VOGUE India September 2022

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to our radiant September cover star, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, on the arrival of her baby boy! Sonam and her husband Anand Ahuja are arguably the most stylish couple in India right now, so it’s only fitting to celebrate our global theme of Fashion’s New World with their new innings as parents and the life they have brought into this world. Equal parts glamorous and laid-back in these images shot by Ben Weller and styled by Kate Phelan, Sonam’s Bottega Venetta shirt—loosely undone to reveal her beautiful bump paired with her classic red lip and coiffed hair—is an ode to the many facets of a modern woman. In her interview with Faye D’Souza, a newly-minted mother herself, Sonam is characteristically candid about the realities of her pregnancy and how she…

NAZIA ERUM London-based Erum is the author of the critically acclaimed book Mothering A Muslim and has worked with leading human rights organisations across the globe. In ‘Hey, soul sisters’, she pens a review of Fatimah Asghar’s debut work of fiction, When We Were Sisters. Page 52 KATE PHELAN Phelan has been contributing to British Vogue since 1992 and has worked with some of the publication’s most celebrated photographers, models and talents. In ‘With arms wide open’, she styles cover star Sonam Kapoor Ahuja in classic fall fashion. Page 64 Bikramjit Bose A graduate of the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bengaluru, Bose’s pared-back aesthetic is reflected in his portraits. In ‘Second chances’, he captures Lakshmi Menon in Delhi’s rafoogari hotspot, Chawri Bazar. Page 14 Ben Weller Weller’s photography is distinctive for its strong…

“SONAM IS IN a very special phase of her life and these pictures will serve as a beautiful reminder. This timeless look was created to reflect her innocence and natural beauty,” says Lisa Eldridge. Start with a complexion-complementing base, followed by a translucent powder for a natural finish. Highlight the bridge of the nose and the cheekbones for that extra glow. End it with full, well-groomed brows and voluminous lashes. Eldridge’s trick for a powerful red lip? Using a matching lip liner to create a base stain, then rubbing and working the lipstick in thin layers with a lip brush to achieve a brighter, fuller lip.…

I discovered the art of rafoo out of necessity when I moved to Mumbai at the age of 33. Some of my old shirts, ones that had kept me good company and become old friends, were fraying and needed salvaging. In fear of causing more damage with my needle, I decided to take them to the rafoogars of Byculla, where the experts could lend a skilled hand. Right from my first encounter with a rafoogar, I knew this was an extremely fine technique. The thread of a fabric, in this case a moth-eaten cashmere shawl, was pulled and threaded onto a needle to darn with the same thread. The result is a finished job that makes the fix look like a part of the fabric. It doesn’t feel alien, it just…

“COUTURE IS FAMOUSLY not something that is particularly wearable, but this looked like something you could walk, dance, and have a good night in, and I loved that,” actor Keira Knightley told Vogue India’s head of editorial content, Megha Kapoor, in her post-show reaction to Chanel’s haute couture offering in Paris on a midsummer July evening. “I loved the structured shoulders which had a slight curve to them, making them very feminine,” she continued. “There’s an ease that Virginie has brought to couture. She has the structure, she has the power, but it also has that amazing wearability and ease.”What the British actor and Chanel muse succinctly wraps in her reflections is the new direction of couture at Chanel. Taking off from its usual spot at Grand Palais (where almost every…

When South Africa’s fashion wunderkind Thebe Magugu first opened the mystery crate from Rome containing Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino haute couture garment, he recognised it at once as the dress that Tracee Ellis Ross wore to grace the 2018 Emmy Awards. This was the garment chosen by Piccioli that Magugu would be tasked with reimagining as the second chapter of US Vogue’s dress-swap initiative (see last September’s issue for what Tomo Koizumi and Maison Margiela’s John Galliano came up with): two designers working their individual alchemy to transform a fellow creator’s work. For Piccioli, the project has special resonance. “I love the idea of reinterpreting,” he explains, “but I love even more the idea of creating a moment between two identities, two cultures—this conversation creates a new energy. In Magugu’s Johannesburg studio,…