucial step – conditioning. Say hello to spray conditioners, a handy tool when it comes to male grooming. Using spray conditioners is not just a good choice, but also helps make that lasting impression. Just shampoo, towel off and spray it on. The result? Hair that’s instantly smoother and more manageable. Employing advanced skincare technology, Schwarzkopf Professional’s BC Bonacure ranges come with unique ingredients for every hair type. Its spray conditioners leave your mane feeling clean and healthy. Be it in the shower or before you style, it’s time to add this to your hair care routine.
FOR DRY, WAVY OR CURLY HAIR Wavy or curly hair turns frizzy pretty quickly. The solution? A good conditioner. Use the Hyaluronic Moisture Kick spray conditioner before you style. It strengthens and hydrates your hair and makes it more manageable, letting you happily flaunt that latest hairdo.
FOR COLOURED HAIR If you have colour-treated hair, it’s important to condition it well to keep it healthy and retain that colour. Just spray on the pH 4.5 Colour Freeze spray conditioner, to maintain the recommended pH level of 4.5. It freezes the color pigments into your hair and prevents the color from fading, keeping your hair vibrant and salon fresh.
FOR DAMAGED HAIR City life makes for dull, damaged hair, owing to the busy lifestyle, pollution and water quality. Conditioning your hair then becomes vital. The Peptide Repair Rescue spray conditioner is your one-stop solution. Suitable to use on processed hair too, this range helps reverse three years of damage*, with less breakage, improved elasticity and a healthy shine. Not only does it soften and seal the hair surface, but also revives it with a brilliant bounce.
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PROMOTION
INTO THE BLUE The stately Kasturbhai Lalbhai museum in Ahmedabad is home to a new contemporary art exhibition that celebrates indigo: a dye that’s indelibly linked to the history of the city. Arun Janardhan speaks to Sanjay Lalbhai, Chairman and Managing Director, Arvind Ltd, about this unique initiative – and narrowing the cavernous gap between art and craft 120 —
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GQ INSIDER
O Sanjay Lalbhai; (Left) Untitled by Bhagyashree Suthar, indigo on paper; (Below) Fa Juru by Aboubakar Fofana
n a crisp winter morning, as a few young people trickle into the Kasturbhai Lalbhai museum, Sanjay Lalbhai’s 114-year-old ancestral former family home in Shahibaug, Gujarat, drapes of blue-white cloth hanging from trees and ceilings greet them. The white bungalow, with wide gardens, outhouses and sloping trees that let sunlight filter through, lends itself fittingly to Lalbhai’s grand ambitions: an exhibition, Alchemy, that celebrates indigo, the dye and the fabric. Dressed in a long-sleeved linen shirt, dark jacket and, of course, jeans, and sporting a silver beard, slicked-back hair and silver-rimmed glasses, the Chairman and Managing Director of Arvind Ltd says the company was reinvented because of indigo and denim – changing its fortunes, and his personal career, in the process. “Ahmedabad had almost 65 composite mills, and everything has since vanished [due to the advent of power looms in the 1980s] – except Arvind, because of denim,” he says. His grandfather, Kasturbhai, founded Arvind Mills in 1931, in response to the Swadeshi movement at a facility in Naroda not far from where we are (Lalbhai’s own tribute to the movement came four years ago, when Arvind introduced the khadi denim). As he walks us between hanging strips of indigo cloth designed by Mali’s Aboubakar Fofana, past installations in brass, concrete, jute, silk, recycled paper and other materials, all tinged with shades of blue, Lalbhai talks about the project that’s been a year in the making. While the main house itself does not have indigo exhibits, the front garden showcases indigo’s history, including the Champaran protests and the “invention” of jeans. The outhouse, to the right features artwork made of bronze, silk and Manish Nai’s striking piece featuring ten sticks of compressed jute indigo cloth. The rooms at the back address themes of earth, water and air by Alwar Balasubramaniam, Priya Ravish Mehra’s work in gauze, Sachin Tekade, Manisha Parekh and Sheetal Gattani’s paperwork, Umang Hutheesing’s installation in metal and fabric and Gregor Hildebrandt’s cassette tapes on canvas. Lalbhai, who came up with the concept, along with Vipul Mahadevia, who accomplished the “creative realisation”, worked with 23 young and established artists (including eight from abroad) on the 52 exhibits, while the artisans were all from Ahmedabad. “There aren’t too many [Indian] museums that have attracted foreign artists,” says Lalbhai. “This medium makes it possible to get people from all over the world because denim is one fabric that’s used globally and has gone through all barriers – gender, geography and religion. Possibly everyone uses it.”
B
efore their foray into the blue, much before economic liberalisation, jeans were the preserve of a few – Bollywood had discovered them in the mid-1970s, after Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra rocked flared versions with denim jackets in Sholay. Upper class Indians, exposed to the Beatles, Cliff Richards and live concerts at Hyde Park, were buying their bell bottoms abroad. Then, Flying Machine, which was “styled in Italy” and demanded that you “fasten your seatbelts”, launched in 1980. Within five years, Arvind had expanded its focus to the international market, and has shot production up from three million metres to over a billion metres of fabric and six million pairs of jeans today. By 1993, the company had brought foreign labels like Lee Jeans and Arrow Shirts into India, a list that grew in 2011 to include, among others, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Ed Hardy and Nautica; today, Arvind is among the largest producers of denim in the world, supplying major fashion brands like Levi’s and Gap. Then, between 1997 and 2002, Lalbhai dealt with a second crisis in his career: when the company overleveraged and needed serious restructuring. He’d tried to expand into capital-intensive businesses like steel, cement and oil refining, bringing the company to the brink of bankruptcy. To stay afloat, he put his own money on the line, borrowed and shuffled to set right what had gone wrong – deciding on a future funded through equity rather than debt. More importantly, the company didn’t foray too far from its core competencies built over decades.
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GQ INSIDER
(Above) The Shadow by Sachin Tekade, indigo on paper; (Right) Untitled by Annie Morris, indigo concrete, plaster sand and steel
”A GAITONDE OR TYEB SELLS FOR `25 CRORE. IT’S REWARDING, BUT CRAFT DOES NOT HAVE MILLIONAIRES. IT HAS BECOME WHAT IT HAS OVER GENERATIONS AND WILL BE LOST IF WE DON’T MAKE IT VIABLE“ “I owned up to my mistakes,” says Lalbhai, who joined Arvind in 1977 as a trainee. His voice booms in the sparsely decorated room that may have once been the family living room, its age written in the bronze sculptures that line its walls and shades of pink that peep through its century-old floor tiling. “My assumption had been completely wrong, Murphy’s law also applied, in that denim profits went down. I personally invested `70 crore, mortgaged a lot and borrowed money… All that helped. And some luck. Always luck.” Arvind Ltd today has eight business verticals in apparel, real estate, engineering, environment solutions and telecom, among others. The next generation has also stepped in, with sons Punit and Kulin serving as executive directors in the company, allowing their father to step back a bit and follow up on an avalanche of personal interests – besides the museum, there’s rock ’n’ roll (in college, he was the drummer for a band called the Drifters), gardening, travel, food and, potentially, learning the guitar. There’s a certain restlessness to Lalbhai’s demeanour – he likes to get on with things, has candid, quick answers to all questions and a firm manner of speaking that brooks no nonsense. “When I took over [the company as Managing Director in 1985], I was at the pinnacle of success, and then it collapsed. I faced a situation where
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I would have lost everything,” says Lalbhai, an alum of the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. To go through that, being treated differently by people you know well, it requires an ability to deal.” He turned to spirituality and meditation in the mid1990s, and now meditates for an hour everyday “to silence the mind”. While Alchemy is just a preview of larger things to come – a 20,000sqft permanent museum will open at the company headquarters in Naroda soon – Lalbhai, who’s also the president of the Ahmedabad Education Society and Ahmedabad University, wants to focus on reviving craft. “I have to build an institution that teaches these children not to get out of the profession, but to make it more remunerative to continue in their fathers’ footsteps,” he says. “We’re losing craft in India because it’s not financially rewarding. One Gaitonde or Tyeb sells for `25 crore. It’s rewarding, but craft does not have millionaires. It has become what it has over generations and will be lost if we don’t make it contemporary, relevant for the world audience; which is why we are calling this Alchemy.” His philosophy is simple: You have to be passionate about something, so that you put in as much time as needed to execute it. “My grandfather used to say, only a fool will work endlessly. Anything I do, I’m never going to see the result in my life. But I’m not bothered about outcomes.”
GQ PROMOTION
THE PERFECT FIRST IMPRESSION It is a truth, universally acknowledged that your clothes play a critical role when it comes to making the right statement. And Pressto – world’s leading dry cleaners – ensures just that Whether it’s a job interview or the first date, you want to look your best. Why? Because first impressions are usually the last. Stepping out in designer wear is one way to do it. But not if your ensemble isn’t well taken care of. Basically, a regular ironed shirt would leave a better impression than a branded shirt with creases. Pressto, internationally renowned for maintaining the integrity of couture, brings you key things to look for in a prized wardrobe, when making a statement of style
CRISP SHIRT
PANTS DONE RIGHT
A shirt which is pressed correctly gives you a better fit. While ironing, ensure that you’re left with a straight collar, straight cuffs and a straight hem. The sleeves should be round-pressed to guarantee the absence of unwanted wrinkles. Smoothen the buttonfacings until creaseless.
For a sharp, put-together look, the same principle applies to trousers. Start your way from the waistband by ironing the inside and the outside. The darts on the waistband should be flat, as should be the pocket edges. Then, pay attention to the pleats and make sure they are well-marked. Lastly, work your way down and even out the turnups on both legs.
SUITS IN SHAPE A well-ironed jacket differentiates the dapper from the damp. The collars, the lapels and the pocket flaps should be wrinkle-free. So, should be the sleeve tops, underarms and the linings at the hem.
THE FOOTWEAR FIX Do not ignore the one thing that completes your look – your shoes. Run-down shoes are distasteful. Fortunately, Pressto Cobbler infuses a new personality to your old pairs and gives them a stylish update by replacing the soles entirely with brand new, coloured ones. For more information, visit www.presstoindia.com, call 1800229199 or email info@presstoindia.com. Visit Pressto Drycleaning & Pressto Cobbler exclusive stores across Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru with 45 convenient locations
GROOMING
BODY TALK
Here are six things GQ’s trying out this month, to get fully prepped for the summer
Calvin Klein
L’Occitane
Bath & Body works
CK ONE PLATINUM
IMMORTELLE RESET
If you seek a fresh, unconventional number to tide you through the sunshine months, here’s your best bet. The all-new scent has notes of green apple, cardamom, red cinnamon and vetiver, to lend those summery vibes.
When ingredients include extracts from the Immortelle plant, which essentially doubles the rate of skin micro-circulation; marjoram extract (that’s a plant, if you were wondering); and acmella oleacera (a flowering herb you can use instead of botox, Google it!), you know this androgynous overnight skincare serum is baller. Ask your wife to share hers, or just get your own.
COCO SHEA CUCUMBER BODY WASH
`3,400
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Jo Malone
Organic Harvest
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3-IN-1 FACE WASH
INTENSIVE SKIN RENEWAL BOOSTER For those in possession of neglected skin (a true gent would never let this happen, FYI), there’s hope with this formula that’s packed with anti-ageing and collagen-boosting properties.
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WORDS: JEENA J BILLIMORIA
This recently dropped woody, smoky, mysterious cologne needs to be in your arsenal pronto. Spray on for date night and get an intoxicating hit before she does.
While the thought of summer spells holiday, the downside is parched skin (plus unwanted zits). So it pays to invest in a face wash like this 3-in-1 parabenfree formula that’ll give you a healthy appearance.
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GQ X MUMBAI INDIANS
IN THE LEAGUE OF
BLUE AND GOLD
The trumpets have sounded their siren call. The much-awaited Indian Premier League 2019 will soon begin. And as people gear up to root for the teams that represent their cities, we shine the spotlight on Mumbai Indians – the best ever T20 team umbai Indians are one of the most followed franchises of the Indian Premier League. While their roster comprises cricket’s most iconic names, they have also won the IPL trophy thrice, between 2008 and 2018. MI even made history, by being the first team to win over 100 games in T20 cricket. That’s why it doesn’t surprise us when this record-breaking squad is fondly referred to as the “Greatest T20 Team of All Time”. But this label hasn’t come easily. In the inaugural IPL season, the team had a fifthplace finish after overcoming a series of challenges during the knockout stage. The second season, played in South Africa, proved to be even harsher, with a seventhplace finish. In 2010, while MI made it to the Final, they lost to the Chennai Super Kings. Losing in the knockouts became a recurring pattern
M
in the next two seasons. MI’s struggles in the first few seasons were more than apparent. But, like a dark horse, and in typical Mumbaikar style, they fought back and turned their fortunes around. In 2013, Mumbai beat Chennai to win their maiden title. The sheer ferocity of the MI attack shook all preconceived notions about who would take home the trophy. MI clinched their second IPL title in 2015, following a crushing 41-run win over CSK in a lopsided summit clash. It was a stunning turnaround story for a team that lost its first four games, and went on to win nine of the last 10 matches. The third championship win came in 2017, against Rising Pune Supergiant. A tough match that had spectators at the edges of their seats, MI won by one run. But this victory made MI an IPL titan.
MI’S STRUGGLES IN THE FIRST FEW SEASONS WERE MORE THAN APPARENT. BUT, LIKE A DARK HORSE, IN TYPICAL MUMBAIKAR STYLE, THEY FOUGHT BACK AND TURNED THEIR FORTUNES AROUND.
GQ X MUMBAI INDIANS
WHAT’S NEW WITH BLUE The much-loved Mumbai Indians team are all set to take the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League by storm in stylish new jerseys designed by renowned fashion designers Shantanu & Nikhil Once mutually exclusive, the worlds of fashion and cricket have converged. Gone are the days where on-field jerseys were worn solely for functional purposes or to showcase sponsor logos. They’re now being created to reflect and power on the team spirit. A fine example would be the frenzy created around the official release of the IPL kit for the Mumbai Indians. Billed as a reflection of a supremely confident and audacious team, the new kit was created by internationally acclaimed fashion designers Shantanu & Nikhil. On Sunday, February 23, 2019 – exactly a month before the opening IPL match – social media platforms were buzzing with excitement as MI launched their brand new jersey for the upcoming edition of the IPL in a minute-long video. The film is a spirited montage that captures the excitement of the team and its fans. It features Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Krunal
Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah talking about the mood of 2019, which revolves around “naya season, naya andaz, tewar wahi” (new season, new style, same attitude) and asking fans to watch out for their new avatar. But the new jerseys aren’t just a fashion statement, nor have they been created for vanity’s sake. They come with a deeprooted meaning. Notice how prominently the gold elements on the jersey stand out against the team’s signature blue hue. According to Shantanu & Nikhil, “Mumbai Indians embodies strength, unity and stability. This year, we have drawn inspiration from the patterns of energy, which have been translated in our design for the team’s jerseys. The use of gold symbolises the power of the sun, which defines the underlying energetic spirit of the players.” While the new jersey effortlessly captures the essence of MI, it will also bolster the confidence of the
players on and off the field. We can’t wait to see our boys in blue outshine the others this season. And our gut tells us they will. Read on. We’ll tell you why.
“
MUMBAI INDIANS EMBODIES STRENGTH, UNITY AND STABILITY. THIS YEAR, WE HAVE DRAWN INSPIRATION FROM THE PATTERNS OF ENERGY, WHICH HAVE BEEN TRANSLATED IN OUR DESIGN FOR THE TEAM’S JERSEYS. THE USE OF GOLD SYMBOLISES THE POWER OF THE SUN, WHICH DEFINES THE UNDERLYING ENERGETIC SPIRIT OF THE PLAYERS.
”
- SHANTANU & NIKHIL
2019’S
DREAM TEAM
While the last IPL season may not have been one of Mumbai Indians’ finest, we have reason to believe that the upcoming edition of the tournament just might. And here are six reasons why
1 ZAK IS BACK! That’s right, people. Left-arm pace bowler Zaheer Khan, who was a part of the MI camp for three seasons, returns to the fold as Director of Cricket Operations after he announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. A pioneer of the knuckle ball, who was known for outsmarting many batsmen, Khan will bring close to two decades of cricketing experience to his new managerial role. Fondly nicknamed “Bowling Captain” after India’s emphatic 2011 World Cup victory, insiders tell us that he is brilliantly mentoring the 2019 team.
2 GROOVY YUVI RETURNS Yuvraj Singh is undoubtedly one of the biggest match-winners that India has seen. One can safely say that without him, the Indian team would not have been able to win either the 2007 T20 World Cup or the 2011 ODI World Cup. And while cancer may have stolen his form, the fire in his belly is still raging. Thrilled to put on the famous jersey number 12, we just might see some of his famous boundaries again.
GQ X MUMBAI INDIANS
4 WILD YOUNGLINGS
3 HEROES BACKED BY LEGENDS Stability is integral to any team’s performance, something MI understand well. And just like every year, they have focused on maintaining their core team. With Lasith Malinga bought back and Kieron Pollard scheduled to play his tenth season, MI will take to the field with most of their favourites. The core team isn’t just restricted to the players: The support team will include the likes of Robin Singh, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Mahela Jayawardene and Shane Bond, among others. With this squad, MI could pretty much be on their way to claim their muchawaited fourth victory.
THE ODDS TO GET EVEN
MI has had a long history of scouting for homegrown youth players who may one day be worth their weight in gold. Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Rana, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya were recognised way before the world caught on to them. IPL 2019 will see 21year old spinner Mayank Markande, who debuted last year, back in action. In the past 15-months, he has played in List-A, T20 and Ranji Trophy, making him one of the country’s most promising wrist-spinners.
6 5 CAPTAIN COOL CONTINUES Rohit Sharma, fondly referred to as the “Hitman”, took over the captaincy of MI midway through 2013. Since then, he has led the team to three IPL victories. His IPL win percentage of 60.66 in 75 games is better than any other captain’s. He has also transitioned to become a successful stand-in skipper for Team India. This IPL tournament will once again see him lead MI. And under him, the team is very likely to win.
SLINGA UNITES WITH BUMRAH Jasprit Bumrah has become an exceptional death bowler, and part of it can be credited to Lasith Malinga, who mentored him through the 2018 IPL season. But now with Slinga back in action and Bumrah moving out of his shadow, all eyes will be trained on this duo when they share the new white ball in the upcoming season. Safe to say, these two form one of the most lethal pairs in T20 cricket.
2013, 2015 and 2017 – these three years have two things in common: One is that MI took home the IPL title. Second, these are years with an odd number. So, who knows: 2019 might very well be the year where MI become the only IPL team to win the trophy for the fourth time.
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Hosted by Suzy Menkes, Editor, Vogue International, the conference will include international luxury CEOs and creatives discussing the topics that truly matter to the industry. Find out more at CNILuxury.com Speakers include: Marco Bizzarri President & CEO, Gucci
Rosario Dawson Co-Founder, Studio 189
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Abrima Erwiah Co-Founder, Studio 189
Sylvie Bénard Environment Director, LVMH
Micaela le Divelec Lemmi CEO, Salvatore Ferragamo
Alessandro Bogliolo CEO, Tiffany & Co.
Thomas Heatherwick Founder & Design Director, Heatherwick Studio
Wendy Yu Founder & CEO, Yu Holdings
Simone Cipriani Head & Founder, Ethical Fashion Initiative at the International Trade Centre
Precious Moloi-Motsepe Founder & Executive Chairperson, African Fashion International
Nicolas Bos President & CEO, Van Cleef & Arpels
Hanneli Rupert Founder, Merchants on Long; Creative Director, Okapi
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Lupo Lanzara Deputy Chairman, Accademia Costume & Moda
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AKA THE SOUTH DERBY KICKS OFF THE 2019 IPL
MARCH 23
PHOTO: HORMIS ANTONY THARAKAN
Breaking oundaries 2019’s cricket calendar is packed – starting with the Indian Premier League, and leading up to the ICC World Cup in England and Wales. With this special pop-up section, that will run from March to July, GQ puts you right in the centre of the action
I N A S S OC I AT I O N W I T H
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POWERPLAY
The Future It’s time for the IPL to step it up. Here’s why, and how it can do that W R I T T E N
B Y
K A R T H I K
H A R I N AT H
he Indian Premier League has had its run; at least, what started as the Indian Premier League in 2008. I don’t know about you, but this constant search for controversies, needless cheerleaders, extra glam is so passé. Leagues like the Big Bash have left us far behind, with initiatives such as a women’s edition that has as much stature and following as its men’s counterpart. Sure, the IPL still attracts the big names, and has ensured that the international community carve out a window for the season in their calendars. Yet, a lot of what was exciting in 2008 is now yawn-inducing. Let’s face it, last-over finishes and heroics are no longer enough to make a match memorable. There’ve been so many over the IPL, let alone T20 cricket in general. We all remember Yuvraj Singh thwacking Stuart Broad for six consecutive 6s in an over. Stuart Broad definitely isn’t forgetting that. But how many of us honestly remember the dramatics of the thirdplace match in the 2016 IPL? I sure don’t. Don’t get me wrong, though, this isn’t a column mourning the demise of a once-grand tournament. Rather, it’s a consideration of what the IPL needs to do to remain the world’s premier T20 league. Take fan engagement: The BBL might have its own issues, like scheduling, but at least it gets its fans right. The IPL’s lucky to see stadiums fill up for most games, despite a culture of reserving tickets for corporates and celebrities. (And this season’s uncertainties about locations and schedules may have made it more difficult.) But why not reserve seats for the away team for each match? Think about it: Every game CSK play in Chepauk is a sea of yellow. And red seems to be the primary colour in Bengaluru, despite its cosmopolitanism. Seeing home colours in the stands
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in an away game could add a sense of solidarity among fans, players, and even make for better viewing on TV. Just imagine young Rishabh Pant showing his India captain a thing or two as he thwacks the ball around RCB’s fortress of a stadium, then raises his bat towards his Delhi section. Goosebumps. The IPL has also largely acted as a league of its own, ignoring smaller, state-level leagues – at its peril. Playing in the Indian Premier League is, for sure, a goal for young players, but there simply aren’t enough spots. So, just as the English Football League Championship acts as the lower rung of the English Premier League, the IPL too could integrate existing state-level tournaments into a second-tier system. It’s not that crazy an idea. The ignominy of relegation might provide some teams the motivation they need, and also encourage them to look past once-big names who frankly treat the league as a retirement haven – opening up, in the process, opportunities for domestic players who spend a large part of the season on the bench. It also extends the domestic season, taking it to more local venues, which would always be welcomed by fans, and create more new revenue – even the newly found moral compass of the CoA wouldn’t deny that. The IPL as it stands today is pure entertainment. Many players who started out in the league have even made it big internationally, Pant and Jasprit Bumrah being the most recent examples. But those maximum 6s are getting tired. And the time’s as good as any for a revamp. It’s too late for 2019, but Twenty20 in 2020 can be the start of a new era. Who wouldn’t want that?
NOW PLAYING Netflix followed MI around last season, for the now-streaming eight-part docuseries Cricket Fever: Mumbai Indians. Expect a lot of “Sachin, Sachin!”, The Hitman’s power shots, cuts to past trophies, celeb cameos, locker room footage – and a whole lotta heartbreak after that season-ending loss.
IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES
League
Imagine a sea of RCB red cheering Virat Kohli on in a run chase at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
SWITCH IT UP
After the annual rearranging of players (and some surprise buys), we take a hard look at how every IPL team will finish this season
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
RAJASTHAN ROYALS
MUMBAI INDIANS
STRENGTHS
BEST RESULT BEST RESULT Champions 2008
STRENGTHS
BEST RESULT Finalists 2009, 2011, 2016
Champions 2013, 2015, 2017
STRENGTHS
They’ve got some of the best next-gen T20 all-rounders in Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer. There’s also stellar batsman Sanju Samson, who shone in Steve Smith’s absence last season, and could very well do it again.
Besides knowing how to stay in it to the end, MI possess some of the league’s biggest hitters (Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Evin Lewis and Kieron Pollard). And, well, Jasprit Bumrah.
WEAKNESSES
WEAKNESSES
RB’s best talent is foreign – meaning they have no backups if those players are recalled midway through the season for the ICC World Cup in May. They also have no match-winner, if Smith (reinstated after last year’s international ban) doesn’t recover from that elbow surgery.
If Bumrah doesn’t get the green light to play (the jury’s still out on whether he’ll be rested for the World Cup), MI’s bowling attack takes a big hit (don’t count on Malinga). Lacklustre auction buys don’t add any promise, either.
PLAYERS TO WATCH Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer
Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan
PREDICTED FINISH
PREDICTED FINISH
They’ll struggle to get out of the bottom 3
A play-off spot is a long shot
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. And, this year, yet another good roster to back the two superstars up.
WEAKNESSES Consistency: RCB have the sort of luck that makes them invincible in one game, and fall apart the very next – which is the sole reason why they haven’t yet won a season. They’ve also placed all their bowling bets on spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
PLAYERS TO WATCH Virat Kohli, Virat Kohli, Virat Kohli. Plus, new hitters Shivam Dube and Shimron Hetmyer
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BEST RESULT Champions 2016
STRENGTHS Arguably the most well-rounded team this season, thanks to retaining the best T20 bowler in the world (Rashid Khan), and picking up the likes of Martin Guptill and Jonny Bairstow in the auction. Above all else, David Warner is back.
WEAKNESSES On paper? None. If we had to nitpick, their middle order, which has underperformed recently, especially since their 2016 win, could do with an improvement.
PLAYERS TO WATCH Rashid Khan, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson
PREDICTED FINISH It’ll be another almost-there season
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Kane Williamson 134 —
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
PREDICTED FINISH Likely finalists
Shubman Gill
POWERPLAY
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
KINGS XI PUNJAB
BEST RESULT BEST RESULT Champions 2010, 2011, 2018
STRENGTHS
DELHI CAPITALS
BEST RESULT Play-offs 2008, 2009, 2012
WORDS: ABHISHEK NAIR. IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES (WILLIAMSON), AFP (CHENNAI SUPER KINGS, GILL)
STRENGTHS The revamped team has added experience to its young batting attack (Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer) via veteran Shikhar Dhawan and, importantly, shored up the middle order with Hanuma Vihari and Colin Ingram. And don’t forget its pacers: Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult and Chris Morris.
WEAKNESSES DC’s bowling is too dependent on overseas players. And although they have a new name and identity, they still carry the pressures of having never made it to a final.
PLAYERS TO WATCH Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Hanuma Vihari
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS BEST RESULT Champions 2012, 2014
STRENGTHS KKR have a good blend of global T20 and homebred talent, having had the foresight to invest in young players like Shubman Gill and Kamlesh Nagarkoti last season. They’ve also got among the most ferocious spin line-ups (Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine and Piyush Chawla).
WEAKNESSES KKR tend to rely on their original XI, which is risky in the face of injuries. Their pacers also don’t seem to match up to their spinners.
PLAYERS TO WATCH Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill and Kamlesh Nagarkoti (set to finally debut after sitting out last season due to injury)
The soul of CSK remains the same: Almost all of the players who were part of CSK’s previous three championships are still here, including veteran T20 specialists Dwayne Bravo, Suresh Raina and the man himself, MS Dhoni
WEAKNESSES Chennai may have proved that age is just a number, but their superstars are, to put it nicely, old. Add a middling bowling unit, and things don’t look so perfect.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Finalists 2014
STRENGTHS For the first time, Chris Gayle may not be at the centre of his team’s strategy – thanks to the batting prowess of Prabhsimran Singh, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul and Karun Nair. Spinners M Ashwin, R Ashwin, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and all-rounders Moises Henriques and Andrew Tye balance things out.
WEAKNESSES That balance comes at a price: The top-heavy team looks almost entirely new (even the staff is new), which raises questions of cohesiveness.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
MS Dhoni (obviously), Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav and Shane Watson
Varun Chakravarthy, Mayank Agarwal, Sam Curran, M Ashwin
PREDICTED FINISH
PREDICTED FINISH
Our favourites for a record 4th title
Play-offs, but only if everything syncs up
Chennai Super Kings lifting the 2018 IPL trophy
PREDICTED FINISH They’ll have to work for a play-off spot
PREDICTED FINISH Play-offs
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TH E
BG BREAK
Meet the Class of 2019 – the newest seamers, spinners and batsmen who are more than ready to take on the league’s biggest names
SHIVAM DUBE ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE WHO: Mumbai all-rounder CLAIM TO FAME: The most wickets (23) and secondmost runs (632) for Mumbai in this year’s Ranji Trophy; he also has an affinity for boundaries: He hit five 6s off veteran Pravin Tambe in a BPCL (corporate cricket) match last year LAST SEEN: Hitting five consecutive 6s (again) in five balls the day before the IPL auction WHY WE LIKE HIM: The 25-year-old’s expansive shots remind us of a young Yuvraj Singh. Plus, he’s pretty handy at death bowling
SAM CURRAN KINGS XI PUNJAB WHO: Surrey and England all-rounder CLAIM TO FAME: The youngest player to take a five-wicket haul in County Championship since 1893
WHY WE LIKE HIM: The 20-yearold has proved he can soak up pressure and break the partnerships of even the most seasoned cricketers
X-FACTOR: Player of the Series in the 2018 Tests against India, with 272 runs and 11 wickets
FYI: Dad Kevin played for Zimbabwe, while brother Tom currently turns out for England
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WORDS: ABHISHEK MUKHERJEE. ILLUSTRATION: ARUN JAITAPKAR
FYI: Sanjay Manjrekar calls him “one of the most handsome players in the IPL”
POWERPLAY SHIMRON HETMYER ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE WHO: Guyanese batsman CLAIM TO FAME: Led West Indies to their first U19 World Cup title in 2016, scoring 50s in both the Quarter- and Semi-Final. He also already has a world record: Scoring an average of 1.1 6s per Test innings LAST SEEN: Dominating last winter’s Subcontinent tour, including 13 6s against India
VARUN CHAKRAVARTHY
WHY WE LIKE HIM: He has a penchant for towering maximums that make cricket so entertaining
KINGS XI PUNJAB
FYI: Often a target of pranks by fellow Windie Keemo Paul (expect payback when RCB take on Paul’s Delhi Capitals this season)
WHO: “Mystery” spinner from Tamil Nadu CLAIM TO FAME: The most economic bowler (4.70) in the 2018 TNPL; finished the 2018 Vijay Hazare Trophy with the secondmost wickets (22) LAST SEEN: Causing a fivefranchise battle at the auction, before selling for 42 times his base price – and becoming the year’s most expensive player in the process WHY WE LIKE HIM: He can bamboozle experienced batsmen in the Powerplay and at the death overs with his seven spin variations FYI: He caught the attention of the IPL in the CSK and KKR nets last year
THE NEST The IPL has bred some of this generation’s best cricketers, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and the Pandya brothers among them
MATCH-UP GOALS - A repeat of Shimron Hetmyer vs Kuldeep Yadav from last year’s WI tour - Varun Chakravarthy vs AB de Villiers - Sam Curran vs Virat Kohli
NICHOLAS POORAN KINGS XI PUNJAB WHO: Wicketkeeper-batsman from Trinidad
scoring 165 in three matches in the Bangladesh Premier League
CLAIM TO FAME: The most 6s in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup, and led West Indies’ runs, averages and SR charts
WHY WE LIKE HIM: He ruins bowlers’ stats
LAST SEEN: Scoring the most runs (324) and most 6s (33) from nine innings in the 2019 T10 League; and
FYI: The 23-year-old has already been banned once from international cricket, and survived a career-ending injury to make a fantastic comeback
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HERE’S THE
CATCH Looking like a star is par for the course for ace keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant
PHOTOGRAPHED BY HORMIS ANTONY THARAKAN
R
ishabh Pant has been having a good year. He’s set records: The first Indian keeper (and second ever) to score a Test century each in Australia and England; highest overseas Test score by an Indian keeper; the first (and youngest) Indian keeper to score 150-plus outside India in Tests; and the most catches in a Test (equalling Jack Russell (1995) and AB de Villiers (2013)). He’s also won the ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year award, been named to the ICC Test XI of 2018 and even has his own stadium chant, thanks to Tim Paine. But then, Rishabh Pant has “been having a good year” since his domestic debut, in the 2015 Ranji Trophy, caught the attention of the Delhi Daredevils ahead of the 2016 IPL: He’s since been the team’s brightest spot, even finishing 2018 as the league’s second-highest run-getter. Which makes him the one to watch this IPL season – with the hope he can take his team all the way.
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INTERVIEW: VRITTI RASHI GOEL. STYLIST: SELMAN FAZIL. HAIR: RASHID. MAKE-UP: SONAM KAPOOR. PRODUCTION: MEGHA MEHTA
POWERPLAY
JUMPER BY DIESEL. JEANS BY ARMANI EXCHANGE. WATCH BY TISSOT OPPOSITE: COAT BY TED BAKER. JACKET BY ARMANI EXCHANGE. JOGGERS BY SIDDARTHA TYTLER. SNEAKERS BY ADIDAS ORIGINALS. WATCH BY TISSOT
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SUIT BY SAHIL ANEJA. JUMPER BY SCOTCH & SODA. SNEAKERS BY CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN OPPOSITE: JACKET BY DIESEL. JUMPER BY MASSIMO DUTTI. TROUSERS BY TOMMY HILFIGER. SNEAKERS BY CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
FAST BALL What’s your favourite cricket memory? It has to be the Test series we just won in Australia. What about one from the IPL? Scoring 128* against Sunrisers [Hyderabad, last May]. What’s been your most challenging moment on field? Keeping in England has been the toughest for me so far. What advice has helped you out most in your career? Rahul Dravid once said that consistency is key: Always try to maintain the same level of intensity in your playing. Who’s your favourite sportsperson? Roger Federer. What do you do on your day off? When it’s not a match day or I’m not at training, I’ll be playing on the PS, or sleeping. What did you buy with your first pay cheque? A bat actually, when I was a kid. I’d gotten a cheque for `5,000, so I spent the money on that. What else do you play? Most sports, especially tennis and table tennis. Not too much basketball, though. If you weren’t playing cricket, what would you be doing? Probably sitting at home and studying like other kids.
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POWERPLAY
INSIDE EDGE
The Indian team according to Rishabh Pant
INTERVIEW: VRITTI RASHI GOEL. STYLIST: SELMAN FAZIL. HAIR: RASHID. MAKE-UP: SONAM KAPOOR. PRODUCTION: MEGHA MEHTA
THE NICE ONE: ROHIT SHARMA THE FUN ONE: YUZVENDRA CHAHAL THE PRANKSTER: VIRAT KOHLI THE ONE WHOSE CLOTHES YOU WANT TO STEAL: HARDIK PANDYA THE COMPETITIVE ONE: VIRAT KOHLI THE QUIET ONE: MS DHONI THE SERIOUS ONE: RAVINDRA JADEJA THE ONE YOU CAN DEPEND ON: VIRAT, OR MAHI THE RIVAL: I’M FRIENDLY WITH EVERYONE!
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THE
Melbournalia
T
he contemporary British artist Julian Opie’s recent show at the National Gallery of Victoria’s Southbank museum takes its inspiration from the streets, featuring colourful portraits of the average Melburnian. With his signature blend of pop art and minimalism, the smallest lines and most basic shapes yield fully fleshed-out characters that are instantly recognisable. At first glance, the figures look like they could be part of any Western urban cityscape, equally at home in New York, San Francisco, London. A man bun here, a pretty floral summer dress there, a hipster in a black tee and blue jeans, earphones plugged in as he crosses the street. But, in fact, the portraits are intensely local – how else do you explain the woman in the red bathing suit with an ice cream cone in her hand? Or
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the lady with the yoga mat (whose exact likeness I see on the 6:45am tram in the city’s Central Business District)? Or the young man with the blond ponytail and Bermuda shorts, cup of coffee in hand? To experience some 2019 version of contentment – fleeting as it may be – try Melbourne in the summer. It feels like the entire city is levitating with happiness. It’s in the easy brunchtime conversations between friends, Tinder dates, queer couples in the cafés of the uber trendy Hardware Lane (the Hardware Société with its generous portions of lobster eggs Benedict and fresh orange juice has long queues outside every time I pass by). It’s in the sunshine filtering through leafy streets, the laughter that spills onto the pavement, the rumbling of the green and yellow trams; the dogs patiently sitting next to an owner who’s perfectly happy reading a book and sipping her five-dollar cold brew.
WORDS: SHIKHA SETHI. IMAGE: JULIAN OPIE / NGV (WALKING IN MELBOURNE), ALAMY (PEOPLE WATCHING TENNIS MATCH)
If millennials created a city in their image, it would look a lot like Melbs (yes, avocado toast is ubiquitous)
Jean’s Airbnb in The Docklands
Luna Park, St Kilda
The feeling is still going strong even once the work week starts. At lunchtime on a Wednesday afternoon, Gazi, a restaurant in the city’s Greek precinct on Exhibition Street, is packed and thrumming with chatter as office-goers order ouzos or Gazi sodas during their break. I order a lip-smacking cocktail called Aphrodite, as well as a juicy king prawn wrapped in fine spiky ketaifi pastry and drizzled with honey and toasted almonds. My main dish is a delicious soft shell crab souva with a kick of honey mayo. And no matter how chill the crowd here is, they’re still fussier than their even cooler counterparts in another tony Melbourne ’hood: St Kilda, famous for its lively beach. Driving down the Esplanade feels like a mix of being in
LA (palm trees and blue skies) and Havana (Art Deco buildings and the straight crayon blue line of sea). Here locals can – and do – nip down to the beach during their lunch breaks. “In Sydney,” says James McCleery, the co-founder of indie tour operator Hike and Seek Tours, “they can go surfing in their lunch break.” McCleery is also the guide on my “Best of Melbourne” Airbnb experience, a five-hour jaunt across the city in his lovingly restored 1974 Kombi van named Olivia. Our first stop that morning is the tranquil Royal Botanical Gardens, a 90-acre oasis of green in the city with over 12,000 varieties of plants. Next is a drive through part of the Australian Grand Prix circuit, hugging Albert Lake, and then onwards to St Kilda, where we make a pit stop at the Matcha Mylkbar, one of the epicentres of Melbourne’s allencompassing vegan movement. While the patented “vegan eggs” – with a yolk made from turmeric – piques my curiosity and is ultra ’grammable, I doubt I’d order it again. My almond butter cacao latte goes down far more easily. Still, it’s curious to see what’s clearly a hipster trend elsewhere be entirely mainstreamed here, not merely a passing craze, but part of a holistic emphasis on clean living, eating healthy and striking that elusive work-life balance. Some things need to be sacrificed of course... Like working full days on Fridays because the beach beckons. It’s not surprising then that Melbourne’s been voted the world’s most livable city by The Economist Intelligence Unit for seven years consecutively – until Vienna knocked it off its perch last year. The tour ends with another highly Instagrammable spot, at the colourful bathing boxes on the suburban Brighton Beach, a spot many tourists may have missed. And apart from the insider access I get by walking around with a local, it’s the little details I glean while talking to James that stay with me, such as the fact that Mylkbar’s waitresses likely earn pretty well (the minimum wage in Australia is AUD $18.93 per hour; double on Sunday if you don’t normally work Sundays!). Or that to be a tradesman in Australia – a carpenter, plumber, electrician – is to be well off, with
Walking in Melbourne 1 by Julian Opie, vinyl on wood stretcher (2018)
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GOODLIFE
O
ver the years, Airbnb homes like this one have been playing a big role in supplying accommodation – there are over 148,000 listings in Australia alone – especially around major sporting and cultural events. Sam McDonagh, Country Manager, Airbnb, sheds more light on the growing popularity when we meet for dinner at celebrity chef Neil Perry’s legendary Rockpool Bar & Grill at the Crowne, a favourite of tennis players such as Stan Wawrinka, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. “The highest interest is in cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, especially when the cricket is on.
Artisanal gin at Neil Perry’s Rockpool Bar & Grill
A bathing box in Brighton can go for about AUD $330,000 a pop at auction
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The succulent king prawn at Gazi, Exhibition Street
YOUR CITY GUIDE TO MELBOURNE EAT: General Assembly @ DFO, South Wharf. Sit by the river, order a beer or a Lychee Spritz and the crispy skin salmon with the sesame miso dressing. Also squeeze in meals at the Little Ramen Bar and Café Corretto. DRINK: Coffee. Everywhere, and every chance you get, but especially at Brother Baba Budan, with chairs suspended from its ceiling, Tulip Coffee (next door to Clementine’s a souvenir store), Pellegrini’s and Brunetti (the dessert here is fantastic too). Once the sun dips, you’ll want an Aperol spritz to keep you company. Then, head to Eau De Vie, Naked For Satan, Heartbreaker or Neil Perry’s Spice Temple for inventive artisanal cocktails. SHOP: At Queen Victoria Market. For something more indie, check out the maker’s market at Rose Street in the much-muralled hipster ’hood of Fitzroy, featuring jewellery-makers, artists, illustrators, candlemakers and fashion designers who sell local handmade wares against a backdrop of vibrant graffiti every weekend. Also check out Melbournalia on Exhibition Street for everything from badges, pins, vinyl stickers and postcards with Aussie slang to notebooks and rooftop honey. WATCH: Melbourne is Australia’s sporting capital, and you’ll be spoiled for choice between the Australian Open at Melbourne Park (January), cricket at the iconic MCG (December to February) and the Australian Grand Prix (March). #SummerOfSport
WORDS: SHIKHA SETHI. IMAGE: ALAMY (QUEEN VICTORIA MARKET), SHIKHA SETHI ( ARTISANAL GIN, KING PRAWN, BATHING BOXES)
some tradesmen making about AUD $90/hr. It’s why #tradielife is a legit thing. The Docklands Airbnb where I’m staying – my room overlooks the meandering Yarra river and the Melbourne Star Observation Wheel – is one part of town where such services are much in demand, as new residential and commercial complexes spring up (Melbourne’s population is set to overtake Sydney’s in the next five years). One of the pleasures of waking up and having my morning coffee on the balcony here is watching as a group of rowers glide right past on the river below. The four-storey home is also kitted out to the max with a Miele oven and dishwasher, separate wine cooler, private gym room and an indoor lift, often making me wonder about Jean, the host, who prefers to rent out this pad instead of living in it.
GQ PROMOTION
WEAR YOUR STYLE Meet the LG Watch W7, a perfect blend of mechanics and digital functionalities that reflects the style sensibilities of the modern man Today, staying connected is the need of the hour. People are driven by technology and a need to constantly be in touch with the digital world. And it sure helps when you can stay connected in absolute style! This is where smartwatches come in. Packed with the most cutting-edge features, smartwatches now also act as wearable style statements. Combining the more traditional, striking design of an analog wristwatch with the features of a smartwatch is the LG Watch W7. Developed in partnership with Soprod SA of Switzerland, this is a watch that does more than just tell time. The LG Watch W7 features the latest Wear OS by Google, along with a premium, stainless-steel design that mirrors the charm of a more old-style analog timepiece. Its impressive 1.2inch edge-to-edge display enables easy viewing both indoors and out. Add in its seamless touch controls and you have a masterpiece that’ll easily take you from a work out to a night out. If you’re living life on the move, the
Real Swiss Watch
watch comes with an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. As you power through a gritty day, your watch powers along with you, thanks to its battery backup feature that makes it last up to 100 days on a full charge, on the ‘Just Watch’ mode. The revolutionary Wear OS gets you quicker access to notifications, proactive help from Google Assistant and smarter health coaching from Google Fit as you work through your fitness routine. The analog hands also display additional information such as
altimeter, barometer, stopwatch, timer and compass directions. And that’s not even the best part The Watch W7 lets you add a splash of spunk to your outfits by choosing from an array of unique watch faces, optimised to take advantage of the mechanical hands. These watch faces are designed to fit your personality, mood and current activity and can be customised in multiple fun ways. So what are you waiting for? For more information, visit lg.com
GOODLIFE
Melbourne is your gateway to the Great Ocean Road, which can be done as a self-driving trip, with overnight stays along the way at Airbnbs in Anglesea, Port Campbell, Lorne or Torquay. (If you have the dough, splash out on The Pole House in Fairhaven: Built by architect Frank Dixon in the 1970s, staying here means waking up to find yourself suspended above one of the world’s most spectacular coastlines.) Alternatively, do a day trip with a small-group tour operator to hit the main attractions – the 12 Apostles, London Bridge, Collins Arch, Loch Ard Gorge, where the aquamarine Southern Ocean has been pounding the limestone stacks for millennia. If you’re lucky, you’ll also catch some kangaroos and koalas along the way. An hour away from Melbourne lies one of Australia’s finest wine-making regions: Yarra Valley. Most small tour operators will cover the Big 5 – De Bortoli, Domaine Chandon, Yering Station, Rochford, Dominique Portet – but try to get to the smaller wineries like Warramunda Estate, which produces some excellent wines. In winter, head to the Mornington Peninsula, another ace wine-producing region, with the added benefit of taking a dip in the hot springs.
The 12 Apostles along the Great Ocean Road
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India beat Australia at the MCG
Hobart in Tasmania is also growing fast,” he says. “But we’ve also noticed that more than 50 per cent of the listings in Australia are outside the capital cities, in inner regions. So what we’re seeing is that people are travelling deeper into the country and the countryside, and they’re taking trips that they otherwise wouldn’t have because of the lack of accommodation.” Indian travellers are among the biggest market, often travelling for longer, and spending more than other nationalities, choosing Superhosts and Airbnb Plus homes (homes that have been verified by Airbnb against a 100-point checklist). Tennis player Rohan Bopanna is part of that demographic, renting a magnificent penthouse at The Birdcage in South Yarra, a mere 20 minutes from the iconic Rod Laver arena. As the pool of listings keeps growing, in the future, McDonagh tells me, “a fan coming in for the Australian Open could stay in a home with a tennis court.” And with that he orders me another martini, and launches into an ode to the excellent produce served at the restaurant – the beef here is sourced from Cape Grim in Tasmania, famed for having the cleanest air in the world. t’s a brave new world when it comes to travel, with more people looking for authenticity and extraordinary experiences. Here, too, Melburnians are leading the way, being among the most prolific Airbnb users on the planet. Me? I have some catching up to do. This is my first tryst with an Airbnb, and of travelling abroad to catch a match. And certainly, it’s memorable in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Because the only thing more exhilarating than watching Nadal slay on court in an early-round stage at the Australian Open? Witnessing a historic ODI Indian win against the Aussies at the legendary MCG, with three generations of a Gujarati family for company.
I
WORDS: SHIKHA SETHI. IMAGE: SHIKHA SETHI
GO OUTSIDE
To experience some 2019 version of contentment – fleeting as it may be – try Melbourne in the summer. It feels like the entire city is levitating with happiness
GOODLIFE THE HOTEL
AMAN KYOTO | Kyoto If a trip to Japan’s on your list this winter (the best time to visit is November and yes, you should be planning right now), check in to Aman Kyoto, which will have just opened its doors. Aman’s third outpost in the country will sit on an 80-acre property of which 72 are forest and eight gardens and also be close to the famed Kinkaku-ji temple. Inspired by the traditional Japanese ryokan (inn) and onsen (hot spring) bathing facilities, a stay here would be a good way to finish your #2019goals. aman.com/resorts/aman-kyoto
THE BOUTIQUE
THOMAS GOODE & CO. | Mumbai The historic and quintessentially British glass, silverware and fine China brand Thomas Goode & Co. has just set up its first outpost in nearly 200 years, at The Oberoi in Mumbai. Once you’re done marvelling at the wares – and dropping a tidy sum on a new dinner set – pop across to the “museum” that showcases some of the most important pieces ever made by the brand; and then start prepping for that house party you’ve been waiting to host. 022-6632 5757
THE SERVICE
TASTE ALL THAT MATTERS THIS MONTH
THE FOOD
MINISTRY OF CRAB | Mumbai While the good news is that the much-loved Sri Lankan-based restaurant is finally in India, the great news is that the crab (and everything else) tastes just as good as it does in Colombo. The only difference is in the interiors – a fancier looking restaurant, with a proper bar in tow. While the Chilli Crab is the house favourite, we’re placing our bets on the Pepper Crab: saucy, spicy and absolutely spectacular. For those looking for options beyond the crab, the Clay Pot Prawn Curry is another winner. 77108 98811 150 —
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Frequent fliers, take note: SBI Card and Etihad Guest, a loyalty programme of Etihad Airways, have launched an international partnership with travelspecific Visa credit cards – the Etihad Guest SBI Card and the Etihad Guest SBI Premier Card. Meaning, you can now avail of exclusive benefits on the EA network; redeem Guest miles to book flights and hotels; and score complimentary worldwide airport lounge access. sbicard.com
WORDS: JEENA J BILLIMORIA, SAURAV BHANOT (MINISTRY OF CRAB)
THE SBI–ETIHAD CARD
GQ PROMOTION
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS It is truly admirable when young tycoons disrupt age-old industry practices to redefine modern-day workings. Having gained immense experience and insight by working across industries, Vikas Jhabakh has developed intensive expertise. And now, he has taken it upon himself to bring affordable luxury into the Indian sports biking world. Let’s take a closer look at the latest endeavours of Jhabakh and how he got here. MAESTRO OF THE MONEY MARKET With a penchant to devise innovative strategies, while keeping in mind industry and consumer understandings, Vikas Jhabakh has been seen as a truly accomplished leader by his peers. He successfully explored the stock market industry before joining his family business, Mahavir Group. Additionally, he also worked with a few distinguished international brands within the business. All this experience over the years has helped him develop the ability to juggle many verticals, especially his newest undertaking – Benelli. FROM ITALIA TO INDIA A second-generation businessman with a relentless fervour to grow, Vikas Jhabakh has taken the entire Indian biking world by storm by venturing into the assembling and manufacturing of Benelli. He recently launched the Benelli TRK502 bike and will be introducing six new bike models this year. The company anticipates a 15 percent market share, making this project a boisterous success story. MORE THAN WHAT MEETS THE EYE A true egalitarian, this young bigwig is always trying to help individuals set up their own businesses. He also lends a hand in facilitating shadow programs for ambitious students. His well-doings don’t end there. He also works extensively to ensure that networking and growth opportunities are made available for everyone.
From intensive delving into the stock market to indulging his passion for luxury bikes – Vikas Jhabakh is a dynamic millennial entrepreneur who’s all set to expand Benelli, a 106-year old Italian bike company, in India this year
HOW TO BE A
MAN IN 2019 A modest proposal
ere’s a confession that ought not to bother me, but does: I have never thought about what it means to be a man. I don’t speak for others, obviously, but can’t think of friends or relatives who have thought about this either. Or maybe they do in the wee hours, but don’t discuss it in public. Either way, it makes me feel like the norm rather than the exception. I did think about it for a few hours though, and arrived at the conclusion that this is the sort of question I only imagine a rugged, denimclad person asking himself during a cigarette break, between work shifts that involve heavy machinery. As a slim-waisted, laptop-toting figure with a name that traditionally belongs to Caucasian women, it sits incongruously on my shoulders. I’m still going to try and answer it, if only because one of the side effects of getting older is that even mundane queries now trigger prolonged periods of introspection. Naturally, being a man in 2019 depends upon where you are, how old you are, what you do for a living and how brave you can be. I mention bravery specifically because I believe being a man is increasingly about asking the correct questions and breaking entrenched gender roles. It is a process that can be expedited only by those courageous enough to fly in the face of what is collective, and often repressed, wisdom. Ours is an era of hate, with acceptance and empathy in short supply. Economics and the rise of far-right forces threaten so much that is fragile. So, for me, to be a man is now about standing up for what is decent rather than what is accepted. I experienced how difficult this could be firsthand by criticising the government in my country. It had a direct impact on my career, limiting choices I could make and compelling me to give up much I had worked for.
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Another surprising thing about being a man involves connectivity. Our overwhelming reliance on the internet goes a long way towards shaping the idea of maleness too, even if that aspect of it is rarely acknowledged. On the one hand, we are under pressure to conform; on the other, we must deal with what marketing folk refer to as the fear of missing out. I have opted to leave most social media platforms because they have the power to shape me in ways I am not comfortable with. What this means, then, is that being a man is also about knowing when to put a stop to something and getting out. The concept of equality has been another surprise, in the sense that I think about it more than I ever did as a young man. It began as an academic exercise for me, with courses in women’s studies and reams of writing by and about women, but now occupies my thoughts even when I go about my daily tasks. I think being a man must involve questions about what it means to be a woman, and why we continue to discuss equal pay for equal work when that ought to be taken for granted by now. Even as I type this, a report from the World Economic Forum is making the rounds online, informing us all that women on average make 63 per cent of what men earn. Not one country out of the 149 assessed has women making more or as much as men and, apparently, it could take around 202 years for the global gender pay gap to even out. As a man, I feel increasingly compelled to insist that women doing the same thing I do get paid as much as I do. It’s a small gesture that more men should consider. #MeToo does and should loom large in 2019, and I hope it will because, as the actor Idris Elba put it so eloquently, “It’s only difficult if you’re a man with something to hide.” The conversations this movement has triggered across workplaces are revelatory, some for how they have compelled
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
W R I T T E N B Y L I N D S AY P E R E I R A
corporate India to re-evaluate its consistently poor treatment of women, others for how easily some men have nonchalantly brushed aside serious accusations and continued to go about their business. To be perfectly honest, I am no closer to understanding how to be a man in 2019 or what it means. I like being asked the question though, because it almost never is, not by those around
men, or by most men themselves. I have no interest in the clichĂŠs that encourage us to seize our days and follow our dreams, because the people creating them usually have no clue about how the rest of us live. I simply intend to try and be a better human being. There is nothing simpler, or more difficult. Lindsay Pereira is a journalist and regular contributor to GQ India. You can follow him on Twitter @lindsaypereira
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PROMOTION
EDITED BY JEENA J BILLIMORIA
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR, JEENA J BILLIMORIA
VERSACE SPRING/ SUMMER 2019
OCTOPUS JACQUARD ARMCHAIR BY GUCCI, PRICE ON REQUEST
n i s k a e b r n o i h Fas This is the era of individuality. Nowhere is this more evident than the world of fashion: Ranveer Singh’s Gucci co-ords and Ayushmann Khurrana’s DB suits; ugly dad sneakers and classic Monkstraps; full-blown maximalism and understated elegance. In 2019, fashion is no longer restricted to the runway, its powerful influence permeating our daily lives, including our homes. Acid-happy man cave? Wim Hofinspired ice box? Eco-conscious treehouse? With the advent of the Spring/Summer fashion season this month, we were inspired by the hottest trends from the runways of Milan and Paris to create a detailed guide that’ll help your pad look on-point.
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NOAH’S ARK DINNER PLATE BY VILLEROY & BOCH, PRICE ON REQUEST
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR, JEENA J BILLIMORIA. IMAGE: REX FEATURES (LOUIS VUITTON'S STORE)
DRIES VAN NOTEN
ACNE STUDIOS
DIOR MEN
ARROW EXPOSITION STEEL TUMBLERS BY INDIA CIRCUS, `620 (SET OF 2)
CLOVEL CHANDELIER BY GAURI KHAN AVAILABLE AT TISVA, PRICE ON REQUEST
JIM THOMPSON FABRIC CUSHION BY POLTRONA FRAU, `1,11,765
BEACH TOWEL BY HERMÈS, PRICE ON REQUEST
T E C H N I C O LO R
OPTICAL EFFECTS Borrowed from the Golden Age of cinema and presented today like a kaleidoscope to make sure you’re on a perpetually happy LSD trip
PALMYRA BIRD SONG WALL COVERING BY GOOD EARTH, `16,000
OCTOPUS JACQUARD ARMCHAIR BY GUCCI, PRICE ON REQUEST
YAMANTAKA DISPLAY PLATE BY THE DECOR KART, `2,600
ALEXANDER McQUEEN
PAUL SMITH
ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA
RAF SIMONS
BLACK ATTITUDE TABLE BY MOMENTI AVAILABLE AT OTTIMO, `2,50,000
NEOCLASSICAL ACCENT CHAIR BY INHABIT, PRICE ON REQUEST
STYLE QUOTIENT
IT MAY NOT BE FOR EVERYONE, BUT TO SHOCK, DELIGHT AND EXCITE YOUR HOUSE GUESTS – OR SIMPLY TREAT YOUR EYES AND MIND – A PSYCHEDELIC WALLPAPER, OR EVEN A POPCOLOURED TUMBLER, GETS YOU THERE.
MARINE LOUNGE CHAIR BY NITIN KOHLI HOME, `1,03,840
A 12-storey-tall mural outside Louis Vuittonʼs NYC flagship store, inspired by The Wizard Of Oz
PRIMA COCKTAIL SHAKER BY NICOBAR, `2,150
ARTESANO NATURE DINNER PLATE AND DEEP PLATE BY VILLEROY & BOCH, PRICES ON REQUEST
SAFARI WOOL & SILK RUG BY JAIPUR RUGS, FROM `2,00,000
CEYLON BAR CABINET BY IQRUP + RITZ, `1,51,000
STYLE QUOTIENT
TWOINONE INDUCTION HOB BY MIELE, `3,99,990 WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR, JEENA J BILLIMORIA
WRAP-TYE-OLIVE OTTOMAN BY JOSMO STUDIO, `26,000
THIS COLOUR SCHEME DOESN’T HAVE TO BE BORING, UNINSPIRING OR SAFE – AS LONG AS YOU PICK THE RIGHT STUFF. SUBTLETY MAKES A POWERFUL STATEMENT, TOO.
NEW CHESTER ARMCHAIR BY MEDEA LIFESTYLE AVAILABLE AT SPAZIO, `5,80,000
EUCLIDE BED BY OPERAE HOME AVAILABLE AT OTTIMO, `4,00,000
DOG BASKET BY HERMÈS, PRICE ON REQUEST
BOB ARMCHAIR BY BORZALINO AVAILABLE AT THE GALLERY BY BEYOND & MORE, `1,20,000
SUEDE AND LEATHER SOFA BY CIPRIANI HOMOOD AVAILABLE AT OTTIMO, PRICE ON REQUEST
FLESH
SECOND SKIN Even neutrals have their own personality: Some are striking in animal print; others blend in seamlessly. However you choose to use them in your home, there’s no faulting the versatility and ease of the nude tones that pepper your living space
ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
DUNHILL
Front row at Ermenegildo Zegna
ASIAN PAINTS CROWDED BEACH – 9536
FIDELIO MULTIMEDIA CABINET BY ROBERTO LAZZERONI AVAILABLE AT POLTRONA FRAU, PRICE ON REQUEST
KILIM TRUNK BY INHABIT, PRICE ON REQUEST
JEEVES CLOTHES HORSE STAND BY SADAYA GUILD, `12,000
VINTAGE WALNUT WOODEN TRAY BY CLOVE, `2,850
Mumbai - Ground Floor, WakeďŹ eld House, Dougall Road, Ballard Estate - T. +91 22 22614848 Pune - Ground Floor, Trump Towers, Kalyani Nagar - T. +91 20 66473131 Surat - No.6-7, Union Heights, Next to Lalbhai Cricket Stadium, Surat Dumas Road - T. +91 261 6988444 New Delhi - 99 Empire Plaza, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Rd, Sultanpur, T. +91 11 26809772
Italian Masterpieces GranTorino sofa designed by J.M. Massaud. Brno, Ceskรก republika poltronafrau.com
CR-150 RADIO BY ANEMOS, `14,000 STYLE QUOTIENT
THROW SOME (NATURAL) LIGHT ON YOUR CHOICE OF COLOUR PALETTE WITH FLOOR-TO-CEILING WINDOWS AND DOORS.
BOGOTA COFFEE TABLE BY JOSMO STUDIO, 38,000
CUSHIONS BY D’DECOR, PRICES ON REQUEST
MONKEY GAMES WALL ART BY INDIA CIRCUS, `4,000
THE DAHLIA WALLPAPER BY BOMBAY LIFESTYLE CO., `7,000 PER ROLL
VARSHA CUSHION BY NICOBAR, `1,250
COCONUT SQUARE CUSHION BY IQRUP + RITZ, `2,500
CANALETTO WALNUT WOOD BASE TABLE BY STANLEY, PRICE ON REQUEST
CHELSEA CHEST OF DRAWERS BY INHABIT, PRICE ON REQUEST
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR, JEENA J BILLIMORIA
SLIDING DOORS BY FENESTA, PRICE ON REQUEST
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y FOLKIFUNKI CHARGER PLATE BY JAIME HAYON AVAILABLE AT IKKA DUKKA, `33,200 (SET OF FOUR)
G R E E N I M PAC T No one’s telling you to go all Chuck Noland, but it pays to consider the quality and substance behind every product in your house. Not just for the fact that a man who cares about his living space is infinitely sexier, but because, unless you’ve been living under your plastic rug and haven’t heard: Conscious living is the modern way of life
CAMPAIGN STOOL BY SADAYA GUILD, `10,000
VIRID DECANTER BY MADS CREATIONS, PRICE ON REQUEST
WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK
ASIAN PAINTS PLANTATION – 9285
COMME DES GARÇONS
STYGIAN CHAIR BY SYLVN STUDIO, `12,500
BRANCH SIDE TABLE BY TAANNAZ, PRICE ON REQUEST
ARTIZE TIAARA FAUCET BY JAQUAR GROUP, `73,000 UMI SECTIONAL SOFA BY CALLIGARIS AVAILABLE AT STUDIO CREO, PRICE ON REQUEST
FLORETIQUE LIGHTING BY SANS SOUCI, PRICE ON REQUEST
PUMPKIN TAPAS PLATE BY THE LABEL LIFE, `990
LOUD AND PROUD The most effective maximalist room is an expression of a life well-lived. For inspiration, look up “Jimi Hendrix 1970”. And “Thom Browne 2019”. Then make sure every graphic pillow, in-your-face throw, edgy chair and full-on table borrow from both
EMBROIDERED VELVET CUSHION BY GUCCI, PRICE ON REQUEST
Thom Browne Spring/Summer ’19
COFFEE TABLE WITH HANDBEATEN BRASS TOP BY BEYOND DESIGNS, PRICE ON REQUEST
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR, JEENA J BILLIMORIA
MAXIMALISM
CASHMERE PRINTED BLANKET BY HERMÈS, PRICE ON REQUEST
POP! HARDBACK BOOK BY ANTIQUE COLLECTORS CLUB AVAILABLE AT IKKA DUKKA, `3,320
THOM BROWNE
MOUTARD ARMCHAIR BY SIMONE, PRICE ON REQUEST
STYLE QUOTIENT
GUCCI
THE CREATIVE WORLD RIGHT NOW IS ALL ABOUT GOING BIG. EVERYTHING’S EMBELLISHED, ADORNED, STUDDED, DISTRESSED OR JUST PLAIN BIZARRE – AND THE HIGHER UP THE LUXURY LADDER YOU CLIMB, THE MORE BELLS AND WHISTLES (AND CRABS AND SPIKES) YOU’LL FIND.
NAPOLEON CHEST OF DRAWERS BY SCARLET SPLENDOUR, `9,40,265
COCKATOO TABLE LAMP BY THE DECOR KART, `8,600
DIGITAL PRINTED BAR BY CASA PARADOX, `5,00,000
BLOOM CHAIR BY IDUS, `1,55,000
ATLAS TABLE BY BARO, `25,000
ZIRCON RED CARPET BY HANDS CARPETS & RUGS, PRICE ON REQUEST
VOTIVE BY CLOVE, `950
RED ROSE CUSHION BY CASA PARADOX, `12,000
ICE
T H E C ROW N J E W E L
ROB MEDIA CONSOLE TABLE BY ZJM EXPORTS, `95,000
The dress code for zero gravity carries the same dazzle and brilliance that hip-hop gods have forever been sticking their necks out for – big-ass, chunky bling. While we’re not telling you to deck out in diamonds, a foil-coated console table or crystal-dripped chandelier in your crib is just as effective in sending out the message that the future is now
BLISS CONSOLE TABLE BY SCARLET SPLENDOUR, `2,69,000 BRASS FLOOR LAMP BY BEYOND DESIGNS, PRICE ON REQUEST
MYSTICAL HAVEN (BLACK) FAUCET BY ALCHYMI, `14,935
SOLITAIRE SIDEBOARD BY MADS CREATIONS, `78,000
WORDS: SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR, JEENA J BILLIMORIA. IMAGE: REX FEATURES (RING DETAIL)
Migos rapper Quavo showed off some serious bling at the MET Gala 2018
STYLE QUOTIENT
LOUIS VUITTON
SAINT LAURENT
BALMAIN
FROSTY LEAVES CHANDELIER BY SANS SOUCI, PRICE ON REQUEST
WHAT DO THE HEROES OF GLAM ROCK LIKE BOWIE AND PRINCE HAVE IN COMMON WITH JAY AND YE? A LOVE FOR ALL THINGS BADASS AND SHINY. TODAY, DESIGNERS ARE CARRYING THE SENTIMENT FORWARD WITH ICED-OUT GEAR TO MATCH YOUR LUXE FURNITURE.
CONSOLE TABLE WITH GOLD LEAF MIRROR BY THE GREAT EASTERN HOME, PRICE ON REQUEST
7-COLOUR LED JUKEBOX BY ANEMOS, `1,37,000
FIVE-BULB FLOOR LAMP BY SCARLET SPLENDOUR, `2,69,775
CIRQUE MIRROR GLASS AND MDF CONSOLE TABLE BY ADDRESS HOME, `44,900 CAGE LAMP BY SIMONE, `56,400
G Q P RO
MIND OVER MATTER The lines between high fashion and home décor can be masterfully blurred, and built upon to create works of art that you don’t just wear but also live in. No one knows this better than award-winning architect Rooshad Shroff, whose projects include spaces for Christian Louboutin, the Design Gallery at Raw Collaborative and, most recently, Kunal Rawal’s spanking new store in South Mumbai. Here, Shroff talks about how to get yourself the best of both worlds
You have a strong connection with the fashion industry – which designers have inspired you? My very first internship was at Issey Miyake’s New York office. The way Miyake responded to material with his collection, Pleats Please, was so simple yet so effective at the time. It influenced the way I respond to furniture, and asked the question of how you push the boundaries of a material. Alexander McQueen in the earlier days was another strong influence. I’ve always been intrigued by fashion – even my undergrad thesis at Cornell was on fashion and architecture.
Tell us about your projects with Anand Ahuja. I’m working on their [Anand and Sonam’s] house in London, which will be ready soon. Anand has also acquired a 6,000sqft space in Bengaluru for his label Bhane – I’m going to create a look that will speak to the “new” brand identity. What’s the best way to bring fashion into a home? It’s about personal choice, taste and what works for you, rather than something that’s styled by an architect, because you’re going to be the one living there. For example, I have a McQueen shoe at home that I’ve displayed under a glass dome, because I think it’s a piece of art more than something wearable.
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What excites you about collaborating with the fashion community? There’s a resonance between fashion designers and architects, thanks to a mutual interest in design and an appreciation of quality. Take Christian Louboutin, with whom I’ve collaborated on stores in Mumbai and Bangkok: The challenge there was to take ideas and incorporate them into shoes – in my case, into a space. Kunal [Rawal] was a different challenge. For his new flagship at Kala Ghoda in Mumbai, it was about understanding the brand, along with elements that were important to him. For instance, we made use of the space’s height and created remotecontrolled racks, which responded to the idea that men love gadgets. The store is masculine with leather and brass, but it’s playful too, and meant to maximise the space and create a different environment every time someone walks in. In an age of online shopping, retail stores need to step it up and offer an experience, and that’s what we’ve done.
(Top) Kunal Rawal’s flagship store at the iconic Rhythm House in South Mumbai; (Right) Christian Louboutin’s Bangkok space; (Left) Rooshad Shroff
"I personally avoid trends. The thing is,you may end up living in a home that is trendy today, but not tomorrow. Be true to your identity and let that shine through instead" What fashion trends are being incorporated into interior design in 2019? At the Ambiente trade fair I was recently at in Frankfurt, I saw a combination of greens, yellows and pinks that has been trending for some time now. Personally, though, I avoid trends. The thing is, you may end up living in a home that’s trendy today, but not tomorrow. Be true to your identity and let that shine through instead. Play around with smaller, looser items that are easy to change over something bigger that would require a larger intervention. The use of local crafts and a sense of “Indianness” are increasingly being highlighted in fashion – is this being extended to interiors as well? Definitely! I’m very attached to the idea of celebrating and pushing the boundaries of craftsmanship. I only work with handmade and local crafts – they’re unique to India, and the only way to sustain them is to elevate and give them new life. People are fed up of things that are mass-produced; luxury today means having something made exquisitely, via age-old techniques. There’s also something wonderful about the idea of waiting for something to be made by hand. People are going back to their roots and being honest with the use of natural, indigenous materials – something I see happening around the world too. Having individual style is important; it inspires confidence and makes a statement – how can one integrate one’s individual style into a living space? Sometimes, the role of an architect is to play shrink, and try to understand a customer: their wants and needs, their comfort zones. And then take that and mould a space for them that’s unique. Some people are confident in their personal style and identity, but when it comes to a space, they can be clueless. It’s true that a person’s style can be defined by their clothing – and by their extended environment as well. My advice is to steer yourself in the right direction with items you feel would make sense for the kind of lifestyle you lead. What’s your personal aesthetic? Minimalistic. Cold. Bare and sterile. But all that changes once I start working on projects. Where are the best places to source home furniture? Internationally, Alfies Antique Market in London and the flea market in Paris. Locally, Chor Bazaar, of course! You can get anything in stores across the world, but what’s nice about going to these markets is that you never really know what you’re going to find.
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SH BLAZER BY PAUL SMITH. TURTLENECK BY BELLA FREUD. WATCH BY PANERAI
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Vicky Kaushal would like you to believe he takes everything at face value – his own talent, other people, the business of numbers. But that doesn’t explain the breadth of his roles, his nuanced performances or his knack for backing a good script. It’s clear, the latest entrant to Bollywood’s big league has a lot bubbling beneath the surface P H O T O G R A P H E D
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Cole’s “Middle Child” cuts through the Marshall speakers at Studio No 8 at Famous Studios, Mumbai. “The Bentley is dirty, my sneakers is dirty/But that’s how I like it, you all on my d-----,” he raps, as Vicky Kaushal, dressed in an iridescent pink suit from Versace’s latest collection, grooves along, playing with the volume controls on the iPad. The single, ostensibly about J Cole being “dead in the middle of two generations”, could well be a manifesto for new Bollywood, aka the brand of cinema that Vicky Kaushal and his generation of actors represent. (“All my contemporary actors have this passion to do better – than their last film, their last performance – to do something new. Everyone’s got the same energy.”) Cole, an outsider himself – “I copied your cadence, I mirrored your style/I studied the greats, I’m the greatest right now” – famously camped outside Jay-Z’s office a decade ago before the hip-hop star agreed to listen to his demo, and eventually signed him as the first artist under his label, Roc Nation. Kaushal, too, occupied that no-man’s land between being an insider and outsider – until he broke through with the awardwinning Masaan in 2015, in which he plays a young boy from Varanasi’s lower-caste Dom community fighting to transcend all odds. As a struggling actor, Kaushal says, “You’re very fragile, and you go through days where things aren’t productive, you face humiliation, rejection. When you start off, earning `5,000, `10,000 per day, you feel like, ‘Where I want to be is so far off, the gap is so huge.’” But now, Kaushal’s in the big league: He was the solo lead of the `225-plus crore Uri: The Surgical Strike, has two upcoming films with Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and is rumoured to be a part of Saare Jahaan Se Accha, the Rakesh Sharma biopic about the first Indian in space. Kaushal may not come across as being as self-reflective as Cole – when I ask him about representation and Bollywood, he demurs, saying he doesn’t “analyse these things much”, and that, “if a character is a cliché or something is wrong, you usually feel it at the script level” – but his roles have
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been ballsy, nuanced and varied, and he’s certainly expanding the definition of the typical Bollywood hero. In doing so, he’s also redefining what masculinity means in 2019. Kaushal is also the internet’s boyfriend: thirsty comments trail his every picture on Instagram; his love life is making headlines; he’s suddenly endorsing a slew of brands. And while he denies that there’s any “image-making” behind all this, because “your work does all the talking for you”, what we’re witnessing is a high-stakes metamorphosis: the birth of an unlikely new star. The past year has been a Vicky Kaushal blitzkrieg. Do you play it safe in real life or are you a risk-taker? I’m a safe person. I’m that guy who has a favourite ice cream flavour, who’ll go to the same ice cream parlour and order that one flavour he likes. When it comes to fashion, I’m more of a solids and stripes guy. If I even feel like experimenting, it’ll be with shoes or sunglasses – I’m a sucker for white sneakers. With my roles,though, I’m experimental: I don’t like simple things, steady things, easy things. I want to make it complicated. I want layers, I want colours, I want shades. What do you think makes you so attractive to women? Perhaps it’s because I’m shy? I’m not good with subtle hints. Somebody might come up to me with a slew of compliments, and I’ll be like, “Thank you.” They’re expecting more, but I end up putting a full stop. What’s the best thing about being a man in 2019? That the raging testosterone has taken a back seat. The testosterone exists, but we’ve realised there’s no need to rage. Today, being a man is about being respectful. Let the other person be the way they want to be, give love. I believe it’s important to be gentle, to be tender. To be comfortable being a man; not constantly trying to prove your manliness. Work towards earning respect. If what you’re doing is not earning you respect, what have you really achieved? I think we’re living in a time where the male ego is constantly getting checked, which is great. 175
Would you call yourself a feminist? I would, and I’d like to believe I am one. You were recently at the launch of Benetton’s Spring/Summer collection, which was also celebrating the first Valentine’s Day after the decriminalisation of Section 377. How did you feel when you first heard the news of the decision? I was like, “Hooray! Finally!” It’s in moments like these when you feel like, “Mera Bharat Mahaan.” You have so many gay friends, and you’ll always hear about the experiences they had as teenagers – things they haven’t even shared with their parents because they didn’t know how they would react. And then you hear it’s OK, it’s legal, you’re not a criminal. It’s just so empowering – for the community, for all of us as a society. It was a genuinely euphoric moment, in an age that seems fuelled by anger. We need love today more than ever, in any form.
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Now that you’ve proved yourself as a bona fide lead, how are you approaching your career? I want to be part of good films, made by good directors, without repeating myself as an actor. At the same time, if I have a producer who’s investing in me, marketing me as the lead, it makes it tough for him to do so if I’m taking up role after role as a supporting character. So I need to find that balance. At the end of the day, it’s showbiz – someone’s putting in money because they expect to see returns. You have to think about the director and your film; but also about your producer. What kind of scripts are you looking for? The key is to be open, to be like a magnet. But it’s important to know what you want to attract. For me, it’s good scripts. The day I limit myself, thinking that I want to do only a certain genre, a certain kind of film, I’ll be making things difficult for myself. I admire scriptwriters like Juhi Chaturvedi. I’ve had the good fortune of working with Varun Grover; then there’s Himanshu Sharma, who’s written several films for Anand L Rai; Anvita Dutt, who’s also making a film later this year. Anurag Kashyap is a beautiful writer – so rooted, so real. It’s fabulous to watch how he develops a scene: I’ve often seen him write on set. Directors I’d love to work with? Vishalji [Bhardwaj], Shoojit Sircar, Sriram Raghavan, Mani Ratnam.
SUIT, JUMPER; BOTH BY VERSACE. SNEAKERS BY CLARKS OPPOSITE: JACKET, TROUSERS; BOTH BY KENT & CURWEN. LOAFERS BY PRADA. WATCH BY PANERAI
We’re seeing a churn in Bollywood. The mantra seems to be: out with the old, in with the new. What’s your perspective as someone who’s in the thick of things? Writers are being empowered. We’re seeing new stories, new writers and much bigger budgets. People are no longer relying on a star cast to decide if they want to watch a film in theatres; they’re relying on the trailer. That means they want the content, the story to speak to them – and that comes from the writers. Take Aditya [Dhar]: Uri was his debut film; I hadn’t done a commercial film as the solo lead. So for a producer like Ronnie Screwvala to back a film like this, which wasn’t a cheap film to make, was a big deal. You’ve played a Pakistani army officer in Raazi, and an Indian special forces commando in Uri. What does patriotism mean to you? It means thinking of the entire country as your home, and your countrymen and women as family – giving each other the space to share different opinions, respecting and loving each other and rising above differences. It’s about embracing culture and embracing diversity. That’s what makes our country strong. What it is not is this attitude that ghar ke bahar ghar nahin hai. Your father Sham Kaushal is a former stuntman and action director. What did you learn about film-making as a kid? Directors, writers, technicians would come over for breakfast, and my brother Sunny and I would be serving them. I remember hearing technical terms, like “camera location”, “recce”, etc, but that was about it. I was fascinated by my dad’s job, when they’d talk about how an actor would fly, and bullets would rain down on him. It used to be like listening to someone read out a comic book. What do you enjoy watching? Action films, but not just the out-and-out, nobrainer kind. I like them to have a soul, which is why I love [Christopher] Nolan’s films and Korean crime thrillers. Oldboy and Memories Of A Murder are all-time favourites. I can’t watch horror because I get scared easily, but comedies are always welcome – I love Andaz Apna Apna. I enjoy drama too, like 12 Angry Men. The writing is so loaded. That’s also why I love Game Of Thrones. It’s not just the battle sequences, or the action; when people are talking, it still feels like you’re in the middle of a war scene.
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Who’s your favourite GOT character? The thing about GOT is that you fall in love with a new character in every episode, and then they kill that character by the end of every season. So you can’t get too attached. But I like Jon Snow, Khaleesi, and Sansa Stark. Arya Stark is becoming more powerful, so that’s interesting. They’re now dictating their terms. So far, they’ve been damsels in distress – well, not Arya – but the women are in charge now, and it’s very exciting. Who would you play if you were cast in GOT? Tyrion Lannister. He’s just so much fun. His morality keeps changing, he keeps switching sides. His character has one of the sharpest minds in the show’s universe.
If you could play a superhero, who would it be? Superman. He’s the OG, his alter ego is a human being – for every other superhero, it’s the other way around. How do you approach your characters? Living in the moment is important. Also, observing people. No experience goes to waste as an actor. You meet people, talk to them, and their experiences become part of your database. I used to stalk people in Banaras [for Masaan]. Literally. If I found them interesting, I followed them, I watched them from across the street. I have so many videos of random people in Surat, whose body languages I used for the character of Kamli [in Sanju]. Let’s say I’m with somebody and I feel intimidated: I’ll observe his body language, the way he’s talking, until I identify what feels threatening. If I have a scene in the future, where I’m supposed to seem intimidating, I’ll use what I’ve observed. Sometimes, you meet someone and you know they’re going through something. They haven’t said anything – but there’s this vibe. That’s what I try to break down. Similarly, if a person comes across as open and jovial, I ask myself: what is he doing that’s making him come across like that? How do you unwind? Driving is therapeutic for me. Sometimes I’ll just keep going around the area near my building. I’m not using Google Maps, I don’t know where I’m going – whether I’m going to take a right or a left. All I need is my music, and to be behind the wheel. I’m also a theatre fan. I enjoy aRANYA’s plays, like Ilhaam, Mamtazbhai Patang Wale and Park – that’s Manav Kaul’s theatre troupe. I’ve seen some of those productions ten or 15 times. I also like The Motley crew – I’ve been wanting to watch its productions of The Father and Einstein. And Rajit Kapoor’s 12 Angry Jurors. Are the paparazzi following you yet? We’ve become friends now. I think it began post-Sanju, when they started calling me “ghapa ghap” or “Kamli”. Or saying, “roar, roar, roar”. More recently, it’s, “How’s the josh?” They’ve actually become more interactive. They’ll come up to me and give me their reviews of my films. Some of them have my number, and they’ll message to tell me that they’ve seen a film for the second or third time; they’ll send me voice notes. They have my car licence plate numbers too, so sometimes they follow me, and occasionally even help lead me to a place if I don’t know the exact location.
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“THE KEY IS TO BE LIKE A MAGNET. BUT IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO ATTRACT. FOR ME, IT’S GOOD SCRIPTS – REGARDLESS OF THE GENRE”
JACKET BY MATTHEW MILLER. JACKET (INSIDE) BY STELLA McCARTNEY. TROUSERS BY DAKS. LOAFERS BY GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI HAIR: TEAM HAKIM’S AALIM MAKE-UP: ANIL SABALE FASHION CO-ORDINATOR: RAVNEET CHANNA FASHION ASSISTANTS: SELMAN FAZIL, SHAEROY CHINOY PRODUCTION: MEGHA MEHTA, PRODBAY PRODUCTIONS
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ESCAPE TO MAGNIFICENCE Whether it’s a weekend escape or a staycation, check into JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu. It’s where luxury and intuitive services conspire with the views of the Arabian Sea to ensure that your stay remains etched in your mind forever
When one thinks of Mumbai, it’s easy to conjure images of a bustling, fast-paced metropolis, clad in steel and glass façade buildings. But what if we told that the Maximum City has an island of serenity located right at its heart. Welcome to JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu. Set in the city’s northern precincts, right on the seashores of the Arabian Sea, it is just a 20-minute drive from the domestic and international airports. More than being a hotel, it is a destination that lures leisure travellers with its contemporary elegance and traditional extravagance. From the Rajasthani sandstone architecture and landscaped areas featuring pagodas, lotus ponds and mashaals to its plush interiors that surround you with ornate artefacts, exquisite upholstery and gleaming
chandeliers, everything here has been designed to inspire awe. Little wonder then as to why it draws the city’s glitterati and Bollywood celebrities. Globally renowned for instinctively knowing what a discerning guest needs, JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu is no different. During your stay, you can also avail the services of JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu Fleet, which offers luxury cars like BMW 7 Series, Range Rover and Audi 6 for airport transfers and commutes within the city. The hotel also boasts 355 refurbished rooms and suites, most of which offer endless ocean views. Luxuriously appointed, each room has state-of-the-art amenities. This luxury follows through into the marbled ensuite bathrooms, which are complete with rain showers and
GQ PROMOTION
Bombay Baking Company
Quan Spa Treatment Room
Juhu Beach Suite
Lotus Pond
sink-in bathtubs overlooking the vast expanses of the sea – a perfect place to unwind with a glass of wine. This spectacular sea-facing hotel is also a dream getaway for those who appreciate the nuances of fine dining. With seven delightful dining options, you’ll be spoilt for choice here. To begin with, the award-winning Lotus Café, open 24/7, serves elaborate breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets, as well as innovative Indian, Asian and western a la carte specialities. The Sunday brunch here is, in fact, designed to lull you into a blissful food coma. Saffron, on the other hand, offers a regal fare that once adorned the dinner tables of Awadhi Nawabs and Nizams from Hyderabad. Think succulent kebabs, delicious curries and
Lotus Café
decadent biryanis. For exotic fares from Tuscany, Sicily and Sardinia, step into Mezzo Mezzo where you can dig into sinful pizzas, raviolis, gelatos and more. But for progressive Asian cuisine, drop by at Dashanzi. With a sophisticated yet relaxed vibe, accented by lounge music, it features a sushi and sashimi bar, an interactive dessert table and Mumbai’s largest gin bar that serves signature cocktails. Coffee connoisseurs and those with a sweet tooth will love Bombay Baking Company – a deli, bakery, cake shop and leisure area. For those who want to unwind with evening cocktails, step into the Club Lounge. However, if you’d rather bathe your palate with fine wines and single malts while watching the sun set, then Reflections Bar is the place to be.
For some “me time” indulge yourself at the award-winning Quan Spa. Spread across 10,600 sqft, this tranquil haven features a couple suite along with eight private treatment rooms and a Vichy shower room. It’s where time-honoured therapies like yoga and Ayurveda are combined with contemporary western treatments to rejuvenate you. While you can stick to your fitness regime at the 24-hour fully equipped gym, do spend a few languid moments in the hotel’s lagoon-like swimming pool. So, if you ask us, there isn’t any other hotel quite like JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu. The only question is, are you ready for the pure, undiluted luxury and pampering that it offers? For more information, visit jwmarriottmumbai.com
WATCH Chimes of Change
WORDS: PARTH CHARAN. IMAGE: SIHH ('HERE' BY TANGENT), PARTH CHARAN (PANERAI, MILLE)
A round-up of all things new in the world of haute horology
Clockwise from left: Here by Tangent at the Hermès booth (SIHH 2019); Panerai Submersible Chrono “Guillaume Néry” Edition; Richard Mille RM 007-03 “Marshmallow”
ig, sweeping changes are occurring in the luxury watch industry. A tectonic shift in focus for heavyweight, independent watch brands, a complete overhaul of watch fair schedules and some major watchmaking trends in 2019 – here’s the low-down on what you need to know.
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THE BIG SHIFT The cogs in the watch world are constantly moving, but lately, they’ve begun to grind a bit thanks to economic downturns in key markets and a historically low attendance at big-ticket watch fairs. All of this has forced watch fairs and conglomerates to rethink their strategy for the coming decade, prompting juggernauts such as the Swatch Group to announce their formal departure from Baselworld – the biggest
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l’Heure de la Lune moonphase featuring two mother of pearl moons depicting the moon’s northern and southern hemispheres. Not a view you get to see every day.
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allowing retailers, exhibitors and viewers to visit both fairs back-toback in a single trip to Switzerland. THE GRAND COMPLICATIONS Not a year goes by without a heritage watch brand making a big splash by throwing everything it knows into one single timepiece. For Jaeger-LeCoultre, this year, it was the Gyrotourbillon Westminster (or the Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon Westminster Perpétuel, to be precise). It’s an 18-piece limitededition grail watch, featuring a highly complex multi-axis tourbillon, a minute-repeater replicating the Westminster chime and a perpetual calendar – a holy trinity of complications that makes it the only watch of its kind. Hermès kicked things up a notch as well with the Arceau
NEW MATERIALS Panerai went all-out with its Submersible collection, busting out its patented weave of “Carbotech” while also throwing in something new in the form of “Eco-Titanium” (sourced from recycled titanium). The same material, as seen in the Panerai Submersible Mike Horn edition, is mounted to a strap made of recycled plastic bottles. Hopefully, the trend of recycled materials will catch on. RADICAL THEMES You wouldn’t expect Richard Mille to stray from the path of hardcore functionality in its pursuit of becoming the ultimate sports watchmaker. Except it did and the result is the irrepressibly cheerful Bonbon collection inspired by retro confectionary for children. The watches, including the “Marshmallow” party piece, were brightly coloured like something from a Cindy Lauper music video.
WORDS & IMAGE: PARTH CHARAN
watch and jewellery fair in the world – last year. This was accompanied by the news of Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille bowing out of the Richemont-led Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in an effort to connect with their customers individually. For its part, SIHH – the planet’s most prestigious watch event – is bringing its dates closer to Baselworld’s in 2020, thereby
Clockwise from left: The Silver Spitfire that’s set to embark on IWC’s “Longest Flight” journey; JaegerLeCoultre Gyrotourbillon Westminster; A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 “25th Anniversary”
BLUE IS BACK Blue was a dominant visual theme (with salmon making an occasional appearance); namely Audemars Piguet’s CODE 11.59, while JLC’s Classic Ultra-Thin dazzled with a blue guilloche dial. Even A. Lange & Söhne’s Lange 1 “25th Anniversary” wasn’t complete without it, totally nailing the white gold and blue accents look.
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Olivier Audemars, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Audemars Piguet
Lone Ranger Audemars Piguet is set to conquer greater frontiers with a fresh game plan and an all-new series of watches
THE BIG DEPARTURE The one thing that rose above the din of the collective chatter at SIHH was talk of Audemars Piguet’s departure from the prestigious Richemont Groupdominated watch fair. So, just what precipitated this? “We’ve been presenting at SIHH for nearly 20 years now, and it’s really helped us grow,” says Audemars. “Back in 2000, AP was selling watches through agents and multibrand retailers. At this point, the big luxury groups really started to grow and they used their size to take control of the market and push out the independent brands. That’s when we decided to verticalise our agents, or risk being left out,” he adds. The decision was 186 —
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a costly one, but the gamble paid off, helping AP get to the next stage and find new points of sale. “We’re very grateful for the platform that SIHH provided us. But we’ve evolved in a way that now makes the classic fair format irrelevant for us,” he confirms. THE ART PROJECTS Throughout our interaction, the term “direct access to customers” constantly surfaces. It’s not a luxury every brand can afford, but for Audemars, there’s more to it than the appeal of cutting out middlemen. Which explains the brand’s ongoing partnership with events such as Art Basel and the Montreux Jazz Festival – two major flashpoints on the global art and music circuit. “Contemporary art is a way to introduce the world of art to all customers. But what’s more important is to transform the company. We don’t want to collect art, we want to be transformed by it,” says Audemars, who believes artistic vision is the key to successful and transformative design. “Artists have the capacity to see things from a different angle and when you work with them, you can sometimes perceive what they can see and then change the way you’re doing things.” He’s referring to Origins: The Art Projects from 2011, in which British photographer Dan Holdsworth shot the Vallée de Joux through his unique perspective. “His images made us reassess the way we looked at the vallée and our own history; what our independence means to us,” he adds, reaffirming his faith in the arts by stating that the brand would not be as revolutionary as it is, were it not for its involvement with the arts. It’s clear that the brand is guided by a sense of rootedness. There’s an unflinching dedication to aesthetics, which reflects in its architectural choices. Case in point: the recently commissioned expansion
WORDS: PARTH CHARAN. IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES (MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL). PHOTO: SUN LEE (CODE 11.59 CHRONOGRAPH)
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t hasn’t been an easy time for the Swiss watch industry, and yet Audemars Piguet – one of its brightest stars – has managed to sidestep major economic landmines, with steady profits highlighting the last six years. It’s a remarkable feat that’s been achieved partly on the back of its most revolutionary product, the Royal Oak, and partly due to the foresight and gumption of a board of directors that’s helmed by people still carrying the Audemars name. People such as Olivier Audemars, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and a towering, breathing repository on all things horological. The greatgrandson of Edward Auguste Piguet, he’s been integral in steering the family-owned company to safe and sumptuous harbours. Dressed in his trademark tan leather jacket with the brand logo embroidered onto it (you’d be forgiven for thinking he was a former marine), he sat down with me at the recently concluded 2019 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie to throw some light on the changes sweeping the world of watches.
"WE'VE EVOLVED IN a way that now makes the classic fair format irrelevant for us" of AP’s Maison des Fondateurs museum, located at the workshop in its original abode, the Vallée de Joux. “What we wanted to do with this atelier museum was something that would be very different from a normal museum, but still be representative of AP. But we wanted to integrate it with the landscape. It’s on the one hand very different, yet, at the same time, respectful of our environment.” THE NEW KID The need of the hour, however, is for the brand to diversify. Over the years, the Royal Oak has pretty much come to define the brand. But AP might have a new icon on its hands, with the new CODE 11.59 series. The name is actually an acronym for Challenge, Own, Dare, Evolve, with 11.59 being a reference to the last minute of the day – not the sort of detail you’d want to bring up at a cocktail party at all. It was roughly 40 years ago that AP broke every rule in the book by unleashing the Royal Oak onto an unsuspecting world. The watch went on to revolutionise the industry, setting a new standard for the durability of luxury watches. “At AP, we always endeavour to make watches one can wear all the time,” says Audemars. The CODE 11.59 series, therefore, is a bit of a risk, just like the Royal Oak was four decades ago. But while it diversifies the brand’s primarily octagonal portfolio, it might also alienate the buyer for whom Audemars Piguet is synonymous with Royal Oak. It’s for this reason that AP’s created such an extensive line-up, with six calibres in the collection, three of which are brand new. Audemars himself is sporting the CODE 11.59 Perpetual Calendar during our interview, but the Chronograph is the centrepiece: built with an in-house integrated chronograph Calibre 4400 that’s been five years in the making. Along with this, the CODE 11.59 Selfwinding – powered by the new Calibre 4302 – is likely to be the talking point of the season. Throw in the Openworked Tourbillon and the Minute Repeater versions and you have a collection that’s hard to match in terms of sophistication. “A long time ago, we decided to create integrated movements that didn’t require us to make the components thinner, and therefore reduce their durability,” Audemars tells me, fondly examining his Chronograph. There hasn’t been a launch of this magnitude for practically two decades from AP. So, as far as bidding adieu to the fair is concerned, it couldn’t have picked a more stylish way to do it.
Audemars Piguet CODE 11.59 Chronograph
Dior Men’s Spring/Summer 2019 show Scenographie; (Right) Kim Jones hard at work
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Future
Proof After a hugely successful debut season, Dior’s artistic director Kim Jones discusses how he’s taking one of the world’s most revered fashion brands into the new era
IMAGE: JACKIE NICKERSON (KIM JONES), ADRIEN DIRAND (SCENOGRAPHIE)
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Whichever way you cut it, the fashion industry has rarely looked as healthy as it does right now. Menswear, in particular, is thriving. It’s currently growing at a rate that’s outpacing even womenswear and on track to pour some $460 billion into the global market by 2020. But what remains surprising is not the sheer volume of fashion brands out there at the moment – not to mention various diffusion lines, celebrity labels and countless collabs – but how few of them remain truly consequential. In the same way that you need not have watched a single tennis match to have heard of Roger Federer or have seen a single film in years to appreciate the significance of The Godfather series, there are a handful of brands whose reputations extend beyond fashion alone. And it’s something Kim Jones knows all about, since he’s worked at most of them. After graduating from London’s famed star-making fashion college, Central Saint Martins (whose alumni include Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Riccardo 189
“From a creative point of view, Dior is much more fun.When you see the clothes constantly, you have more time to rethink and process them. It’s a much more organic way of working” Tisci and many others), Jones launched an eponymous brand, before landing roles at a series of the world’s best-known fashion houses. There were stints at Hugo Boss, Mulberry and then Alfred Dunhill, at which he won the British Fashion Council’s Menswear Designer of the Year, in 2009. But it was with his arrival at Louis Vuitton some two years later that Jones would make his name on the international stage. There, he quickly established himself as a restless designer, someone who managed that almost impossible task of having a finger on the pulse of what’s cool, while staying attuned to what kept the cash registers ringing. He demonstrated an uncanny ability to take the very essence of a legacy brand and translate it into something people would want not just now, but in years to come. Louis Vuitton, you might think, would be the pinnacle of someone’s journey in the fashion world. Yet Jones wasn’t done climbing. Last January, it was announced he would be leaving LV after presenting his final show – a collection of 52 intricate looks that were capped off by a final lap alongside fellow fashion icons Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss. But those left wondering where Jones would end up did not have to wait long. His arrival at Dior Men was revealed in March, but the designer made it official (in the way that all good things are these days) with an Instagram post. Jones uploaded a shot looking out of a window at 190
Christian Dior’s favourite flower, the Lily of the Valley, stamped on a sumptuous shirt; (Right) A wave of pink backstage promises a blooming summer
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IMAGE: MORGAN O'DONOVAN (SHIRT DETAIL), WINTER VANDENBRINK (MODELS BACKSTAGE)
Dior’s famed Paris headquarters, as he – and the fashion house – prepared to face a new era. The caption read, simply: “Day 1”.
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loved my time at Louis Vuitton,” Jones tells GQ, amid preparations for his pre-fall show in Tokyo this past November, “but Christian Dior is a couture house, with an atelier – it’s the dream. Dior represents the best of the best. Simple as that.” Not that there was much time for Jones to reflect on the milestone. Just a couple of months after arriving, Dior Men’s new artistic director would send his debut Spring/Summer 2019 collection down the runway at Paris Fashion Week. And as anyone with a working internet connection will now know only too well, it was a sensation. A changing of the guard that won universally positive reviews for its lighter, brighter, more energetic take on the house. “I had an idea of Dior and the pieces I thought would transfer into Dior’s new chapter. I’ve used the house colours and patterns and taken pieces from his interiors and family archive as a reference,” says Jones. “It’s all Dior, pre-Dior really. I never take things literally. I take them and I reinterpret them. For the first show, I wanted to surprise people.” To do it, Jones equipped himself with a trip to the Dior archives, soaking up as much research as possible about Dior’s life and interests – from his love of flowers, gardening and the arts, to his homes and even his beloved dog, Bobby – as well as references from the early years of the house. “I looked at the amazing archive and at Mr Dior’s personal life before and during Dior couture. It was all very, very fast – we had two months,” says Jones. “The atelier is truly amazing, so this collection was really inspired by the conversations that took place there, and seeing the archives and looking at things like the designs of pockets helped me come up with various design solutions. The heritage at Dior is incredible and the respect for it is so great, it inspired me to keep building the legacy,” he says. Indeed, you didn’t need to look far to notice signs of the old Dior in the new one. There was an updated Dior logo on jewellery, based off a design from the 1920s, the house’s signature cannage “woven” pattern that Jones laser-cut into trench coats and bags, and a version of the brand’s iconic saddlebag, this time updated into super-cool cross-body, backpack and belt-bag versions. “Energetic, respectful to the house and referencing Mr Dior’s personal world and life – but for 2019,” says Jones of his first Dior Men collection. “To me, it’s all about playing with the house codes and using the savoir faire of the atelier and archive pieces to make them modern and relevant. We have used couture detailing and techniques, but with
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modern fabric developments and craftsmanship,” adding that, because Dior collections are produced in an atelier – an on-site studio in which the clothes are made – there is even more scope to experiment with different techniques and fabrications in real time. “The system is completely different from that of brands where everything is based on a manufacturing process,” he explains. “Here, we follow a couture process; we have constant access to the garments and we’re free to do everything we imagine. It’s fantastic! At Louis Vuitton, the clothing was produced at the factory, so we only saw the garments at the fittings. From a creative point of view, Dior is much more fun. When you see the clothes constantly, you have more time to rethink and process them. It’s a much more organic way of working.”
IMAGE: MORGAN O'DONOVAN (SADDLE BAG-CROSS BODY, BACKPACK, BELT-BAG), WINTER VANDENBRINK (SHOE)
The iconic Dior saddle bag, updated into super-cool cross-body, backpack and belt-bag versions; (Below, left) Pink sneakers from the collection
This, a mix of old and new, of reimagining the past to create the future, is classic Jones. And none of it should come as a surprise to anyone with even a passing interest in his career. This is, after all, the man who brought streetwear label Supreme to Louis Vuitton. Jones was keen to bring a similar experimental and collaborative approach to his time at Dior. At his Spring/Summer 2019 collection, it was hard to miss the giant teddy bear version of Christian Dior at the centre of the runway, a piece courtesy of American artist KAWS. Designer Matthew Williams, of streetwear label Alyx, created chunky Dior buckles, which models wore on caps and bags. Then there’s jewellery designer Yoon Ahn who created signature rings, ear studs, necklaces and more. It’s a refreshing approach. After all, the fashion industry is not what it used to be when Mr Dior was still around, and today, the demands on designers include overseeing not just clothes, shoes and bags, but fragrances, sunglasses, store designs, even entire advertising campaigns. It’s a lot of work. And it makes sense to build a team of people whose skills you admire. “It’s nice to have an outside source,” says Jones, of his love of collaboration. “Whenever I work with an artist, I give them an idea of what we need but then respect their vision to do what they want to do, that’s the secret of a great collaboration.
“Matthew Williams is a friend of mine, and I love the buckles he does, so rather than use copies, I had him make originals. He also has a great understanding of Dior and is one of the artists that I want to work together with in the future. “Yoon is part of the studio – I thought it was nice to have someone that was working on custom jewellery. Her interpretation of Dior is fantastic, and she really gets the kind of things I like.” He may have a new team, but one thing from Jones’ Louis Vuitton days has not changed. Despite the demands of his place at the helm of one of the world’s biggest fashion houses, he retains a travel schedule likely to provoke feelings of envy or exhaustion – or a mixture of both; forever posting from South Africa, Japan, Utah and beyond (and that’s just in the last few weeks). “I still travel a lot because I want to see the whole world before I die. I want to visit every country and see all the fabulous things there are,” he says. “We are very fortunate to live on this planet.” At a time when designers can be heavy-handed – all too quick to simply wipe the slate clean upon arrival, and transplant a brand’s legacy with an aesthetic of their own – Jones’ strength has always been his keen sense of how to keep one foot in the past and the other in the present. His eye, though, is always on what lies ahead. 193
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WORDS: PARTH CHARAN
Smart, intuitive and adaptive to change: The 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLE is the pinnacle of SUV evolution
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T
he new-age commandments of vehicular luxury dictate that the car you’re in cut down on the one thing that seems to be an increasingly limited resource: human effort. The vehicle in question here does the job quite effectively, numbing the tedium of an endless American expressway through a heady mix of space-age electronics (including a semi-autonomous driving mode), adaptive suspension and plush interiors. The state of Texas is a fairly perplexing choice of destination to test the all-new Mercedes-Benz GLE. It’s almost always eclipsed in size by gargantuan pickup trucks, and America’s aversion to cornering roads limits its ability to show off its dynamism. But there’s a logic behind the apparent arbitrariness of the destination: You see, the US was where the GLE’s forbearer, the original “M-Class” or “ML”, was built. Times were simpler then, and pickings were slim if you wanted a premium SUV, the assumption being that, if you were willing to roughneck your way into marshlands and swamps, luxury wasn’t your top priority. How times have changed. Carmakers appear to be falling over themselves trying to prove that, short of orbiting the moon, there isn’t much that SUVs can’t do. The ML and, subsequently, the GLE have gone a long way in furthering that argument. They’ve also sold over 2 million units since 1997. And the latest model is clearly one of the most wholesome SUVs in the market.
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The GLE also appears to have gone through a considerable makeover – its curves have been accentuated to create a more athletic frame. What appears to be a curtailed design actually masks the fact that this car is longer by about 104mm. The wheels are almost AMG-sized, the eyes are narrower but, more importantly, it’s got that lithe muscularity that’s become the mainstay of Gorden Wagener’s handiwork. As Chief Design Officer at Daimler, he’s the man behind the brand’s new face: the wide grille, the swooping curves and the softened edges are all trademarks of his penmanship. Remember Merc’s spectacular Vision concept? That was him too. Standing at a ranch near the Mexican border, Wagener, dressed in a plaid shirt and cowboy boots, appears to have taken to the Texan way of life. But the GLE appears at odds with the rustic outdoors. It’s just settled down after a minute-long jig demonstrating the rap-videoworthy buoyancy of its hydraulic E-Active air suspension system. Wagener gestures towards the car’s shoulder line with the air of a sculptor: “The GLE has what you call ‘Coke bottle’ hips, which gives them great presence,” referring to the pantheresque, crouched-forward stance of most modern-day Mercs. But this suspension unit is a lot more than a party trick. Although the car now rides on larger tyres and gets plenty of ground clearance, certain sections like a dried-up river crossing I encounter later during my drive require careful articulation, to be accompanied with individual suspension adjustment. That’s right – each wheel can be individually adjusted and the car 196 —
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what We like
How thorough the changes are; E-Active suspension; smooth powertrain What we don’t
A lot of the car’s Level 2 autonomous functions won’t make it here, such as cruise control-regulated semi-autonomous driving
WORDS: PARTH CHARAN
this is CLEARLY one of the most wholesome Suvs in the market
can practically “bounce” its way out of any quagmire. It also comes with a Curve Function that continuously reads the surface of the road and adjusts the suspension to provide you optimum comfort. Having said that, the GLE still has some way to go when it comes to displaying proper coupé-like dynamism. It prefers a more gentlemanly approach into corners and would rather you not do them too quickly. Merc also seems to have scrubbed off the dead wood from the former generation’s interiors, instead lavishing them with the entire gamut of technological features found in its “future tech” parts bin. This includes the MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) interface that allows you to talk to the car through a Siri-like “Hey, Mercedes” feature, processing voice commands to carry out pretty much any internal, electronically operated, multimedia function. Gesture control functions, ambient lighting, massage modes and automatic steering wheel and seat adjustment (after you enter your height into the car’s system) mean the GLE’s packed to the rafters with all sorts of intuitive tech. Driving across Texas for nearly 300 miles, it becomes pretty evident that the top-end GLE 450 petrol is the absolute business, loaded with all the optional bells and whistles. The 3.0-litre, six-cylinder petrol unit’s got an AMG-ish 376hp of power and 500Nm of torque. It’s a mild-hybrid system, which provides a boost of power and torque when needed, soaring towards the redline with controlled enthusiasm, cogs shifting imperceptibly thanks to the seamless 9-speed gearbox. It’s also got a six- (400d) and fourcylinder (300d) diesel option, though it’s uncertain just which ones will make their way to India. The new GLE then remains the ideal car to demonstrate the sort of progression that Mercedes-Benz has seen in the 25 years since it entered the Indian market, and why it continues to dominate the luxury market. It marks a huge shift in the way luxury SUVs operate and the kind of technology they can carry without becoming encumbered by them. Simply put, the GLE’s bonkers suspension and incredible electronics package warrant hyperbole. Because at the moment, there are few internal-combustion cars as advanced as this treading the planet.
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k k c c a t e S D d e
FYI y The Wrangler comes with electronically operated differential locks, as well as front and rear skid plates
Jeep Wrangler Arguably the face of modern-day off-roading, the Wrangler’s set to return this year, and has been sufficiently contemporised to be the ultimate tool for heavy-duty mud-slinging. The 2019 edition’s got totally revamped interiors, including a 7.0-inch multi-display touchscreen (with a display unit that measures pitch and roll) and bigger headlamps. Entry and departure angles have also been reworked, improving the car’s water-wading abilities, which the overall aerodynamics of the car have been upgraded to improve onroad drivability.
2019 seems to bode well for everyday mobility. You won’t be taking the detour home any more, especially if you’ve got your eye on these
Looks like BMW’s chosen to answer the question, “How does one improve one of the best-handling compact luxury sedans in the world?” with an all-new 3-Series. The architectural underpinnings are stiffer, lighter and more agile, the design’s also redone (thankfully the kidney grille isn’t gargantuan) both inside and outside and there’s now a range of advanced driver assist programs which make it safer and smarter. This one’s set to become the benchmark once again.
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WORDS: PARTTH CHARAN
BMW 3-Series
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Mercedes-Benz V-Class Isn’t it about time we got our own luxury minibus? The Mercedes-Benz V-Class has the sort of specs and proportions that can make limousines look passé, and the grunt to leave most SUVs feeling winded. Top that with swivelling chairs, amphitheatric levels of space and world-class interiors, and you have a rather obvious carriage of choice. Especially if travelling with an entourage is your thing. And your dog. An entourage for dogs, if you please, because this thing’s got room for all.
Toyota Camry Hybrid
Audi Q8 Coupé SUVs are all the rage, and Audi’s decided to cash in with the upcoming Q8. Sitting atop the brand’s SUV pyramid, this is the slickest-looking Q there is, and it isn’t afraid to make a design statement with its large air-intakes, high shoulder line and muscular wheel arches. It’s likely to pack a 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel, which is good for about 286bhp of power and 600Nm of torque – the sort of credentials that have everyone scrambling for their cheque books. Audi’s patented Quattro AWD system is a standard fitment, as is the knob-less MMI system featuring three touchscreens, haptic feedback and a bigger view of Audi’s popular “virtual cockpit”. Salivating yet?
FYI y The Q8 is loaded with tech including adaptive cruise assist, a 360-degree camera and lane-change warning
Let’s face it, the car passing itself off as the Toyota Camry Hybrid in India, though immensely capable, was getting a bit long in the tooth. So it was about time Toyota gave us an update. And that’s essentially what we’re looking at – a completely revamped version of one of the bestselling sedans in the world. The latest Camry Hybrid is based on the TNGA platform, making it more impact-resistant and dynamic around the bends. It’s even got an all-new look that can barely be traced back to its boxy predecessor, with sharp, rakish lines that give it a sleeker form. The best part? Its hybrid powertrain means better fuel economy.
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THE MAN BEHIND THE
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What we talk about
when we talk about
LOVE For nearly three decades now, renowned couples therapist Esther Perel has had a ringside view of marriage and infidelity. Here, in a freewheeling chat, she talks about how the institution has been disrupted and how to navigate desire in a long-term relationship
ILLUSTRATION: FRANK COTHAM
INTERVIEWED BY ALEXANDRA SCHWARTZ
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T
he psychotherapist Esther Perel knows how to work a room. Since the publication of her first book, Mating In Captivity, in 2006, she has travelled the world, speaking to audiences about love, sex, intimacy and infidelity: the nuts and bolts of romantic life. (Those who do not have an opportunity to see her live can watch her on the TED stage, where her videos, subtitled in more than 30 languages, have been viewed tens of millions of times.) Perel, who grew up in Antwerp as the daughter of Holocaust survivors, got her start as a family therapist, focusing on issues of trauma and cultural conflict. Couples have since become her clinical and theoretical specialty. In a style marked by humour, frankness and empathy, Perel’s talks and books take a counter-intuitive approach to answering provocative questions: How did the romantic couple become the primary unit of organisation in society? Can romantic desire truly be sustained? Is infidelity ever a good thing? In 2017, Perel gave her fans access to a different side of her work. In her Audible podcast Where Should We Begin? – which recently aired its third season – Perel conducts therapy sessions with real couples, one per episode, allowing listeners unprecedented access to her cloistered consultation room. The appeal of the show is partly voyeuristic; it is fascinating, not to mention unnerving, to hear other people expose their most intimate feelings and conflicts. It is also educational, poignant and often profound, a public service in a culture that loves to talk about love, but rarely does so with honesty or humility. I first spoke with Perel in 2017, and again last year on stage at the New Yorker Festival, where we discussed her own family background, her theories about romantic life and her role as a mediator between a couple’s competing narratives. This interview has been edited and condensed. My first question has to do with your idea that the couple has never before been such a central unit in our social organisation. Why is that the case? Because never in the history of family life was the emotional well-being of the couple relevant to the survival of the family. The couple could be miserable for 30 years, you were stuck for life, you married once – and, if you didn’t like it, you could hope for an early death of your partner. Marriage was a pragmatic institution. You need to have it but, once you’re in it, it’s not a great thing, and certainly not for the women. And then we added romantic needs to the pairing, the need for belonging and for companionship. We have gone up the Maslow ladder of needs, and now we are bringing our need for self-actualisation to the marriage. We keep wanting more. We are asking from one person what once an entire village used to provide.
Do you think people are aware of any of this when they go looking for a partner? We’re looking for “the one”, even if we’re a little bit cynical about that idea— No, we’re not cynical at all. OK. Marriage is an aggregate of multiple narratives. It belongs to the people who are in it, but it also belongs to the people who are supporting it and living around it: family, friends, community. As I once said, and it became a kind of a saying for me, when you pick a partner, you pick a story, and then you find yourself in a play you never auditioned for. And that is when the narratives clash. The first thing you can ask yourself, from a crosscultural point of view, is: Is marriage between two people, in your mind? Or do you come from, or still live in, a culture in which marriage is between two families? That will inform everything about the boundaries around a relationship. You’ve practised therapy for over 30 years. In that time, relationships have changed significantly. We have gay marriage. Women are having children later than ever before. Technology has become a huge factor in how we look for partners, and then in how we maintain contact with them. What are some themes around relationships that you see at the moment? We come from a model where relationships, in our village lives, in our communal structures, were very clear. The community gave you your sense of identity. You knew who you were. You knew what was expected of you, and you knew how to behave. You had a lot of certainty, a lot of belonging, zero freedom. And we have urbanised, and we have moved, and we have taken on radical individualism and aspirational materialism, and all of those things have created a playing field in which relationships are undergoing rapid changes. We have no idea how to handle them. Rules have been replaced by choices. But at the same time we have massive uncertainty and massive self-doubt. Every second book about relationships these days is about belonging and loneliness. So I think that’s the big thing that is changing: What used to be defined by rules and duty and obligation now has to take place in conversation. And so everything is a freakin’ negotiation! You negotiate with your partner about what matters, where you want to live, if you want to have children, how many children do you want to have, if this is the right time to have children. It’s an absolute existential smorgasbord. But at the same time it’s very difficult to have to define everything ourselves. We are not just in pain for no reason, is what I’m trying to say. So our expectations are really high. Our performance is somewhat lower. Right. Good summary. 203
I want to ask you about apology, which is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, especially around #MeToo. How can we expect people who have done real wrong to others, in relationships, or in public, or at work, or wherever, to apologise? Something in our society seems not to allow it. The potential admission is too great. Admission and apology are not the same. There are two justice systems, right? There’s the restitutive system and the retributive system. One is focused on healing. One is focused on punishment and vengeance. The South Africans created a system for accountability: You don’t apologise; you stand accountable. You describe the facts and you leave the other person the freedom to decide what they want to do with it. If they want to forgive, because it’s in their interest to forgive – not to forgive as in saying it was OK, but just not to live being eaten up with the hatred, with the hurt – that’s their freedom. You own your wrongdoing. That’s one piece of the apology. In terms of healing, what we do know is that pain is universal, but the meaning that we give to our pain, and the way we narrate our pain, is highly cultural and contextual. And there is nothing that helps us deal better with those experiences than our connections with others. Social connection is the No 1 salve for most of the pain, and the hurt, and the trauma that we will experience. And communities that come together naturally will provide that kind of buffer. What makes the trauma worse is not the event itself. It’s the isolation, the secrecy and the shame that you have to then live with afterwards. I know it professionally, but I also know it through my own personal life. I mean, I grew up in that experience. I watched it every day. You grew up in Belgium, as the daughter of Holocaust survivors. And your parents each were the only survivors in their respective families. What was that like as a child, growing up in that kind of family? What was their marriage like? For a lot of people who married after World War II, it was, “I’m alone, you’re alone, I’ve lost everything, you’ve lost everything, let’s get married.” That really was the way a lot of people mated. And many of them, once they had begun to reconstruct life, didn’t really have much in common. I happened to be quite lucky. My parents met the day of liberation, on the road. But she was more educated; he was rather illiterate. So he adored her for life. And it was actually a very nice thing to watch. But I think the more interesting distinction between my family and other families – and you can extend this to all trauma – is that after this kind of experience, sometimes there are people who are not dead, and sometimes there are people who are alive. Some people survive, and some people thrive again. There were homes that were morbid – you just couldn’t enjoy, because, if you enjoy, if you experience pleasure, it means you’re not vigilant, it means you’re 204
not on guard, it means you’re not watching for the next danger. And then there were the other people who really kind of decided to take life as a vengeance, and to live it at every moment. And I am very lucky in that sense, that I was in a household that veered to that extreme. You couldn’t be sad for two minutes, or somebody would say, “What’s wrong? What’s the problem?” You never could have a problem that was worthy enough of being sad, because who can compete with Auschwitz? So, you know, it’s not like this is such a piece of cake, either. You went to study in Israel, and then in the US. And when you got to the US, you met the man who became your husband. I thought I would be in New York one year, and I never used my return ticket. And when did you start working with couples? Why was that a focus? I was interested in issues of immigration and identity very early on. I studied cultural relations and religious identity, the formation of identity. How does it change in terms of voluntary migration or forced migration? And, particularly, with an interest in looking at Jewish identity and how it evolves differently depending on the national context. What is the difference between Jews in America, in Australia, in South Africa, in Germany and Argentina, in Israel? I spent 20 years, before any writing about sexuality, working on culturally, racially and religiously mixed families and couples, here and abroad. My book Mating In Captivity was a complete accident. I had no idea I would ever write about any of the subjects that I’ve been talking about for the last few years. And couples therapy came out of family therapy, because in the past people came to therapy because a child had problems. That was the legitimate reason for which you could come as a family. Often, the child was the symptom-bearer of issues that were actually located in the relationship. And, gradually, you would try to bring the people to come. Couples therapy is the most difficult. It’s often the most useless. But it’s the best theatre in town. I find it captivating. You have a podcast called Where Should We Begin?, in which you do a session of couples therapy with a couple that’s never come to you before. We hear a couple being totally honest with each other – or not honest, in a lot of cases – totally raw, either way, in this very, very intimate setting. The idea to do this show is insane! How did you decide to do it? I was the consultant on the Showtime series The Affair, for the first two seasons. And June Cohen, from TED, came to a conversation with Audible and with Jesse Baker, who is my executive co-producer. They wanted a kind of a podcast that would be “he said, she said.” And I said, “That’s not at all the way a couple works, actually. It’s what I say that makes you say the
ILLUSTRATION: BOB MANKOFF/CARTOONCOLLECTIONS.COM
Often, the child was the symptom-bearer of issues that were actually located in the relationship. And, gradually, you would try to bring the people to come. Couples therapy is the most difficult. It’s often the most useless. But it’s the best theatre in town. I find it captivating opposite of what you actually originally intended to say, that then makes me say the thing that I’m going to regret afterwards, or that I’ve been meaning to tell you for all of God knows how long.” It’s much more circular. And I said, “If you want, you should come and listen in on a session, and see if you think there is material.” And it has become, without my thinking of it, almost like a public-health campaign for relationships. You don’t feel it as much because you’re saturated with content here, but it’s an incredible thing for people who are coming out of situations where there are no narratives that they can embrace for how they want to live their relational life. And that’s when you start to
really see the impact of such a thing that a book could never, ever do. One thing that strikes me is the amount of raw emotion here. Often, on your show, men are really vulnerable and open up about the pressures that are on them and the feelings that society tells them not to express so openly. I’m curious what you hear when you listen to one of these clips. I hear the plight of a responsible son – who, by the way, at 21, gave the passport to his mother. He gave citizenship to his mom, and with that he set her free, and for the first time she could go out and get a job. And it has completely transformed the entire 205
relationship between the mother and the father, who had met only one time before they got married, and had a rather miserable time. There is a certain kind of son who is often living between a rather rough, sometimes grandiose father and a helpless mother. And he finds himself covering the unholy triangle. That’s this boy. And so he wants to save her. And he actually did, by giving her the papers. And he finds himself now with this woman, actually re-enacting, for the second time, a similar story. I have never really participated in the notion that men don’t talk, men can’t talk about their pains. I mean, they have a different way of going about it. Sometimes they need more time and you just have to shut up and wait – be quiet. And if you don’t interrupt, it will come. And then you have to provide a compassionate environment that allows them to experience their experience, whatever it is. You know, everybody’s talking about vulnerability. And I’m not sure that “vulnerability” is necessarily the best word to use
when talking with men. I talk about “integrity”, and I talk about “honourable”. Meanwhile, they’re sharing plenty of vulnerability, but it is a word that feels more masculine to them. But would that maybe reinforce a certain sense of cultural coding? We all know that “honour” is considered a masculine quality. No, no. Because “honourable” is about how you behave and how you feel that you are maintaining a sense of integrity and pride in your behaviour. “Honour” is the counterforce of shame. It’s OK to use language that makes sense. If I like art, you’re going to work with me and use metaphors that are related to art. And you don’t feel like you are playing into a code because you’ve used language that speaks to me. I’m not afraid of that. What is important is the experience itself. I didn’t make this man cry; it was waiting to come out. So you just need to make room and stay out of the way. Am I missing something in your question?
ILLUSTRATION: DAVID SIPRESS
I have never really participated in the notion that men don’t talk, men can’t talk about their pains. I mean, they have a different way of going about it. Sometimes they need more time and you just have to shut up and wait _ be quiet. And if you don’t interrupt, it will come
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I think it’s a hard question in general. We’ve recently seen how deep some of these assumptions about what masculinity is, what femininity is, go, and also how painful and destructive they really can be when they don’t go questioned. I’m not busy feeling like I’m reinforcing a status quo. I think that, at this moment, there is such a sense that every word is fraught and every word can lock you into something. To me, most couples come because they’re stuck. They’re repeating the same thing over and over again, and they really think that if they do it one more time, it will finally yield some better results. Of course, it doesn’t. So what you do in couple’s therapy is like crust – you just try to loosen it first. That experience of him actually talking like that to her allows her to see him very differently. Then you watch to see if her response to his new behaviour is going to be adapted to what she’s seeing, or if she’s going to continue to do the usual without noticing that he’s completely different in front of her. And what you’re aiming for is flexibility and adaptability, so that these two people can engage in multiple different configurations with each other, and not all the time the same thing. Let’s go to another clip: Now we’re with a much older couple. They’re two divorce lawyers, and they’re actually divorced, but, interestingly, they found that divorce has enabled them to have a better relationship than they did when they were married. Why did this couple come to you? This is a couple who is essentially done being a couple. It’s an unusual moment to start couples therapy. Or they’ve actually finally become the couple they always wanted to be but couldn’t under the rubric called marriage. They had to step outside of the institution and all its constraints, and all its political infrastructure, to actually be able to finally define the relationship they wanted. I have an idea of why they came, but I don’t think it’s their idea of why they came. Their idea of why they came was because they feel very strongly about not having a divisive divorce. She came out of a background in which Mom and Dad constantly berated each other, and she wanted so much for that not to be replicated. So they have actually done a lot to protect the son. They travel together. They have family holidays together. They have everything they actually wanted without the power dynamic that poisoned their relationship. I think they came because, on some level, I think he fantasised that he would want to have a new relationship with her that is also romantic, and intimate. But he never said it, and so it never came out. Maybe it’s my fantasy. One thing we don’t hear in the clip is that, towards the end of their relationship, he had an affair. Right. Your last book, which is called The State Of Affairs, is a rather unconventional view of affairs – what they
are, and what they do to a couple. If I understand correctly, for the last seven years of your therapy practice, you’ve been seeing couples exclusively who were dealing with infidelity. And your idea is that it does not necessarily spell the end. It just spells one end. I wanted to write a book about modern relationships through the lens of infidelity, because infidelity is about betrayal, and secrecy, and deception, and duplicity, and love, and passion, and lust, and vengeance, and possessiveness – it’s the entire human drama, and, I thought, except for the opera, where does one go for this? So I thought it is an incredible lens to look at one of the worst crises: How did infidelity become, in such a short amount of time, one of the leading causes of divorce in the West? That’s a very important change to marriage, you know. You mean because, before, people would not divorce over it? Well, marriage was basically this institution that you did once, and that was it. There was no exit. And basically fidelity was an imposition on women, in order to know whose kids you need to feed and who gets the cows when I die. It was an economic thing. It had nothing to do with love. And men practically had a licence to cheat, with all kinds of explanations for why it’s in their nature to roam. So infidelity has existed since marriage was invented. It’s the only commandment that is repeated twice in the Bible, so somebody understood the human inclination for transgression. I wanted to understand, Why do people cheat? And why do people in happy relationships cheat – which is never assumed to be the case because the notion is, if you have everything you want at home, there should be no reason to go elsewhere. Hence, if you go elsewhere, there must be something missing. It’s a tautology. I’ve seen so many people who are actually not at all in bad relationships who have divorced. So, then, why has divorce not made infidelity obsolete? Do you have a working definition of love? It’s a verb. That’s the first thing. It’s an active engagement with all kinds of feelings – positive ones and primitive ones and loathsome ones. But it’s a very active verb. And it’s often surprising how it can kind of ebb and flow. It’s like the moon. We think it’s disappeared, and suddenly it shows up again. It’s not a permanent state of enthusiasm. I’m 35 years in a relationship, I practise. And I have two boys – I practise. It’s not just romantic love. I think that definition today of love – “you are my everything” – where you really see it, this complete exaltation, is in wedding vows. Have you ever noticed? I mean, it’s, “I will wipe every tear that streams down your face before you even notice it’s going down.” I think a realistic vow is, “I will fuck up on a regular basis, and, on occasion, I’ll admit it.” 207
THE ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Featuring Alibag’s most spectacular homes ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST
` 200 MARCH-APRIL 2019 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HOMES IN THE WORLD
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Lush We live in an age of almost infinite abundance, and it’s often impossible to keep on top of everything, let alone the good bits. These are 40 of those good bits, that’ll keep your 2019 hashtag-lit
WORDS: PARTH CHARAN (ROYAL ENFIELD)
ROYAL ENFIELD’S NEW INTERCEPTOR 650 This is the motorcycle that’s catapulted Royal Enfield into the big league. The Interceptor 650 (and its fraternal twin, the Continental GT 650) is a throwback to the British-owned Enfield’s 1960s-era motorcycles, and a technological leap for the now-Indian brand. Powered by a smooth 650cc parallel-twin motor, with horsepower to match the heft, it is satiated, performancestarved Enfield and motorcycle enthusiasts’ need for highway-worthy speed, and has put RE on the international map. A slick, visually authentic and robust neo-retro standard, the Interceptor rumbles not with the molar-rattling reverberatory engine note of a Bullet but with the potential to be a great touring, project and city bike – all rolled into one.
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If Swiss luxury watch wunderkind Breguet ever puts out a greatest hits album, this ought to be in the top ten. It may not be the most complicated watch out there, but it’s still a stellar example of horological ingenuity. Unlike most watches, where the chronograph function is built into the timekeeping mechanism, the 7077 is independently powered – ensuring greater accuracy and a more efficient use of power. And with the dial’s signature Breguet symmetry inspired by original pocket chronographs, it’s got the looks, and tech, to make it a coveted collector’s item.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Four years since Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film, The Hateful Eight, his ninth is set to be a stunner. Set in 1969, the same year as the Manson murders, Tarantino’s script, five years in the writing, is set to be an interweaving tale somewhat similar to the narrative gymnastics of Pulp Fiction. Not convinced? How about Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as the leads? Sold. In other news, we’re equally excited about 2019’s other sure-fire smash: Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman.
THE 5G LAPTOP Imagine a laptop that doesn’t need storage, that allows you to play games with the same responsiveness as a wired internet connection and which doesn’t need to be on Wi-Fi to access the web. That’s what 5G is going to do. Intel’s upcoming XMM 8000 series modems are designed to bring blazingly fast cellular connectivity to laptops and will be available for Microsoft, Dell, HP, Asus and Acer from the second half of 2019.
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THE LAST OF US PART II The survival horror game The Last Of Us came out in 2013 to rave reviews: On Metacritic it has an average score of 95 out of 100. No wonder that hopes are so high for Part II, which is due this year. Set five years later in the same post-apocalyptic America as the original, you play as an older version of Ellie, the first game’s 14-yearold heroine. The story centres around a mysterious cult – more details will be revealed over the course of the year.
WORDS: PARTH CHARAN (BREGUET), CHARLIE BURTON (THE LAST OF US PART II, THE 5G LAPTOP), STUART MCGURK (ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD). IMAGE: ANDREW COOPER © 2018 CTMG,INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD)
BREGUET TRADITION CHRONOGRAPHE INDÉPENDANT 7077
The best FEMALE-LED TV of 201.09 Jodie Comer’s creepy smile. Elizabeth Moss’ steely-eyed determination. Nicole Kidman’s poker-faced intensity. It’s all coming back, and then some. This summer’s got a bumper crop of femaleled, critic-pleasing scripted drama to your personal screens: second seasons for BBC America’s Killing Eve and Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s breakout comedy from 2017) and HBO’s Big Little Lies (Meryl Streep joins the party), and a third season for the awardwinning dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale. But there’s also fresh new stories to get into: spy thriller Traitors, set in 1945 London and starring new kid on the block Emma Appleton as Feef Symonds, and Amazon Studios’ pacy drama thriller The Widow, starring Kate Beckinsale. Until summer arrives, you’ve got the many lives of American actor-comic Natasha Lyonne (Orange Is The New Black) in Amy Poehler’s Russian Doll (Netflix) to keep you in the loop.
Uber takes to the skies It’s a long way before the metro and the coastal road in Mumbai see the light of day. But if Uber has its way, you’ll be able to ditch your car and hitch a ride on a flying taxi by 2023. Built by Bell Helicopter, the five-seater, six-tilting-fan-driven hybrid electric Bell Nexus looks like something straight out of Tony Stark’s lab. With plans to roll out the flying cab service in Mumbai once LA and Dallas have taken off, you could glide into your office at Nariman Point from your Juhu home, or fly at a top speed of 241kph to your bestie’s wedding in Pune, which is well within the taxi’s 241km range. All you’ll need is a 40x40ft helipad. 212 —
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Watchmen , the TV Series
WORDS: NIDHI GUPTA (FEMALE-LED TV), KATHLEEN JOHNSTON (SEEDLIP), MIHIR SHAH (UBER BELL NEXUS), GEORGE CHESTERTON (WATCHMEN, HILARY MANTEL, RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2). IMAGE: ALAMY (KILLING EVE), REX FEATURES (WATCHMEN)
If there was ever a format that could – finally – produce a workable version of an Alan Moore graphic novel, then this HBO series would be it. One of the many recurring problems of the film adaptations has been the impossible task of squeezing Moore’s irrepressible intertextuality and layered narratives into a popcorn blockbuster. Hopes for this new adaptation of Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen may not be high, but at least they are off the floor. It has Don Johnson in it, which is a promising start. Damon Lindelof of Lost is the showrunner, so the ending may be a bit of a concern.
NONALCOHOLIC SPIRITS LIKE SEEDLIP From the third of Gen-Zers who claim to be teetotal (yawn) to the Baby Boomers trying to watch their weekly units after being scolded by their GPs, everyone is drinking less these days. Cue the rise of low-ABV or non-alcoholic spirits, with Seedlip front-andcentre. It’s sugarfree, sweetener-free, contains zero calories and tastes bloody brilliant in cocktails, as well as with tonic. Another grownup but soft spirit is alt-gin Cedar’s Crisp. Serve with ice, Svami tonic and a slice of cucumber. And for beer drinkers, there’s also Coolberg, India’s first zero-alcohol beer.
THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT BY HILARY MANTEL We know what happens, but Mantel’s trilogyconcluding version of the fall of Thomas Cromwell is bound to be worth a read. The Tudors are not exactly short of flatpack TV documentaries or bombastic literary interpretations, but these are the books that give historical fiction a good name. And did we mention the first two won back-to-back Booker Prizes?
RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2’s MULTIPLAYER MODE Fair to say that the multiplayer mode for the biggest game release of all time is... Anticipated. But, just like its more nuanced gameplay, the online mode for Red Dead Redemption 2 looks set to be something far more than the usual bloodbath free-forall populated by sugar-hyped 12-year-olds. Rather, says creator Rockstar, it will focus far more on “role-playing and morality”, as groups of online players form rival gangs, camp in campsites they built themselves and even take part in a spot of fishing. Expected to roll out of beta later this year.
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ROYAL SALUTE MASQUERADE BALL GIFT PACK
The new Amazon Echo Dot
One of the best bottles that Chivas Regal has to offer, the Royal Salute is a gloriously long-aged blend, whose entire range is in deference to military salutes, and is the only blended Scotch whisky that starts at 21 years of age. Initially produced in 1953 for the Queen’s coronation and made in the Scottish Highlands, this special Masquerade Ball Festive Gift Pack is perfect – as the name suggests – as a gift, but just as good just for you. But if you really want to empty your bank account, the Royal Salute 62 Gun Salute, for which the whiskies used to make the blend are aged for at least 40 years, costs a cool `2.25 lakh.
The Amazon Echo Dot has always been the runt of the Amazon smart-speaker litter, with the actual speaker of the original incarnation barely better than most mobile phones. That, however, has changed with Amazon’s fourth generation, the modern pebble-like Dot, which is now fabric-covered like its sleek older brothers and a remarkably good speaker for its size. It won’t exactly fill a room with banging bass, but it’s not at all tinny, especially for its size, and is a genuine bargain.
BILLIE EILISH If 2018 was Dua Lipa’s year, then 2019 belongs to Billie Eilish, the 16-year-old pop prodigy with a billion streams and counting. With an eerie sound best described as Lana Del Rey-meets-Lykke Li and cutting-edge cool girl style, this LA native is not your average teen. In her biggest hit, “bellyache” (which has clocked well over 111 million Spotify streams), she takes on the character of a psychopath who’s just killed all her friends. Standard.
WORDS: STUART MCGURK (AMAZON ECHO DOT, ROYAL SALUTE MASQUERADE BALL GIFT PACK, TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM), KATHLEEN JOHNSTON (BILLIE EILISH), GEORGE CHESTERTON (TOY STORY 4), ROB LEEDHAM (APPLE PENCIL). IMAGE: ALAMY (TOY STORY 4), GETTY IMAGES (BILLIE EILISH, TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM)
THE NEW TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM Over a decade in the planning, three years in the building, over $1 billion in the spending and at least six months late: Really, though, did anyone expect Tottenham’s new 62,062-seater stadium to actually be on time? But by this month, finally (hopefully) it will open. Not only will it be London’s biggest club ground, but, like American football stadiums, the aim is to keep you there the whole day, and so it boasts a variety of bespoke bar and lounge spaces and everything from gourmet fast food to Michelinstar-calibre dining with a view of the action to match. There’s even a cheese room.
The final scene of Toy Story 4 (probably) The Toy Story franchise is now spoken of in the same breath as It’s A Wonderful Life or Tokyo Story. Watching Toy Story 3 – released nine years ago – was almost unbearably traumatic, so the next episode will probably be even worse. These films are imbued with a sense of dread that goes beyond a “good cry” – they are like staring into the abyss with Ingmar Bergman dressed as Mr Potato Head. The final scene of Toy Story 4 has been described by Tom Hanks as “a moment in history”, during which it is said the cast were so emotional they could barely read their lines.
THE LATEST APPLE PENCIL “Who wants a stylus?” exclaimed Steve Jobs when introducing the iPhone. “You have to get ’em, put ’em away, you lose ’em. Yuck!” Who knows what Apple’s co-founder would have made of its second Pencil, but we can tell you this iPad Pro companion is infinitely better than its predecessor. Why? It attaches magnetically to the side of your tablet and charges wirelessly. A godsend for designers. MARCH 2019
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AN OBLIQUE SUIT by DIOR Kim Jones, the British fashion designer recently installed in the top job of the men’s arm of Parisian label Dior, has done much to build excitement around the brand he now helms – in particular, his inaugural SS19 collection. The piece everybody wants a piece of? The new drapey, toga-esque double-breasted Oblique suit, inspired by the lines of the couture dresses first designed by the founder of the house, Monsieur Christian Dior. Although the style is available in midnight blue (as seen on Donald Glover) and black, for our money the candyfloss pink version – as sported by Darren Criss at the Emmys last year – is the one that you want.
Porsche Taycan This is the year that’ll revolutionise electrification. Tesla did the disruption, now it’s Porsche that’s leading the charge. The Taycan has been designed from the ground up as an EV, rather than adapting an existing platform. So it promises the sort of dynamics
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B&O E6 HEADPHONES Audio aficionados know that when it comes to stereo sound, Bang & Olufsen is the daddy. Its latest buds are aimed at those who have an active lifestyle, which is why they fit comfortably, feature a braided cord that is moistureand tear-resistant and are embedded with small magnets so that when you take them out of your ears they click together (and power down) to keep them safe around your neck.
that are a Porsche trademark, its underfloor batteries permitting a centre of gravity lower even than the 911’s. Electric motors mounted on each axle give it all-wheel drive, there’s torque vectoring and power outputs vary from 402bhp to more than 600. So it won’t be slow. It charges faster than ever too: The Taycan’s 800V electricity supply system converts a 20-minute charge into a 400km range (more than 480 on a full charge) and Porsche is part of an industry-wide push to ramp up Europe’s charging infrastructure. Still want that combustion engine?
WORDS: STUART MCGURK (DIOR), PAUL HENDERSON (PORSCHE TAYCAN, WILSON CUSTOM TENNIS RACQUET), CHARLIE BURTON (B&O E6 HEADPHONES), KATHLEEN JOHNSTON (COLORSXSTUDIOS), ROB LEEDHAM (GOOGLE PROJECT STREAM), TEO VAN DEN BROEKE (BURBERRY TRENCH) IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES (DIOR), REX FEATURES (BURBERRY TRENCH)
Google Project Stream With TV and music now being dominated by streaming services, it’s only a matter of time until the same happens to gaming. At least that’s what Google’s betting with the Project Stream pilot scheme it launched last year, in which a limited number of players got to journey through Greece in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for absolutely free. The only catch? While streaming means you don’t need souped-up hardware to play the latest games, Google’s scheme does require broadband speeds of 25 megabits per second. Yikes. Alternatively: Microsoft’s Game Pass is a monthly subscription service that allows you to download more than 100 games, including Forza Horizon 4, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and all the 2019 Xbox One exclusives.
COLORSXSTUDIOS The Berlin-based COLORSXSTUDIOS is fast becoming the go-to place online to discover new music, with an impressive catalogue of studio sessions and a knack for platforming the most exciting artists from around the world just before they blow. Famed for its unique pop-colour aesthetic and ability to make songs go viral like there’s no tomorrow, alumni include Jorja Smith, Tom Misch, Mabel, Kali Uchis and Jacob Banks.
WILSON CUSTOM TENNIS RACQUET In the good old, bad old days, when John McEnroe wore short shorts and used a wooden Wilson Jack Kramer, if you wanted to emulate the man himself your options were to swear a lot and then throw your racquet in disgust. Nowadays, on-court violations and audible obscenities are very much frowned upon and hurling racquets unforgivable... But then again, no one in their right mind would want to smash a Wilson Custom. Simply log on to the site, choose your weapon and then design the colour components, decals, grips and logos to personalise it to your heart’s content.
A BURBERRY TRENCH In his inaugural collection for British brand Burberry, nascent creative director Riccardo Tisci put the classic trench coat back at the centre of the label’s offering. Stands to reason, then, that this spring’s essential outerwear item is one of the aforementioned trenches. Whether you opt for something cut from winter-ready cashmere or wool by Burberry, a less embellished style from that other British stalwart Macintosh or something in highshine leather or nylon from Prada, right now a slim-cut trench is the only coat to go for.
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MY BLOODY VALENTINE’S new ALBUM THE STRETCH-KNIT BACKPACK from HERMÈS First came the sock sneaker that enveloped your feet like a giant cloud and fit just snug, leaving enough room for your paws to breathe. The same soft, technically sound stretch-knit now shapes your newest backpack out of Hermès, to swing over one shoulder (only millennials wear them strapped on behind their backs). These bags are a grown-up version of the tiny crossbodies that did the rounds last year. Plus, they’ll pack in all your essentials – including sunblock and the latest Keigo Higashino for your next hammock lie-in on a sandy white beach.
Samsung Galaxy Flex Back in the 2000s, you couldn’t move for Motorola Razrs and the Matrix-inspired Nokia 8810s, but they all went out of vogue as soon as the iPhone launched. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold promises to usher in that golden age of telephonic design back to its glory. Still, this is no ordinary flip phone: A massive 7.3-inch infinity flex display that you can fold like a book, and open into a tablet, it also boasts of two batteries and a solid three-camera system, will be able to run three apps at once, and hold 512 GB of Universal Flash Storage. At the very least, it will spare us from the current status quo, in which every glass handset with skinny bezels and a camera bump looks exactly the same.
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WU WEAR, THE merch TO COP IN 2019 The newly relaunched Wu-Tang Clan merchandise is still at the apex of cool and there’s a recent paparazzi shot of Bella Hadid wearing the tracksuit bottoms to prove it. The Wu-Tang Clan were the first hiphop group to foray into fashion, making the Wu Wear line – which has evolved so far past hoodies that there’s even a collaboration with Clarks (seriously) – even more irresistible to all those Supreme-obsessed hypebeasts.
WORDS: GEORGE CHESTERTON (MY BLOODY VALENTINE), SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR (HERMÈS), ROB LEEDHAM (SAMSUNG GALAXY FLEX), KATHLEEN JOHNSTON (WU WEAR). IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES (MY BLOODY VALENTINE)
Or even albums, which may or may not arrive in 2019. My Bloody Valentine has missed more deadlines than Virgin Galactic, but there is hope that its long-awaited new material will finally emerge, with talk of two albums’ worth of presumably very noisy but eerily melodic songs. Oh, and Eno is involved. It’s never been resolved whether Kevin Shields is like Michelangelo with the Sistine Chapel or just lazy. Try not to get your hopes up too much.
OK, technically Attenborough isn’t joining Netflix in the sense that he’s leaving the BBC, but he is getting streaming-curious, as he’s set to provide the voiceover to its upcoming natural history series Our Planet. Made by veterans of landmark BBC series such as Planet Earth and Blue Planet, Our Planet has been four years in the making, involving more than 600 members of crew filming in 50 countries around the world. More intriguingly, it’s been made in conjunction with the World Wide Fund For Nature, which helped gain access to filming locations, and will ensure the impacts of the likes of climate change, deforestation and overfishing are not glossed over. Our Planet will be released on Netflix in April.
Cars exhibition at the V&A Understand the history, technology, fashion, branding and importance of cars with the Cars exhibition at the V&A running from November 2019 through to April 2020. If you’re a selfconfessed petrolhead or you’re just intrigued by the history of cars, this exhibition is one not to be missed. Also check out Food: Bigger Than The Plate at the V&A. Looking at everything from gastronomic experiments to synthetic meat, this exhibition brings together the politics and pleasure of food, raising questions of sustainability and the future of food commerce. From May until October 2019.
TOKYO Rugby World Cup in 2019? Tick. Summer Olympics a year later? Oh yes. Fair to say, then, that some of us are about to clock some serious air miles in the next couple of years to get to Japan’s capital city. Add to that a domestic bullet train that’s never been easier to navigate (all the Japanese language signs are now also in English; a seven-day nolimited rail pass is only around `20,500 for tourists) and it’s time to visit the Land of the Rising Sun.
WORDS: MADDIE O’REILLY (CARS EXHIBITION), STUART MCGURK (DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, TOKYO, SALLY ROONEY), ZAK MAOUI (BIODEGRADABLE FASHION, CAMP: NOTES ON FASHION), BILL PRINCE (LEICA Q-P). IMAGE: DUFFY ARCHIVE (CARS EXHIBITION), GETTY IMAGES (DAVID ATTENBOROUGH), ALAMY (TOKYO), JOHNNY DUFORT 2018 COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART (CAMP: NOTES ON FASHION)
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH JOINING NETFLIX
BIODEGRADABLE FASHION Adidas has teamed up with Parley to prevent plastic from entering the world’s oceans. The result? A range of shoes constructed from a yarn that is entirely made from recycled plastic. We reckon we’ll start to see a lot more of this. Samuel Ross’ A-Cold-Wall* is now looking to see how it can make its brand more ecofriendly, and the designer is in talks with a supplier that recycles plastic found at the bottom of the ocean.
Leica Q-P
SALLY ROONEY Take your pick from “Salinger for the Snapchat generation”, “Jane Austen of the precariat” or “the 27-year-old novelist defining a generation”. For Sally Rooney’s part, talking to the Guardian, she simply described her novels as “just a bunch of people talking to each other”. Which, actually, is also true. Rooney’s novels are deceptively simple: surgically precise yet emotionally vast. Her first, Conversations With Friends, put her on the map. But it was her second, Normal People, released last August, that saw her longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Take note: the talent of a generation is here, no matter how you put it. Alternatively, read Guy Gunaratne. A former video journalist working in conflict zones, his dazzling debut novel, In Our Mad And Furious City, is set over 48 hours in a North London estate, charting a conflict over a killing as told by five narrators.
There are those that will tell you that you don’t need to spend an extra `35,000 to secure one of the new, sleeker-looking Q digital cameras from Leica, but those people will be wrong. Granted, the technology is the same as that which debuted with the original point-and-shoot in 2015 (full-frame sensor, a “fixed” lens capable of switching from 28mm to closer-cropping 35mm and 50mm formats), but the removal of the iconic red dot, an engraved top plate and a new matte black finish secure the Q-P a starring role in every serious snapper’s arsenal. Alternatively, consider the more recent CL, which doesn’t feature a fullframe sensor but does allow the use of interchangeable lenses, including (with an adaptor) Leica’s M-class series of optics.
CAMP: NOTES ON FASHION Opening in May, the Metropolitan Museum will play host to a brand new exhibition framed around Susan Sontag’s seminal 1964 essay “Notes On “Camp””. Under the watchful eye of Anna Wintour and Andrew Bolton (the museum’s curator and husband to US designer Thom Browne), the exhibition will come to life after the annual storied Met Gala, which this year will be hosted by Wintour, Harry Styles and Lady Gaga. Across the pond, check out Only Human: Photographs By Martin Parr. Held at the National Portrait Gallery in London from March to May 2019, this will focus on what it means to be British, with photographs of the country’s most famous faces, from Vivienne Westwood to Grayson Perry.
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A BUCKET HAT We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Bucket hats are officially back. Available fully feathered at Valentino, heavily logo-ed at Fendi and cut from minimal nylon at Prada, the trend is full 1990s throwback, and all the better for it. To avoid pastiche, pair yours with a classic car or great coat.
TOWN Game Freak, the genius team behind Pokémon, does not create games without Pocket Monsters very often. So when Nintendo announced in September that it’d be developing a new game called Town for the Switch, it was tantalising, confusing and completely thrilling to hear. Very little is known about it, besides that the game’s titular town is under siege by monsters from beyond its borders and that it has a cutesy look and a turn-based battle system. We’re frothing at the mouth. Alternatively, the Switch will not be lacking in Game Freak or RPG alternatives. Pokémon Let’s Go came out last year, a main series Pokémon game is expected this year and the Switch is offering ports of Tales Of Vesperia and Final Fantasy’s biggest successes. For the first time in history, it’s a good time to be a Nintendo fan who likes RPGs.
A pair of Berluti CaractÈre cowboy boots Believe it or not, cowboy boots (otherwise known as Western boots) are big news this season. Our advice, however, would be to avoid anything finished with spurs or embroidered with cattle insignias and to invest instead in a pair of this season’s slickest Western-inspired boots. Defined by an oversized outsole, a heavy-duty Cuban heel and a higherthan-usual shaft (not to mention an angular vamp), the best styles can be found at Parisian bottier Berluti, the Caractère being a particular highlight. Wear yours with a pair of slim, mid-wash jeans, a navy pea coat and a saddleful of attitude.
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Microsoft HoloLens 2 Microsoft’s HoloLens – a mixed-reality device allowing you to interact with “holograms” projected into your field of vision – is mainly being used by professionals. There are hospitals, for instance, where surgeons use it to assist with operations. The second version, due out in 2019, is not only more powerful but supposedly more accessible, with a lower price and greater comfort. In other words, this might be the year that mixed reality comes into the home – particularly if you’re a gamer. Alternatively, you might get your hands on Google’s rumoured HoloLens competitor this coming year. Maybe.
WORDS: TEO VAN DEN BROEKE (BUCKET HAT, BERLUTI BOOTS), DAVID LEVESLEY (TOWN), CHARLIE BURTON (MICROSOFT HOLOLENS 2), STUART MCGURK (AVENGERS: ENDGAME)
AVENGERS: ENDGAME Little film, niche, indie, you probably haven’t heard of it, no big stars, no big names... OK, so yes, the final instalment of the Avengers franchise, the culmination of more than a decade of Marvel film buildup, needs a promo bump like the Bible needs a cover quote. But on the other hand, the first instalment was way more fun, exciting and genuinely emotional than a film crammed with that many superheroes had any right to be. So, clearly we’re excited by how it all ends, not least how the makers will get around the tricky fact (spoilers!) that half the cast died in the first one and we know for a fact most will be back, as various sequels are already in the works.
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SIGNE VILSTRUP SIGNE VILSTRUP
SAVE THE DATE 7TH EDITION OF THE
VOGUE WEDDING SHOW
2-4 AUGUST, 2019 NEW DELHI TO REGISTER visit www.vogueweddingshow.in BY INVITATION ONLY
Subject to change
JACKET, SHIRT, TROUSERS, BRIEFS; ALL BY GUCCI
BLAZE OF GLORY In an era of cutting-edge menswear, designers are going all out to ensure you have an audacious summer. Feel the heat PHOTOGRAPHED BY R BURMAN
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STYLED BY VIJENDRA BHARDWAJ
FLASH DANCE Pop flavours and reflective ravers – the brightest and shiniest stars of the season come in hues of scarlet, orange, yellow and pink to go with your ice lolly. PRINTED COAT, TROUSERS, SHOES; ALL BY PAUL SMITH COAT, TROUSERS; BOTH BY CANALI. PARKA BY NOUGHTONE. SHOES BY ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA. WATCH BY AUDEMARS PIGUET
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PARKA, TROUSERS; BOTH BY DSQUARED2. JUMPER BY NOUGHTONE
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PRINTED COAT BY PAUL SMITH. COAT, TROUSERS; BOTH BY CANALI. PARKA BY NOUGHTONE. SHOES BY ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA. WATCH BY AUDEMARS PIGUET
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DENIM DO OVER Severe. Stonewashed. Oversized. Massively distressed. Denim is the guinea pig for designer experiments right now. DENIM JACKET, JEANS; BOTH BY JUST CAVALLI. SHOES BY CLARKS. HYDRANGEAS BY INTERFLORA
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COAT, SHIRT, JEANS, SNEAKERS; ALL BY BALMAIN. TRENCH COAT BY SAHIL ANEJA
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CHEST OUT A two-piece worn over naught but your bare sternum isn’t a style move – it’s a revolution. SUIT BY UNIT BY RAJAT SURI. SHOES BY ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA. ASIATIC LILY BY INTERFLORA
COAT BY DHRUV KAPOOR. COAT, JACKET, TROUSERS, ALL; BY DHRUV KAPOOR
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TALISMAN TALKS Borrow from tribes all over the world and wear your global heart on your sleeve. JACKET, SHIRT, KURTA; ALL BY SUKET DHIR
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ANGRAKHA SHIRT, PANTS; BOTH BY RAJESH PRATAP SINGH
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GET SHORTY Tiny shorts were across the runways – neoprene at Prada, tie-dyed at Louis Vuitton, retro magic at Dries van Noten. It’s time to make leisure days your leg days. TURTLENECK, SHORTS,
COAT BY DHRUV KAPOOR. HAT, SOCKS; BY PRADA. COAT, JACKET, ALL TROUSERS, SNEAKERS BYKAPOOR GUCCI ALL; BY DHRUV
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PULL UP YOUR SOCKS
Make like Carl Lewis and embrace halfcalf socks to wear with your chunky sneakers. Toned legs are mandatory. SOCKS BY PRADA. SNEAKERS BY ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA PHOTOGRAPHER AGENCY: THE ARTISTS PROJECT HAIR: MICHEL BALTAZAR/ JEAN-CLAUDE BIGUINE MAKE-UP: AMANEET KAUR CHOPRA FASHION ASSISTANTS: SELMAN FAZIL, SHAEROY CHINOY MODELS: MADHUR SINGH CHAUHAN, RAHUL RAI/ FEAT. ARTISTS; STAS KOMAROVSKI/PURPLE THOUGHTS, SAURABH CHAUDHARY/NINJAS MODEL MANAGEMENT, ANHJIN KAKAR PRODUCTION: MEGHA MEHTA
COAT BY DHRUV KAPOOR. COAT, JACKET, TROUSERS, ALL; BY DHRUV KAPOOR
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Shreya Kamalia & Almona Bhatia
Ashvin Agarwal
Vivek Karunakaran, S. Badrinath, Kunal Daswani, Vikram Prabhu & Armaan Ebrahim at the Audi display
NIGHT OUT WHAT: GQ Gentlemen’s Club WHAT: The Leela Palace, Chennai Rounding off 2018 was GQ Gentleman’s Club Chennai, in association with Chivas Studio, Audi and Etihad Airways, held at The Leela’s sumptuous Library Blu lounge bar. The city’s cool set, which included the likes of film stars and sportspeople, were out in full force to enjoy an evening of high style, convivial conversation, food and drink.
Chivas 18 Gold Signature display
Vikram Cotah at the Etihad Airways display
Heeba Sait, Omar Sait & Shivangi Lolayekar
Kalyan Menda & Anish Arora
Sreeram P Hemang Badani
Cary Edwards & Sahithya Jagannathan
Rosella Stephen
Mariam Chaitanya Rao & Farah Agarwal Haroon & Osman Abdul Razak Darshana B K.M. Chengappa & Nidhi Verma
Aishwaryaa R. Dhanush
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST
` 200 JULY-AUGUST 2018 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HOMES IN THE WORLD
INDIA
GQ ACCESS
The Johnnie Walker Bar
RAISING A TOAST WHAT: GQ Bar Night by Johnnie Walker WHERE: F Bar & Lounge, Jaipur The Pink City Played host to the GQ Bar Night by Johnnie Walker. The who’s who of Jaipur gathered for an evening of great food and drinks, making it a night for the books. Aparshakti Khur
ana
Fateh Singh
Vivasvat Pal Karauli &Anshika Singh
Yogesh & Rutvi Chaudhary Garima Chowdhary & Rohit Kamra
Guests having a good time at GQ Bar Night
The F Bar & Lounge
Paritosh Mehta & Khushboo Mehta
DJ Arsh Khan
Prateek Nigam, Sarthak Kasliwal & Radha Nigam
Namrata & Gaurav Bardiya
Meghna Jain Sidharth Sehgal Ayush & Aakriti Periwal
The Johnnie Walker display
Vikas Patni
Tanvi Bhatia
Anish Thomas
Kunal Singh
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THE LAST WORD IN TRAVEL FEB-MAR 2019 | 150
INDIAN EDITION
WHERE TO GO IN 2019 Hot hotels in Asia, the ultimate cruise, new extreme adventures
FOOD SPECIAL!
INDIA’S TOP 50 RESTAURANTS WHY GOA IS OUR NEW FOOD CAPITAL HOW TO EAT LIKE A LOCAL IN VENICE
EXOTIC HOLIDAYS Chile, Namibia Sweden, Queenstown Berlin, Guizhou A R I A N N A H U F F I N G T O N + D I I P A K H O S L A+ M A N I S H M E H R O T R A
WHERE TO BUY
The products featured editorially have been ordered from the following stores. Prices and availability were checked at the time of going to press
A Acne Studios acnestudios.com Address Home addresshome.com Adidas Originals Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4120 2306; Delhi, 011-4152 4433 Alexander McQueen Available at The Collective Alchymi alchymibathrooms.com A. Lange & Söhne alange-soehne.com Anemos anemos.in Armani Exchange Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4002 4412; Delhi, Select Citywalk, 011-4168 0071 Asian Paints Mumbai, 022-2242 1758 Arrow Mumbai, 022-2649 1572; Delhi, 011-3222 6339; Bengaluru, 080-6726 6286 Ashish N Soni ashishnsoni.in Audemars Piguet Mumbai, 022-2655 2727; Delhi, 011-6516 0170 Audi Mumbai, 022-6616 8000; Delhi, 1800 270 1331; Bengaluru, 080-4517 0000 Azga azga.in B Balenciaga balenciaga.com Bally Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4053 4149 Balmain balmain.com Bath & Body Works Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4269 3400 Baro Mumbai, 022-4034 4888 Bella Freud bellafreud.com Beyond & More beyondnmore.com Beyond Designs beyonddesigns.in Bombay Lifestyle Co. bombaylifestyleco.com Berleigh Mumbai, 022-6170 1599; Delhi, 011-4087 0737 Berluti Delhi, DLF Emporio, 78761 23123 BMW Mumbai, 022-6714 5100; Delhi, 011-4309 0000; Bengaluru, 080-2222 4544 C Calvin Klein nykaa.com Calvin Klein Jeans Mumbai, 022-2648 4794; Delhi, 011-4108 9582; Bengaluru, 080-4098 6229 Canali Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4009 8685; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4604 0731; Bengaluru, UB City,
080-4173 8997 Cartier Mumbai, 88795 05003; Delhi, 011-4134 5688; Bengaluru, 080-4124 8471 Casa Paradox Delhi, 98103 49493 Cipriani Homood Available at Ottimo Christian Louboutin Mumbai, 022-4347 1787; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4101 7111 Church’s church-footwear.com Clarks Mumbai, 022-2648 4550; Delhi, DLF Promenade, 011-4650 8023; Bengaluru, Phoenix Marketcity, 080-6726 6052 Clove clovethestore.com Cocoon Fine Rugs Mumbai, 022-2492 8647 Comme des Garçons comme-des-garcons.com Corneliani Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4604 0722; Bengaluru, UB City, 080-4173 8170 D Daks daks.com Diesel Mumbai, Palladium, 022-2661 8282; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4052 3915; Bengaluru, UB City, 080-4173 8004 Dries Van Noten driesvannoten.be Dsquared2 dsquared2.com Duke & Dexter Available at Berleigh Dunhill dunhill.com D’Decor ddecor.com Dior Men Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4600 5900 E Ermenegildo Zegna Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4347 1261; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4606 0999 F Fendi Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4604 0777 Fenesta fenesta.com Fossil Mumbai, 022-4005 0207; Delhi 011-4166 4016; Bengaluru, Phoenix Marketcity, 080-6726 6060 G Giorgio Armani Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4102 7122 Giuseppe Zanotti giuseppezanotti.com Good Earth Mumbai, 022-2202 1030; Delhi,
011-2464 7175 Gucci Mumbai, 022-6747 7060; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4647 1111 H Hands Carpets & Rugs Mumbai, 022-2632 0609 Hermès Mumbai, 022-2271 7400; Delhi, 011-2688 5501 Herringbone & Sui Mumbai, 80808 05895 I IDUS Delhi, 98715 00042 Ikka Dukka ikkadukka.com India Circus Mumbai, 90828 48076 Inhabit Hyderabad, 040-6598 6666 Iqrup + Ritz Gurugram, 95991 10672 IWC Mumbai, 022-2362 0275; Delhi, 011-4134 5678; Bengaluru, 080-4099 9621 Infinite Luxury Brands Delhi, 011-4698 0000 J Jacquemus jacquemus.com Jaeger-LeCoultre Mumbai, 022-6615 1308; Delhi, 011-2688 5040; Bengaluru, Zimson, 080-4098 2100 Jaipur Rugs jaipurrugs.com Jaquar jaquar.com Jeep Mumbai, 93264 67201; Delhi, 95109 95000; Bengaluru, 080-4936 3636 Jo Malone Mumbai, Palladium, 022-6237 5537 Josmo Studio Mumbai, 022-4079 4756 Just Cavalli justcavalli.com K Kent & Curwen asia.kentandcurwen.com L Louis Vuitton Mumbai, 022-6664 4134; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4669 0000; Bengaluru, UB City, 080-4246 0000 L’Occitane Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4004 3884 M MADS Creations Gurugram, 78350 97019 Massimo Dutti Mumbai, Palladium, 022-6237 0731; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-0259 5333 Matthew Miller matthewmiller.eu Miele miele.in
Mercedes-Benz Mumbai, 022-6612 3900; Delhi, 99992 00500; Bengaluru, 91085 35297 Mitesh Lodha Mumbai, 98330 00027 Momenti Available at Ottimo N Neil Barrett neilbarrett.com Nicobar Mumbai, 84480 95484; Delhi, 84480 95480; Bengaluru, 84480 95479 Nitin Kohli Home Delhi, 97170 37217 Noughtone Delhi, 98710 48006 O Off-White off---white.com Operae Home Available at Ottimo Organic Harvest organicharvest.in Ottimo ottimo.in P Panerai Mumbai, 022-2288 5052/53; Delhi, 011-2687 4050; Bengaluru, 080-4099 9621 Paul Smith Mumbai, Palladium, 022-6658 9960; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4604 0744; Bengaluru, UB City, 080-4173 8882/3 Pawan Sachdeva Delhi, 98110 17523 Pepe Jeans Mumbai, 022-2498 5020; Delhi, 011-2331 1304; Bengaluru, 080-4096 2266 Poltrona Frau Mumbai, 022-2261 4848 Prada prada.com R Raf Simons rafsimons.com Rajesh Pratap Singh Mumbai, 022-6638 5480; Delhi, 011-2463 8788; Bengaluru, 080-4132 9314 Richard Mille richardmille.com S Sadaya Guild sadayaguild.com Sahil Aneja Delhi, 011-4942 3786 Saint Laurent ysl.com Salvatore Ferragamo Mumbai, 022-3062 1018; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4660 9084; Bengaluru, UB City, 080-4302 0456 Sans Souci ss-gd.com Scarlet Splendour scarletsplendour.com Scotch & Soda Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4347 4094; Delhi, 011-4087 0514 Simone Mumbai, 022-7111 7700 Siddartha Tytler Delhi, 98100 22270 Spazio spazioliving.com Stanley Bengaluru,
080-6762 9000 Stella McCartney stellamccartney.com Studio Creo studiocreo.com Suket Dhir Delhi, 84476 56660 Sylvn Studio sylvnstudio.com T Taannaz taannaz.in Ted Baker Delhi, 011-2688 6070 The Collective Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4343 8888; Delhi, Ambience Mall, 011-4087 8888; Bengaluru, 080-4936 8888 The Decor Kart thedecorkart.com The Label Life Mumbai, 022-3077 0280 The Great Eastern Home Mumbai, 98691 64813 Thom Browne thombrowne.com Tissot Mumbai, Ethos, 022-6615 0351; Delhi, Ganga Ram Gallery, 011-2241 2241; Bengaluru, Just In Vogue, 080-6693 0104 Tisva lightsbytisva.com Tod’s Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4242 1818; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4103 3059; Bengaluru, 080-4280 0000 Tommy Hilfiger Mumbai, Palladium, 022-3072 8807; Delhi, Ambience Mall, 011-4087 0041; Bengaluru, Brigade Orion Mall, 080-2268 2091 Toyota Mumbai, 022-6192 7777; Delhi, 011-4657 7777; Bengaluru 080-3011 1600 Truefitt & Hill Mumbai, 77109 00096 Tumi Mumbai, Palladium, 022-6615 2295; Delhi, DLF Emporio, 011-4058 2318; Bengaluru, UB City, 080-4173 8948 U Unit by Rajat Suri Delhi, 98101 08221 V Versace Available at Infinite Luxury Villeroy & Boch Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4004 0014; Delhi, 011-4168 1414 Visionnaire visionnaire-home.com W Walter Van Beirendonck waltervanbeirendonck.com Z Zara Mumbai, Palladium, 022-4542 1800; Delhi, DLF Promenade, 011-4513 7124; Bengaluru, Phoenix Marketcity, 080-6726 6121 ZJM Exports zjmexports.com
MARCH 2019
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1 The Bombay Canteen’s Sameer Seth, Raul Raghav, Thomas Zacharias, Floyd Cardoz and Yash Bhanage
The setting for the Top Restaurant Awards 2018, at St. Regis, Mumbai
Excellence Award winner, SodaBottleOpenerWala’s Anahita Dhondy
NourishCo Beverages’ Kuttiah KS
Arianna Huffington
India’s F&B industry turned out in full force for the second Condé Nast Traveller & Himalayan Sparkling Top Restaurant Awards, held at The St. Regis Mumbai in December. Co-hosted by pastry chef Pooja Dhingra and restaurateur Manu Chandra, the awards, voted for by over 100 tastemakers, honoured India’s top 50 restaurants. Bespoke Partner for the celebrations was Johnnie Walker The Journey.
CNI’s Alex Kuruvilla Co-host Pooja Dhingra
HAS YOUR FAVOURITE RESTAURANT MADE IT TO THE TOP 50 LIST? Log onto: www.cntraveller.in/cnt-himalayan-top-restaurant-awards/ Bespoke Partner
Hospitality Partner
Co-host Manu Chandra
Wine Partner
Celebrate responsibly
Olive Bar & Kitchen’s AD Singh and Sabina Singh
Impresario’s Riyaaz Amlani
CNI’s Arjun Mehra
3
2
Rahul Bose
Indian Accent’s Manish Mehrotra
CNT’s Divia Thani
The Table’s Jay Yousuf, and Gauri Devidayal
Diageo Reserve Brand Ambassador, Khushnaz Raghina pouring the newly launched Singleton of Glendullan
Shenaz Treasury
Guests enjoyed Himalayan Sparkling water
Vicky Ratnani
Massive Restaurants’ Dildeep Kaur
Ranveer Brar
Sachin Mylavarapu
Jury member Shuchir Suri
Bastian’s Kelvin Cheung
3
Olive Bar & Kitchen Mumbai’s Rishim Sachdeva
Sula’s Rajeev Samant
4
Roshni Chopra
The “Himalayan top 10 Raw & Fine” list represents and applauds restaurants who differentiate themselves with their unique, naturally sourced ingredients that play a central role in providing a superior “raw and fine” experience, very similar to Himalayan Natural Mineral water which draws its uniqueness entirely from nature.
1 AnnaMaya, Andaz Delhi 2 Wasabi by Morimoto, The Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai 3 The Bombay Canteen Mumbai 4 The Table Mumbai 5 Yauatcha Mumbai 6 Artusi Ristorante New Delhi 7 Gunpowder Goa 8 Toast & Tonic Bengaluru 9 6 Ballygunge Place Kolkata 10 Masque Mumbai
Bawmra Jap of Bomra’s
5
Diageo’s Subroto Geed
Gusto Wines’ Kadambari Kapoor
Masque’s Aditi Dugar and Prateek Sadhu
Rahul Akerkar
Gul Panag
THE BEST OF MARCH IN STANDOUT STYLE
Signature Scents
Perfect getaways
Westside presents StudioWest Man – an exciting range of three perfumes that feel like second skin. Sensual, refined and luxurious, StudioWest Man 01 has notes of bergamot, aqueous, pepper, jasmine, cedarwood and musk, while StudioWest Man 02 reveals lemon, orange, ginger, mint, cedarwood and sandalwood. But if you are looking for something deeper, try StudioWest Man 03, which is a blend of violet leaf, patchouli, amber and musk.
A luxury resort chain with a “spirit of the land” philosophy, each property by Evolve Back is steeped in culture and nature. While the Coorg resort, Chikkana Halli Estate, is located in a 300-acre coffee plantation, Evolve Back Kuruba Safari Lodge, Kabini draws you into the social tapestry of the Kadu Kuruba tribe and wildlife. But Kamalapura Palace, Hampi, has stone-paved boulevards, arched hallways and regal chambers that are reminiscent of the locales of a glorious past. Tariff `16,700 onwards. For reservations call +91 80 4618 4444 or visit evolveback.com
Marine Time The all-new version of the Fifty Fathoms Automatique timepiece by Blancpain comes in an ebony-black hue with a satin-brushed titanium case. Robust and generously sized, it shows high-resistance to impact and corrosion. Despite offering all the technical guarantees of a diving instrument, it doesn’t weigh you down, making it perfect for the everyday as well. Measuring 45 mm in diameter and water-resistant to 300 metres, this watch also features a ratcheted unidirectional rotating bezel, fitted with a scratchproof domed black sapphire insert.
`1,495. Available exclusively at Westside
Price and availability on request. For more information, blancpain.com
Poco Power Xiaomi’s new POCO F1 offers superior performance and a day-long battery life, powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 845 processor. This is backed by the LiquidCool Technology that keeps the processor cool, preventing a screen freeze. Moreover, the AI-powered Dual Rear Camera ensures highquality photos, while the front camera has a 20MP high-resolution sensor, which makes for great selfies. Pre-loaded with Google Lens, the phone lets you identify and explore the world in a new way. `19,999 onwards. Available at Mi Home stores, Flipkart, offline partner stores and mi.com 246 —
MARCH 2019
In full bloom Paresh Lamba’s Floral Spring Collection welcomes the season with a flurry of vivid flower prints and embroidery against a canvas of garments that play with drapes. Bringing the subtle drama of youth and the freedom of reckless abandon to life is this breezy floral shirt made from georgette, a cascading waterfall jacket with spring’s favourite flowers and black embroidered cuffs contrasted with black embroidered trousers. `19,995 (Waterfall Jacket), `7,995 (Shirt), `9,995 (Trouser). Available at Paresh Lamba Signatures, 114, 2nd floor, Sri Sai Complex, MG Road, Bangalore - 560001
FORM IV (See Rule 8) Statement about ownership and other particulars about newspaper GQ (English) as required to be published in the first issue every year after the last day of February.
On lunar time The Grande Seconde Moon Black Enamel by Jaquet Droz is an exquisite timepiece, featuring an artistic black enamel dial and a moon phase complication. A fine tribute to the mysterious choreography between the earth and the moon, it stays true to the brand’s aesthetic. Its 18-carat red gold star appliques, and 22-carat gold moon crowning a black onyx moon disk houses the extraordinary treasure of watchmaking, making it a horological masterpiece.
1. Place of Publication
Conde Nast India Pvt. Ltd. 2nd Floor, Darabshaw House Shoorji Vallabhdas Marg Ballard Estate, Mumbai 400 001
2. Periodicity of its Publication
Monthly
3. Printer’s Name
Almona Bhatia for Conde Nast India Pvt. Ltd.
Nationality
Canadian (overseas citizen of India)
Whether a citizen of India?
Yes
Address:
21, Prem Court, Jamshedji Tata Road, Churchgate Mumbai 400 020
4. Publisher’s Name
Nationality
Canadian (overseas citizen of India)
Whether a citizen of India?
Yes
Address:
21, Prem Court, Jamshedji Tata Road, Churchgate Mumbai 400 020
`2,028,000. Available in Delhi at Johnson Watch Co. For more information, call 011-43509175 5. Editor’s Name
Stanley, India’s leading luxury furniture and home decor brand, presents MYSTIQUE – a masterpiece from their Static Sofa Set range. A contemporary design with modern functionalities, it features a high backrest with lumbar support and lift back seats. Better still, you can customise its legs, leg frame and metal accessories in brass, copper or steel. You can even coordinate the set with complementing centre and side tables. Price on request. Available at all Stanley stores across the country. For more information, visit lovestanley.com
CJ Kurrien
Nationality
Indian
Whether a citizen of India?
Yes
Address:
35 A Usha Sadan SB Singh Road Mumbai 400 005
6. Names and addresses of individuals Inc. who own the newspaper and partners or shareholders holding more than one per cent of the total capital
Sofa, so stylish
Almona Bhatia for Conde Nast India Pvt. Ltd.
1. Advance Magazine Publishers 4 Times Square New York NY 10036, USA 2. Conde Nast Asia/Pacific Inc. 4 Times Square New York NY 10036, USA
I, Almona Bhatia, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. Sd/Signature of Publisher Date: March 1, 2019
ILLUSTRATION: IVAN EHLERS
the last word
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MARCH 2019