Malavika’s Mumbaistan: The Aesthete In New York

He is known as the ultimate master craftsman and a genius in his field. So, when Mumbasi-based designer, Shahab Durazi, recently visited New York – where he’d been a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology – his posts were expectedly replete with aesthetic splendour. One of his first stops was the popular ‘Notes on Camp’ exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, which had captured the world’s imagination with its recent Met Gala, where the likes of Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra had walked the red carpet. “I was enthralled by the sheer genius of so many masters,” said the soft-spoken aesthete, adding, “It instantly took me back to my days as a student when I had a very gifted and competent professor. He was a Frenchman who knew his craft and under whose tutelage I acquired immense knowledge about couture construction, reflected in so many of the pieces on display at the exhibit,” he said. While in the Big Apple, Durazi also visited the Carroll and Milton Petrie European Sculpture Court at the Met, reminiscent of his art history courses. But of course, the highlight of this doting father’s trip was when he spent a weekend on campus at Vassar College, where his older daughter was graduating with a psychology major. “It was a very proud moment as she graduated with honors and received the Phi Beta Kappa award for academic excellence and the Psi Chi honors award for psychology,” said the delighted Durazi. But that was not all. He spent the rest of his time with his younger daughter, a rising sophomore at Sarah Lawrence College. “As a father, I’m feeling absolutely elated!” he signed off.

True Lies
A delicious face-off erupted over the weekend within the city’s makeup artists, like an advanced and septic pustule. The problem began when a senior artist was accused by a much younger one of plagiarising her work and passing it off as her own. And as expected, in the cut-throat business, where every pouty-pretty insta pic of a bride or bridesmaid could mean a new client, the community became up in arms against the alleged culprit. “She’s a number 1 liar and a cross dresser,” went one rival’s barb, while another alleged what was perhaps the makeup community’s most grievous sin of all: passing off a pair of used eye lashes on an unsuspecting leading lady (who just happens to be known as the most beautiful face in the world) as a new pair! To her credit, the makeup artist in the dock saw the writing on the wall and appeared to be chastened as a result of it and offer apologies for the alleged plagiarism with the well-worn excuse that she doesn’t handle her social media and that the offending post had been put up by someone else. But this cat fight doesn’t seem to be going away and the apology does not appear to be well received. “She said she was sorry, but spelt sorry with a single ‘r’!” went one of her rivals yesterday, late afternoon.
Oh dear.

WTSWTM
What They Say
“(An) ‘excellent’ choice for the Conservative Party leadership. I think Boris (Johnson) would do a very good job.”
-POTUS Donald Trump, ahead of his visit to the UK, about Tory party leader Boris Johnson, in the run-up to become Prime Minister

What They Mean
“Blondes have more fun.”

Yellow Sneakers Alert

The editor of a men’s monthly who regards himself as something of an urban cowboy and “the ultimate authority in men’s fashion and lifestyle”, was trying to impress us with the names on his much hyped, best-dressed list released over the weekend for favour of mention. His best dressed list, an annual hilarity, comprises of all the people who he and his edit team have chanced upon while brainstorming (read: rustling through recent issues of sundry film magazines). Yep, you guessed right, his list contained Bolly stars by the truckloads.

“Err, each of them is dressed by a small army of stylists, fashionistas, personal shoppers, chamcha designers etc,” we reasoned. “Shouldn’t the awards go to those guys instead?”

The editor looked up from his book on ‘post-modern construct in political polemics’ with a trace of irritation. “Huh?” he said airily. “How will we get the event sponsored if the stars themselves don’t come? How can we give it to their stylists? Besides, it’s not all film stars on the list, we also have heavyweight names from other fields, industrialists, heiresses, business leaders,” he said.

“They too don’t cut much ice,” we replied. “The names you point to are smartly turned out for sure, but it’s not too hard to do that when you have unlimited access to wealth no?”

Now, the editor stroked his carefully tended to, 3-day designer stubble and looked exasperated. “Surely, these merit a story?” he said, pointing to a handful of over-the-hill socialites well past their sell by date included in his list.

“Look, if you spend your entire day pruning and primping and in retail therapy and then don’t look good, that would make a story,” we said.

“Okay, how about this then,” said the editor, a certified legend in his own lunch time, celebrated all the way from Juhu to Vile Parle. “How about this: Russell Peters arrived at our awards ceremony, and guess what he was wearing: a pair of yellow sneakers! Surely, that would make for a great story?”

And so, gentle reader, here it is: the highlight of a recently-concluded award ceremony – celebrating the hundred best dressed individuals in the country – happens to be that a visiting stand-up comedian attended it, wearing yellow sneakers!

And so it goes, and so it goes…

First Published:
Jun 03, 2019 00:03 IST

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