Lifestyle & Arts

Photograph: Sabyasachi Mukherjee/Facebook I have always been intrigued by the fact that Sabyasachi Mukherjee never considered moving out of the City of Joy to the Maximum City. With the opening of his newest store, he has instead, in some way, transported his hometown to the teeming metropolis of Mumbai. When I entered through the cavernous doors, glancing at the gleaming word “Sabyasachi” above the entrance, for the first time, I missed the “Mukherjee”. A few steps inside the multi-chambered space, three reclining brass tigers stood guard on either side of a narrow, thickly carpeted hallway. Strains of folk Rabindra Sangeet wafted in, and a polite staff member, wearing a black bandhni sari, e...

Text and Photography by Asad Sheikh. Tarq’s new location is characterised by an extreme verticality of space. Ever since Tarq’s inception in 2014, the gallery has been at the forefront of the contemporary art scene in Mumbai. It has represented a gamut of young, upcoming artists who have gone on to make their mark both nationally and globally. Now, nearly a decade later, the gallery’s founder Hena Kapadia decided to shift its location from its first home at Dhanraj Mahal, an art-deco building in Mumbai’s art district. Tarq can now be found on the ground floor of KK (Navsari) Chambers, a 100-year-old building in one of the bylanes near the iconic Flora Fount...

Text by Mallika Chandra. Photography by Nishanth Radhakrishnan. Art Direction by Mallika Chandra and Asad Sheikh. Styling by Asad Sheikh and Sarah Rajkotwala. Models: Noreen Parinaaz and Vee at Feat. Artists. Digitally printed silk skirt, corset blouse in red satin, printed organza dupatta, all from Ekaya Banaras; silver floral earring from Amrapali; shirt, stylist’s own. Palak Shah is not your typical CEO of a typical Banarasi brand. And the secret to her success lies as much in asking the right questions as it does in the answers. “How would Kim Kardashian wear a sari?” she had once asked her long-time collaborator Nikhil Dudani of Feat. Artists. It was wh...

The slight figure with her platinum bob, always spotted in fashion’s signature black, recently became somewhat of a familiar face on Mumbai’s social landscape, for a few days. And perhaps, from here to, well, eternity. Her trail of India love continued to be reposted for days on the hectic handles of socialites, Hindi film stars, the fashion junta, goggle-eyed influencers and on the viral pages of paps alike. She left us gobsmacked by her desi-style warm and friendly persona, partial to a gold-and-black-thread-knotted Indian choker, coral talisman pendant, kohl-smeared eyes and, most of all, by her ghar ki murgi  (familiar) status in the extended Chanakya family. A culmination of a 30-year-old friendship with the founders and artistic director o...

Text by Shirin Mehta and Asad Sheikh. Models strike a pose at the Gateway of India, Mumbai — the venue of the Dior Fall 2023 show.Photograph: Dolly Devi, © Dior There is a buzz, long overdue, in South Mumbai, specifically around the magnificent arch of the Gateway of India. We imbibe the excitement even as we regret the partitioning off of large swathes, as we spy preparations underway for the Dior Fall 2023 collection to be presented here the following evening. Not to be outdone, the vendors and milling public stand just beyond the cordoned-off area, against the towering monument built to commemorate the visit in 1911 of King George V and Queen Mary. ...

Text by Shirin Mehta. Photographs by Naomi Shah. Chanakya Atelier — The Dior Retrospective A visual and sensual treat was in store for us at the Chanakya Ateliers, which opened doors for the very first time to visitors from India and across the world, a day before Dior’s Pre-Fall 2023 show at the Gateway of India. Earlier, a press conference at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel had introduced Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior’s creative director of women’s collections, and Karishma Swali, who directs the Chanakya Ateliers and the Chanakya School of Craft, to local and international press. The synergy between the two women as well as their commitment to endorsing India’s ar...

Text by Shirin Mehta. Photography by Bhumika Sharma. Styling by Akanksha Pandey. Art Direction by Akanksha Pandey and Naomi Shah. Hair and Make-Up by Lulua S and Pallavi Pathodia at Orane. Models: Khushi at A Little Fly, Naayaab Sheikh at Anima Creatives, Tre Munroe. Handwoven khun sari, from Kubsa; hand-block printed linen scarf (used as a tie around the waist), from Eka. No one can dispute the magic of a beautiful length of textile that can be twisted any which way, draped in magnificent folds around the body or at a strategic window, wrapped tightly around a favourite object, or bulked up to generate volume and balance. A piece of tasselled fabric over a conjuror’s stool, an exq...

Interviews by Mallika Chandra. Photographs by Naomi Shah. PARAG TANDELVitamin Sea Do you think that the festival provides visitors with an opportunity to engage meaningfully with the Koli fishing community and the issues that they face at large? The festival at Sassoon Docks acts as a site-specific artistic intervention. I create socially engaged art and it’s how you mould people’s minds that is important. The city does not know much about the Kolis, I don’t think urban dwellers are concerned about our ongoing issues; they are busy earning their livelihoods and pursuing their ambitions. This festival is an attempt to redirect attention towards the issues plag...

Text by Ranjabati Das. Photographs by Bhumika Sharma. Styling by Manglien S. Gangte. In line with our endeavour to spotlight sustainable communities, we trained our lens on Lamka and its ingrained culture of circularity. “For the people of Lamka, living sustainably comes as naturally as breathing. Doing their part for the planet, however, hasn’t exempted them from facing the consequences of climate change,” rues Delhi- and Goa-based photographer Bhumika Sharma, who derived inspiration from the local tradition “of living consciously yet unconsciously”. In contrast with the visible and invisible effects of urbanisation are the traditional knowledge systems tha...

Travel Text and Photographs by Vanya Lochan. We get to feel and that makes us the lucky ones…. So, far from simply existing, we can choose to keep reimagining and evaluating the quality of our existence. Improvement, I believe, is not just about the ease of materially enhancing our lives; it can also be found, as I learnt a few weeks ago on a trip to Six Senses Fort Barwara, by simply acknowledging small things that matter, and reconnecting meaningfully with what’s around us. Excerpts from my travel diary…. Day 1: Arrival I look forward to a lively afternoon as I land in Jaipur to a royal welcome by Baboolalji, Six Senses’ ever-so-punctilious concierge. Handling my luggage with ease — as if my overpacking didn’t weigh anything at all — h...