What's going on? How come we are licking, munching, crunching and swallowing the hallowed almost two-century-old Louis Vuitton monogram? Is it true that the houses of haute couture that have long glorified the skinny and the anorexic are now cohabiting with the decadent and the gourmet? For sure, high octane fashion houses are copulating not just with Michelin starred restaurants but also rebel chefs. The two F words 'fashion' and 'food' have been teasing and flirting with each other over the years. And doing so in multiple ways. It's only in the recent past that the fashion houses' passion has sashayed down the gourmet restaurant runways with oomph.
THE SHOW STOPPERS
LV AND GAGGAN
Lets begin with my latest taste of LVMH, perched in a sprawling Bangkok shopping mall. What is the world's most awarded culinary rebel superstar Gaggan Anand doing in partnership with the conservative heritage Louis Vuitton fashion brand? Quite the opposite of the counter seating, informal, and wild Gaggan Anand experience is this serene highly stylised LV Gaggan. Here, LV motifs peep in and out of ice cubes, plates and glasses. LV transforms the private dining room into its iconic trunk shape and Gaggan's wild dressing style into the elegant LV one. Happily, there is no takeover, both brands do the foxtrot and bhangra together; each one retaining it's identity.
Esta historia es de la edición November 11, 2024 - Special Issue de India Today.
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Esta historia es de la edición November 11, 2024 - Special Issue de India Today.
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He gave the beat to the world
He would pick up the rhythms of each experience of mobility and weave them into his taals. Thus it was that he reflected joy and laughter in rhythmic cycles...such was the magic of Zakir's fingersText and photographs by Raghu Rai
KERALA TOURISM CAMPAIGN, 1989 - TICKETS TO PARADISE
All it took was a catchy tagline-'God's Own Country'-for the world to discover Kerala's wealth of natural beauty. It remains among the best tourism ad campaigns, earning the state a place among top 10 international destinations
SPIRITUALITY - THE GURUS OF COOL
Among the cult Indian gurus, no one had a bigger hold on western minds than 'Osho' Rajneesh. He's also perhaps the role model for the enterprise-building gurus of today
RETAIL SHOPPING - THE MALL MANIA
Shopping malls, a 1990s innovation in India, changed the way the Indian middle class shops. Their success now lies in being 'shoppertainment' destinations, offering something for everyone
CULINARY RENAISSANCE, 1978 - TANDOORI NIGHTS
ITC's Bukhara and Dum Pukht turned the world to tandoori cuisine and had an enormous impact on the F&B industry. Decades on, they are still a pit-stop for celebrities and heads of state visiting Delhi
INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH - REVENGE OF THE NATIVE
Rushdie lit the way but Indian writing in English has taken a life of its own in the past few decades, with translated Indian fiction most recently having its moment in the sun
INDIAN ART - A BRUSH WITH GOLD DUST
The 1990s economic liberalisation came as oxygen, lighting up the Indian art scene. Today, artworks by established masters routinely go for astronomical amounts
FESTIVAL OF INDIA, 1982 - CULTURE CAPITAL
The Festival of India grew into a symbol of our 'soft power', introducing our art and aesthetics to a global audience while also helping rebrand our domestic products
THE INDIPOP TREND - DISCO GOES DESI
For ages, the film song ruled. Nothing else was audible. Then came Nazia, charioteered by Biddu, and Indian ears went into a pleasant madness. Literally, Disco Deewane. A whole genre was born
SHOLAY 1975 - THE BIRTH OF THE FANDEMIC
India had seen hits before. But Sholay seared into its collective psyche like a badland bullet. The effect was on a scale never seen before- one film creating a new mass folk culture. And a trail of monster blockbusters that still continues
