VOGUE India January-February 2025

JOURNALISTS ARE LIKE magpies of yore. We spot treasures in the unlikeliest places—stray bits and bobs that most people might not even look at twice—and whisk them away to a hiding place, to be used at the appropriate time. Magpies were thought to do this with tinsel, coins, maybe even an ejected rhinestone or two. I do it with conversation. Those close to me have learnt to identify a particular gleam in my eye that betrays the fact that I’m no longer just listening to their triumphs and woes. Instead, I’m thinking, “This would make a great story.” The theme for this issue, New Ideas, emerged from one such conversation. When talking about the progression of her mother’s dementia, a close friend revealed that, contradictorily, the incurable disease was…

Nidhi Gupta Writer, ‘Street cred’, page 10 “Roxane Gay wrote: ‘Likability is a very elaborate lie. Unlikable characters, the ones who are the most human, are also the ones who are the most alive.’ I’ve loathed being called ‘nice’ ever since.” A writer and editor living between Delhi, Mumbai and Goa, Gupta is interested in pop culture, lifestyle, travel and consumer technology Madhu Akula Photographer, ‘Lead with heart’, page 80 “Fashion is timeless and all about perception. This thought changed the way I approach my art.” Akula, also known as Maddy, follows the approach of the masters in his work—powerful poses, engaged models and a lighting approach that tips its hat to Steven Meisel and Kristian Schuller Mehi Shah Photographer, ‘Ms Brightside’, page 62 “The thought of having a…

Is that…a plastic bag?” It is 5am on an October morning and my mother’s sleepy voice floats out from under her comforter, her eyebrows raised in the direction of my bottom. I sigh. Partly in the interest of travelling light, but mostly because it is so on-trend, I’ve decided a black bubble skirt is going to be my constant companion on a weekend getaway to Jaipur. And I intend to wear it everywhere, starting with the train. I’ve mindfully packed what I think are suitable separates to combine with the skirt: a white shirt to be topped with an acid-wash denim corset for daytime sightseeing and a one-shoulder black top which I’ll later accessorise with Bapu Bazar-sourced leather juttis for evening bar hops. I’m feeling quite smug about such…

“ON A TRIP to Kyoto in the early 2000s, I found a piece of fragmented kantha fabric with a private collector. I acquired it, and took it to Hiroko Iwatate (a well-known textile gallerist in Tokyo, who has over 4,000 pieces from India) for verification. But how did a shredded Bengal kantha arrive in Kyoto?” asks Darshan Shah, who established the Weavers Studio Resource Centre (WSRC) in Kolkata to support learning on crafts and textiles. Iwatate remembered having encountered the same piece on one of her sourcing trips to India. It was a part of a final settlement after a family from Kolkata split their inheritance. “Instead of dividing goods as per value or claim as others do, they had dramatically shattered jewels and shredded textiles in half. This…

When Ritwik Khanna gets started on the topic of denim, not even a crackling transatlantic phone connection can mask the clarity of his passion: “It’s magic, you know? It can be anything. And it’s built to last. What more can you ask for?” Khanna, who founded his label Rkive City in 2021, works with his team to manipulate denim through patchworking, traditional embroidery and avant-garde tailoring techniques at his Delhi atelier, injecting allure into a workman’s staple while still letting its natural patina shine through. The result? A medley of innovative design and sustainability (the brand aims to create no waste and uses only post-consumer materials). And Rkive City is just one among the rising tide of designers transforming the humble weave—most commonly associated with old-school Americana or used…

I will probably always be ‘the trainer girl’. Back in the day (circa 2007), I had around 500 pairs of sneakers—mostly Nike Air Max 90s, Air Max 95s and also Reebok Classics—that I wore to the supermarket, on stage and the red carpet. I say “had”, but I still have them. All of them. There are around 200 pairs here at home (which since 2021 has been Brooklyn, New York), and roughly 300 in storage. I know that sounds like rather a lot of sneakers, especially when I write it here, in Vogue of all places, but hear me out. I’m a trainer enthusiast, so I could never throw any of them away, and now every pair I’ve saved (plus all of the Karl Lagerfeld-era Chanel that the late…