PR EC IOUS
The word conjures up a world of associations, not all to do with things I can buy. When we started discussing this issue, I asked the team about everything that they considered precious. Jewellery, watches, couture might have been the first things that came to mind, but there was plenty more that defined the word for them. Family, dreams, holidays, memories, style, youth, maturity, beauty, even handwritten letters cropped up.
The June Issue was born of these associations. Fashion features director Varun Rana met the families behind some of the most fabulous jewellery in the country, to explore how much their relationship influences their work, in ‘ All in the Family’. Senior fashion features writer Akshita Phoolka zeroed in on some of fashion’s young players and their signature styles, styles that are also having their moment on the catwalk now, in ‘Catwalk to Closet’. Beauty director Vasudha Rai researched the new potions and their ingredients that give skin the glow of youth. There are also the watch, jewellery, and couture reports, fashion’s finest finds for summer, and an interview with designer Sarah Burton (‘Fashion’s Queen Bee’), the woman magnificently helming Alexander McQueen.
Another woman who has had everybody talking is our cover star. In March, Kajol walked the ramp for Manish Malhotra’s Lakmè Fashion Week show, and it was obvious that here was a woman at the peak of her beauty. She’s a star who carved out—is carving out, really—the road less travelled in Bollywood. A brilliant actress, she married at the height of her career, then flummoxed an industry that writes off married women and mothers by returning to lead roles in big movies with bigger stars. Now, as rumours fly about her next projects, Kajol is already enjoying her latest avatar—a new, pulled-together look and an envy-inducing figure. What’s precious to her? Time. Family. Fun. Comfort. Heirlooms. And as she demonstrated when she packed up and left the shoot at 6:00 P.M. sharp to head home to her husband and kids, precious is not always a one-off, but very much a part of daily life.