Where are you from?
Bombay.
What do you do?
I am a Fashion Designer.
What are you wearing?
Quirk Box AW14 Jacket. Levi’s Jeans. Nike Shoes.
Who were your favourite designers at LFW this season?
ka – sha by Karishma Shahani
What are you currently listening to?
zaz – les passants
What are you up to this weekend?
Eat. Run. Sleep. Repeat.
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Lakme Fashion week, Mumbai.
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Aasia Abbas, 25. Fashion stylist. Likes Iris Apfel and Velvet Underground.
How do you describe your style?
Easy and free spirited.
What are you currently listening to?
Waiting Around To Die by The Be Good Tanyas
Fashion week. August 2014, Mumbai.
Kayaan Contractor, 28. Blogger. Loves sneakers, elephants, and Tina Fey.
Fashion week. August 2014, Mumbai.
Carol Humtsoe // in Anuj Bhutani menswear
Fashion week. August 2014, Mumbai.
“We both love wearing our eyebrows thick and listening to The Black Keys.”
August 2014, Mumbai.
Prerna Malhotra, 23. Designer
“I wear my comfo tee n pajamas. I stole the tee from my brother. “
What’s a comfo tee?
Basically my comfo tee is an over sized tee.
Amit Kekre, 39. Social explorer/Anthropologist.
“Mostly a pair of short cotton shorts. I’ve got a few…printed & plain.”
Astha Sethi. 25. Designer.
“Printed pyjamas with oversized shirts picked randomly.”
Nikhil D, 26. Fashion Stylist
“Old tee and PJs or boxers when I’m home in Delhi. Usually I pass out in whatever I’m wearing.”
Pranav Misra, 28. Designer.
Why are you asking? Is this for your blog?
Yes.
I have cotton & silk fabrics which I’ve cut to a lungi’s length. I like wearing them as drapes, like a lungi.
Kiran Jaisinghani, 33. Designer.
“Clothes that are three sizes bigger — usually shirts, salwars, or checkered dhotis. I’m really particular about what I pick to wear in the night than anything else.
And you don’t wear any of this in the day?
Never in the day. I am pretty much a truck driver at home.
Shibani Dandekar. Actor/Model.
“Loose tees or tank tops, and pajamas. I mostly wear men’s shirts that are same length as a really short dress. I have a few.
Legs are always bare for me. My favourite is this vintage black tee shirt that says Wu Tang. Got it long ago from NY somewhere.”
Elton Fernandez, 31. Hair/make up artist.
“Shorter than short boxer shorts and a loose vest. My favourite is this soft cotton young teenage girl shorts for 100 bucks from Hill Road.”
Sneha Arora. 28. Designer.
“I am almost a man when i go to sleep. I wear a pair of GAP boxers and a man’s tee. When I am working late I just sleep in my denims. I find them the most comfortable.”
Ragini Ahuja. Designer
“Easy breezy soft big big big tee shirts & shorts or pajamas.
One of my favourites is a big George men’s tee. XXXL. It’s 3 years old. I picked it up at the export house where I worked back in 2010.”
Krishna Mukhi, 29. Fashion Editor, Harper’s Bazaar India.
“My brother’s oversized tee, it comes till my knees. It’s black and white. And this another tee from FCUK; I wear it inside out cos I don’t like what it says.
What does it say?
I am not gonna tell you.
Yeeteng Ker Watankhah, 28. Pattern Cutter.
“Is there an easier question?”
Aparna Badlani, 35. Store owner.
“Usually a worn out tee and a pair of shorts. Have a bunch of A&F shorts. I probably wear some of my tees to the gym but not outside anywhere. Had a favourite — an Esprit tee — but it was in tatters, so had to throw it away.”
Himanshu Singh. Theatre actor/model.
“Nothing actually, to be honest. But only when I’m by myself.”
And when someone is around?
A pretentious night suit — pair of broad striped pyjamas and a loose buttoned shirt.
Shruti Bheda, 27.
“Gosh! It’s too personal.
Umm. Boy shorts & tee shirt.
If you use the original answer I’ll kill you.”
Rixi Bhatia, 32. Designer.
“Pajamas with prints and racerback tees. I buy them from thrift stores or roadside stalls on hill road.”
What kind of prints?
Cows and dogs…or just anything.
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Photographed at Lakme Fashion Week in August 2013.
Nidhi Jacob. Fashion editor, ELLE India. Likes this video.
Do you see a change in your style from what it was before?
Earlier I used to do a lot of clashing prints, nipped in waists, and more figure flattering stuff. Now I am moving towards more boxy mannish things..which is harder to do for my size but I am championing on.
Did you watch anything recently you liked because of its styling or fashion?
I watched this really good French film Fat girl. Then Tomboy. I won’t say I liked them for their fashion but they have really nice cinematography and they are good overall. Also, Reprise & Oslo, August 31st — both have interesting stories.
blogs that you read regularly
vanilla scented / it is minimal in a wearable way not a stern way. I am also trying to tone down my style to more basic.
Then there is this really cool tumblr called notpullteeth – – his blog is called pull teeth. It’s sportswear hip-hop but still very minimal.
we have no style.
Indian — nnyijir.blogspot.com by Renee Nabam. She is based in Bangalore. I think she’s got great movies music references and she really seems to be into the Japanese Korean thing.
then Dolly’s blog — alphabetagaga
jitterbug
lahlah doesn’t post much but hers is still my favourite.
And yeah, they all are from the Northeast.
Why do you think magazines don’t run enough stories about Northeast?
Because they think they are not mainstream enough?
What’s the most common thing people tell you when they see you after long?
“You’ve put on weight.”
How many years have you been attending fashion weeks?
I used to do backstage for Lakme…so about 7 or 8 now.
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Photographed at Lakme Fashion Week in August 2013
Kanishtha Dhankhar, 24. Miss India 2011.
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Photographed at Lakme Fashion Week in August 2013.
Malika Verma. Photographer, writer, stylist. Founder of Border & Fall. Lives in Bangalore. Likes En Inde & experimenting with sari. Wearing Shift.
“My wardrobe largely consists of cropped pants, neutral-coloured oversized tees, long jersey dresses, and saris.” //more
Ria Kamat. Freelance fashion stylist. In a dress by Goldie London.
Elton Fernandez. Make up artist. “I’m wearing shirt from Topshop, pants from Zara, earring from Udaipur.
I‘m in a stage where am just enjoying wearing black & white. I don’t know if it has anything to do with art or movies, but I’ve generally been listening to a lot of BIRDY. She can be melancholic but I love her voice and style.”
Shibani Dandekar. TV host/singer/model.
Meghna Bhalla, freelance fashion stylist. Wearing Nishka Lulla.
Backstage at Nishka Lulla.
Backstage at Shift.
Pallavi Singh. In between runway shows. Loves potatoes.
“It’s been a year since I completely shifted to Bombay. So everything is exciting — walking at LFW, meeting new people, working on new projects, and just living here.”
Are you a good cook?
Yes. I make great rotis. And dal. And salad.
If you weren’t a model what would you be?
I studied fashion design but I probably be a doctor as I come from a family of doctors. My mom still wants me to get into medicine.
What’s next for you?
I’m moving apartments.
Karishma Shahani, fashion designer.
Yee Teng Kerr from Malaysia. Lives in Pune. Works as a pattern cutter at Ka/Sha. Wearing Ka/Sha.
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Photos taken at Lakme Fashion Week, Bombay in August 2013.
Archana Rao, Designer. Likes Oren Lavie, exploring paper, is fascinated with buildings and structures, lives in Hyderabad..
What did you do today? I was just working on completing a project for most of the day, met up with a couple of friends over coffee and cheese cake, wrapped up the day by watching Paris, je’taime in bed.
Karishma Sanghvi. 20. FD student at Sophia College.
Alisha Netalkar. Possesses deafening screaming abilities.
Diva Dhawan. My blog was the subject for one of her college projects.
Pallavi Singh. In between shows.
Suhani Pittie. Accessory designer.
Shruti Bheda. BLUR girl.
Karishma Shahani. Fashion & textile designer. Also sews, embroiders, cuts patterns. Likes Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Asif Avidan, Manish Arora, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Fun. Read more about her here.
If not a fashion designer, what do you think you’d be?
An anthropologist.
Shweta Dolli. 23. Miss India South ’11. Studied Math at college.
Rachel Bayros. Model. On nothing.
Arshia Ahuja. If she was a kitchen utensil, she’d be a cheese grater.
Preeti Dhata. Radiohead.
Steven Wilson lover in Periwinkle glasses.
Tamara Moss in Rohit Bal. I really liked this show.
Bollywood.
Socialites.
Krishna Mukhi. Works for Harper’s Bazaar. Hates florals.
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Photographs taken over the last two years (2011-13) at Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai.
Ria Kamat. 22. Jr. Fashion Stylist with Marie Claire. Works on the fashion pages of the magazine but is happiest at a shoot. Lives in Bombay. Studied at LCF. Large chunk of her childhood went in trying to dress like Spice Girls followed by Kate Winslet from Titanic phase(keyword:stockings). Admires Caroline Issa’s style. Has over watched Juno. Is listening to Bloom & Get Lucky over and over, one after another. Likes Huemn, Bodice, Shift, The Lumineers, Passion Pit, singing along to ABBA, Palace of Illusions, vodka…
Childhood
I was born in Mumbai. I am one of those people who has very distinct memories of my childhood right from the age of 4. Snippets of meaningless conversations, dreams, the way I felt about things…I remember majority of it. As all the kids in my building were boys, growing up around them had a strong influence on me. I was definitely not a girly girl and always dreamt of being a teenage mutant ninja turtle (the red one). I feel like a lot of my real ‘growing up’ took place when I moved to a boarding Sahyadri school which was essentially on a hill in the middle of no where. There was no encouragement of competition…education was everything that happened outside the classroom, friends were family, and teachers were friends. Technology was a foreign term, so every weekend I would write letters to my parents on inland letters. Life was like a little bubble with no connection to reality. I owe everything that I am to that time of my not so long life (so far).
While in London I did anything and everything I could and didn’t get a penny for it. I interned at Vogue india in both their London and Mumbai offices. I also worked on a film for Lilly Allen’s vintage store that she opened with her sister Sarah. I assisted the creative director of the film so my job was to build the sets, like physically build them. So I helped source all the material for the sets and then build it…from tiling a floor to building walls. I assisted a lot of freelance stylists in London on commissioned shoots that they were doing for magazines. I did apply for a job as a sales girl at Miss Sixty and I even got it. I worked there for a day and then fractured my foot so that was pretty much the end of my sales career.
Where do you hangout in Bombay?
Uhhh currently at the Marie Claire office. I don’t really have one place. I enjoy eating out at places where the space is as important as the food. I like The Pantry, Kala Ghoda Cafe, Cafe Zoe, The Barking Deer.
Do you find any similarities between London & Bombay?
Yes. Everyone is trying to be someone. In Bombay there are so many young people who are trying to find their calling and achieve their goals. It’s the same in London. And all these people are young…really young.
Pallavi Singh, 23 year old fashion model…has a pug called Angel, loves Mickey Rourke & Kate Moss, likes Ray’s pizzas & salad, would like to walk for Karl Lagerfeld, has been listening to Brand New Me on repeat, and is mad excited about walking the runway at LFW in March.
Is wearing Huemn in this photo.
Photographed at Lakme Fashion Week in August ’12.
Nina Manuel in Pia Pauro. Styled by Gary Wallang.
Kavita Kharayat in Siddartha Tytler.
Tamara moss in Soumitra Mondal Summer 12. More photos from her show to follow.
Aki Narula in a self-made collar.
Santu Misra in Mickey ears.
Mathieu Gugumus in Bungalow 8 scarf.
Nikhil D in Shivan & Narresh.
Vinod Nair in an M&S jacket.
Nidhi Jacob in Eina Ahluwalia necklace.
Pasham Alwani in hiding.
Jahnavi Tampi in her Mother’s jacket from Lagos.
Pig stuck in a Lego heart.
Ruchika Sachdeva in Bodice.
Sheena in Blur necklace.
Suhani Pittie in Suhani Pittie necklace.
Bhavna Sharma in Anand Kabra top and Prashant Verma pants.
Everybody. In the front row.
All photographs from Lakme Fashion Week Summer ’12 & August ’11.
Cigarettes in a tin box.
David Bowie in a tin can.
“This collection is a gentle reminder that even though living can sometimes leave you bleeding, there is a place you can go to for all your answers and your strength. Deep within you is a place of magic, a river of gold and bliss. Dip your hands in the river and you’ll have what you need. Strength, love, happiness, contentment; all the answers and reasons…”
-Forgotten Jewel by Eina Ahluwalia, Conceptual Jewellery Artist.
“A big neckpiece of many doors symbolizes that there are many doorways that open up to different answers, but the door to your inner self is the one that leads you to the light.
There is a human heart full of blood, pain, and hurt. And another heart full of gold with light running through its veins.
There is the eye. The Mind’s Eye watches, judges, & feeds the ego. The Heart’s Eye loves, trusts, & believes. The Soul’s Eye looks beyond, finds the lessons in the experiences, & searches for growth. There are monocles with all three eyes-a reminder that you decide which perspective you choose.”
“From the cracks with peeks of gold in the eggs, to the wide open doorways leading to the light, to the light beginning to flow through the veins- as we grow, so does the light. Until it bursts out of the body, no longer willing to be contained….”
Christina Hanghal.25. Fashion designer/stylist. Originally from Shillong..been in Bombay for 2 years. Was one of the Indian Project Runway winners in 2010. Shares her birthday with Christian Dior.
As a kid she’d cut clothes to dress barbies up in outlandish garments, and make them walk on imaginary runways on the floor. Her first paid job was a month long housekeeping stint at home with her 4 sisters; she was about 10.
Likes strong chai, cigarettes, and snow. Hates restaurant meals. Blinks a lot. Her apartment turns in to a club post 1a.m. on the weekends. Will do anything to find the right window curtains…
Karuna Laungani. Junior fashion editor, Elle.
Karuna grew up in Bandra, Bombay; studied fashion design at Sophia college, worked at Zeba with Krsna Mehta, freelanced as a designer/stylist for some time..and has been working at Elle for the last 4 years.
…likes sea food & beach holidays; Young the Giant & Fleetwood Mac; fresh herbs & Russh; gardens & new shoes; apple cider & grocery shopping; smell of a new book, and discovering quirky finds in all kinds of markets. Dislikes Monday mornings & lack of space in Bombay.
What did you want to be when you were a kid?
Till the age of 10, I wanted to be an actress. I was a big fan of Madhuri, and I loved to dance so I would copy her steps….then slowly, things changed.
Blogs you read..
Tons of them. coco+kelly. style bubble. decor8. inspired living. becauseimaddicted.
Markets you shop at..
Vintage stores in East london – you get real cheap bargains. I got this sequined blouse for 15 pounds; nobody believes me. Then I did 2 months’ shopping in 2 hours at Sarojini. I am a cheap skate when it comes to buying clothes.
Looking forward to?
I’ve styled the January cover, so that, and the resort story. Putting together any shoot is super exciting and nerve wracking…but absolutely love it.
Who’s on the cover?
*whispers in my ear*
Loise Braganza, 24. Fashion designer.. “the glasses are vintage (can not remember if I bought them or somebody gifted them to me), the dress is custom- made, tailored at Golden Boutique – cut taken from a 70’s fashion catalogue.
