Roving Eye

For a while the fashion industry had been fairly quiet, what with no major fashion shows taking place in the city. But the silence of the ...

For a while the fashion industry had been fairly quiet, what with no major fashion shows taking place in the city. But the silence of the past few weeks ended last week with fashion designers returning to grab all the headlines. Shaina NC held a fashion show on Wednesday, at the Fashion Bistro, where her new collection proved to be popular not only with the audience but also with the models wearing the outfits. We overheard Helen Brodie saying that she really enjoyed walking the ramp in them. And that’s not all. There is more fashion in the offing, but this time with Azeem Khan taking centrestage. He will be representing India this week at an international fashion event in Dubai. Wearing his designs will be Miss World Yukta Mookhey, Miss Universe-hopeful Lara Dutta and models flown in from the world’s fashion capital, Paris. For the glamour starved, this should be some news to gladden the heart!

There’s more fashion at the domestic end! Designer Sara Eapen is also showing her latest collection this week. Eapen, who has been retailing at Melange for a few years now, started her career as Tarun Tahiliani’s assistant. But after going solo, she has tried her hand at nearly everything — from churning out her regular lines defined by a no-nonsense signature style, Eapen also made time to design costumes for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. If that was not enough, she has now decided to invade your private retreats with home furnishings, having tied up with Good Earth. This Kemp’s Corner home-store, starting Wednesday, will stock her home fabrics and furnishing items. Now you can sit your Sara Eapen suit on a Sara Eapen cushion. How’s that for colour co-ordinated dreams?

Veejay victory

We had begun to get the feeling that those days of phirnag veejays were over. After all, one could no longer catch Sophiya Haque or Rishma Malik on Channel [V] or even Kamal Siddhu on MTV. But with Laila Rouass’ making an appearance in Sunhil Sippy’s film, Snip, it’s not difficult to guess the universal gameplan. These desi-phirangis, it seems, are leaving their small screen jobs for bigger pastures. While Kamal has made a place in AXN, Sophiya is currently dubbing for Snip and Laila is about to make her screen debut in Dev Benegal’s Split Wide Open.

Story continues below this ad

As for Canada-born Rishma, she had moved to LA, only to come back to complete the shoot for Kailash Surendranath’s film Love you Hamesha. But the ex-veejay has not pinned all her hopes pinned on a that’s taking forever to complete. So Ms Malik has also taken up the PR co-ordinator job for Nusrat Revealed, an art book dedicated to the late musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Her job entails launching the book in Mumbia, LA, New York and Toronto through benefit concerts. Second coming, we say!

Swiss mix

This week the Oberoi Hotel was the venue for a Swiss food festival. To introduce the special fare, the five-star tied up with Swissair to host a special dinner for select invitees at the hotel’s Rooftop, on Thursday. And it turned out to be a night of heavy eating — roesti potatoes, pasta, fondue and plenty of cheese was on offer. Everyone’s plates were stacked high and seen relishing the meal were the USIS’ Sheldon Austin, radio personality Vinod Advani, Imtiaz and Anil Dharker and their daughter Ayesha. Looking stunning in a summery pale blue dress, this talented actress added a certain ineffable something to the gathering.

And finally…

There was a lot of hype over International Women’s Day. But on asking around what the day really meant, most of them brushed it off as a marketing event, the sort that greeting card companies feel the need to create. But there were some who construed it differently — a celebration of women not needing the men. And those few (including ad-woman Geeta Rao) got together and organised an evening out at Jolly Rogers, the new pub near the Stock Exchange which screamed `Men Not Allowed’. Here they the fairer sex let their hair down, without worrying about men. And did they have a good time? The word they used was `Swinging’.

My Den

Superna Motwane

For the last two issues, ELLE has had a new editor, Superna R Motwane. The position has come as a surprise for this 27 year old, more than anyone else. "I have enjoyed writing since I was child, and always knew I would end up in a fashion magazine. But being an editor of one has always been a dream," she says. The dream, however, has come at a cost. Ever since Superna has been with ELLE, her working hours have become longer — she leaves home at 8.30 in the morning and comes back late. But when she returns home, she makes straight for her den. A room whose interiors have been personally supervised — as was her entire home two years ago, around the time she joined ELLE.

Story continues below this ad

"Balancing work and time for doing the interiors was hard, but I love my home and living comfortably was very important to me." Which is why her favourite place to relax is a roomy, cream sofa from New York, her favourite city in the world. "When I come home from work I like to lie down, read a good book and listen to music." Superna feels her home is a personal reflection of herself. "An unwind zone. I have used lots of fabric to give it that feminine feel." But she might have to redecorate it soon as the house does not really reflect her husband Gaurav. "So, I will be making some changes."

As yet Superna has not had time to change her cabin at the ELLE office and give it her personal stamp. "I have been too busy. I am out on appointments a lot. I do have a good team and good heads of departments, so I don’t have to do much monitoring. My main job is conceiving the line up, and working out schedules and guiding everyone with the editing."

For later, Superna also has big plans for the magazine. "I would like to help Indian fashion go global which is possible now as elements of it have made an impact worldwide. I think ELLE has already created a platform for fashion nationally. I just want to take it a step further."

— SUJATA ASSOMULL