VOGUE India November-December 2024

A YEAR AGO, when my name was announced as the head of editorial content of Vogue India, I was inundated with an outpouring of support and positivity from friends, colleagues and folks on Instagram, many of whom I’ve never even met in person. They wrote long messages, sent gifts and took time out to call to say how happy they were for me—all without having anything to gain personally from my windfall. Experiencing such generosity of spirit is a rare gift, and it keeps me buoyed and focused, especially on difficult days when self-doubt and fatigue threaten to hijack my brain. One year in, with many expensive learnings and career highs under my belt, I feel more committed than ever to living joyfully and letting gratitude ground me in…

Namrata Soni Makeup artist, ‘Dimple all day’, page 78 “My secret to feeling joyful is spending time with my family and having a glass of wine with my husband.” With over two decades in the industry, Soni’s clientele includes Shah Rukh Khan, Serena Williams, Deepika Padukone and Isha Ambani Piramal, among others. Nidhi Gupta Writer, ‘Red pill, blue pill’, page 48 “A sped-up rewatch of Mean Girls or putting my favourite ’80s disco playlist on full blast. What also never fails is a long walk.” A writer and editor living between Delhi, Mumbai and Goa, Gupta is interested in pop culture, lifestyle, travel and consumer technology. Aditi Dugar Entrepreneur, ‘Beauty and the feast’, page 54 “I’m very outdoorsy, so stepping out on a bad day helps. I love sports,…

Retrograde season and daily horoscopes are catnip for Vogue India’s loyal audience. Evidently for Indians, few breaking stories can beat a meaty weekly forecast of your zodiac to generate that burning desire to read. To pad our luck IRL, we often resort to weapons of astrological warfare—from auspicious dates for important meetings to talismans that promise to shower love, money and success upon us. I credit the beginning of my affinity for jewellery to my mother’s astrologer. When I was 14, he told her that I could avoid contracting UTIs by wearing a plain gold band on the index finger of my left hand. It seems to have been successful so far—it was just a few weeks ago that my posterior made contact with an underground club’s toilet and…

Sporran is not a word I typically get to write in the pages of Vogue—until now, that is. Meaning ‘purse’ in Scottish Gaelic, the sporran (say it aloud and let the trilled R roll off the tongue) is a medieval-looking belt-bag that traditionally functions as a pocket on kilts, and was a mainstay of Dior resort 2025, unveiled on an open-air runway in the historic gardens of Drummond Castle. It was there, in the hazy June light, that creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri delivered “the clash of the dream with the everyday”, as US Vogue’s Mark Holgate put it after the show. True to form, Chiuri’s talent for teaming the regal with the renegade has, this season, equipped us with a modern spin on the sporran. Niftily hands-free, it…

LIKE FASHION, SPORT has a penchant for the dramatic. Just think of Venus Williams walking into this year’s US Open dressed in Prada, Alaïa and Bvlgari diamonds, or the fact that the 2024 Women’s FIFA World Cup witnessed the Chinese national team in bespoke suits by Prada, with Emporio Armani outfitting their Italian counterparts. The confluence of fashion and sport isn’t the unlikeliest of alliances—history is littered with examples of star athletes whose style helped change the fashion lexicon forever. Stan Smith’s legendary Adidas shoe debuted in 1973 and has been in production ever since, Michael Jordan’s prolific partnership with Nike launched in 1984 and reshaped the sneaker industry, and decades prior in 1933, French tennis player René Lacoste redeveloped a shirt originating in 1850s India to birth the…

THE TRAVELLER, GULLY LABS You may turn to a pair of glass slippers for black-tie celebrations, but for Cinderellas with a busy end-of-year social calendar, it’s worth swapping toothpick stilettos for platform stompers. Walk unafraid of potholes and puddles, confident in the ability of these handcrafted jet-black nappa and grain leather shoes from Gully Labs to elevate your fit. The result of a collaboration with artist Yatin Srivastava, this autumn staple proves that the year-old brand’s footprint has grown exponentially. LONG COAT SILK BROCADE, SUKETDHIR While a slick pantsuit may be Suket Dhir’s typical offering, turn your eye towards his other explorations. This Banarasi jacket for instance, where a classic Parisian trench and an intricate brocade sherwani play unlikely cousins. In a deep pink with gold brocade that boasts…