VOGUE India May 2022

I WAS FLOORED by Deepika Padukone’s bare, fine-boned South Indian beauty when she walked into the studio in Barcelona where we were shooting Vogue India’s May cover. Dressed in a white tracksuit, sans makeup, hair pulled back in a messy knot, the actor was positively glowing from having just shot a fashion campaign the day before and recently being named as one of the awardees of the prestigious TIME100 Impact Awards 2022. The May issue marks Vogue India’s first big Bollywood moment this year, for which Padukone was a fitting choice as she is, without doubt, the most influential actor in the Indian film industry right now. Contrary to the glamorous perfection that audiences have come to expect in the portrayal of film stars, Padukone is an easy-going, self-proclaimed tomboy at…

Vasudha Rai An author, columnist and podcast host, Rai has penned the bestseller Glow: Indian Foods, Recipes & Rituals For Beauty, Inside & Out (2018). In ‘From root to tip’, she explores the age-old practice of applying hair oil and discusses its benefits. Page 38 Vivek Vadoliya Vadoliya is a British-Indian photographer and director whose portraiture focuses on spotlighting unconventional communities in novel ways. In ‘The first of her name’, he trains a fresh lens on Bollywood megastar and style icon Deepika Padukone, who in 2020, became the first Indian actor to be featured in a global Louis Vuitton campaign. Page 54 Rid Burman Shuffling between Paris and Mumbai influences Burman’s artistic perspective, leading to a nuanced blending of Eastern and Western philosophies, cultural viewpoints and mythical understandings. In ‘Freshly minted’, he captures the old-world…

WHEN I TALK to Amesh Wijesekera, he is in Berlin, in the sanctuary of his home that he shares with his partner. Yet his heart, thoughts, and emotions are tightly wound around his home country many miles away—the teardrop island of Sri Lanka. It’s been a roller coaster few months for the designer who, just a few weeks ago, was in Paris living a dreamscape reality as a semi-finalist for the LVMH Prize 2022. Past winners of the €300,000 prize for emerging talent have included bright sparks like Simon Porte Jacquemus, Grace Wales Bonner and Thebe Magugu. The collection showcase at Avenue Montaigne in March, was distinguished by the juxtaposition of its prints, colours and competing textures that subtly connect and peaceably, beautifully coexist. Shot and made by the designer amid…

If there is a woman in fashion who embodies all that a Pucci print evokes—perpetual modernity, Euro chic, absolute joy—it is Camille Miceli, a defiantly ageless 50-year-old Franco-Italian Parisienne, who, in her 35-year career, has worked side by side with—get this—Azzedine Alaïa, Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Nicolas Ghesquière. Last summer, the powers that be at LVMH—namely chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault; his daughter Delphine Arnault, board member and executive vice president of Louis Vuitton; and LVMH Fashion Group chairman and CEO Sidney Toledano—made the judicious decision to hire Miceli as artistic director of Emilio Pucci.“Camille was considered for Pucci for her creative qualities, her vision and her ability to inspire her team,” Delphine Arnault writes in an email. “I always thought she would be an ideal…

IT’S 6PM IN Juhu, Mumbai, as Sarla and Suresh Rajani take their seats in front of our Zoom call. The evening sun streaming through their window casts a sheen on their silvered heads, one coming up taller than the other. “People often approach me and ask, ‘Why do you dress up like this?’ In return, I ask them a simple question: ‘But don’t you look happy looking at me?’” At 74, Suresh Rajani is the unlikely style icon you would be lucky to cross paths with.Take a walk down Juhu beach any given day and there’s a chance you’ll run into the cheerful septuagenarian peacocking a bright yellow T-shirt accessorised with aviators, a sailor cap, arm socks, football stockings and a matching baton. There is a method to the madness.“It’s always…

“I see old and new as part of a jigsaw puzzle. Jewellery-making is about putting the right piece in the right place”— Puja Shah, co-founder and designer, Aurus and Moi “Anything which has history to it, or with an ancient vibe, inspires me. Upskilling old parts into new pieces can’t be replicated—even by us, the makers of the pieces”— Tarang Arora, CEO and creative director, Amrapali “Old gems, no matter how damaged, are a piece of history. For me, it is a piece of history, of great handmade craftsmanship”— Swapna Mehta, jewellery designer “From the brilliance of the Vijayanagar empire and Ashoka’s Pataliputra, to the Mughals and their flair for coloured stones, I am fascinated by our traditions of jewellery”— Anu Merton, jewellery designer HAIR AND MAKEUP: DEEPA VERMA. ASSISTANT STYLIST:…