Sartorial Serendipity

The rain's. I really miss them here. When I was in India last month, it rained and rained, and kept me housebound; but I didn't mind.

When it comes to playing dress up, I don't have a favourite brand. You know, a name that'll keep me awake all night because its latest collection is coming out in the morrow. or the one that becomes a beacon while I'm at the mall, leading me kindly towards its store portals. There are just too many good brands, and I've realised that keeping an open mind goes a long way. I have friends who will turn up their noses at particular brands - "too mass-driven, too mass-driven, where's the class I say?" - but I have, on more than one occasion, found really great stuff at these "lacking in class" brand stores (of course, I never reveal this to my hoity-toity friends, and if they happen to deliver a compliment to a 'mass-produced' top - or bottom - I look suitably vague. let them believe I picked it up while on holiday at the French Riviera). My logic is: you can never get too much of fashion, so don't discount. This is exactly what some ladies in the UAE - all of them expats, with their own defined sensibilities - discovered, even as they strive to embroider a name for themselves in sartorial shifting sands. It takes gumption, an eye for detail and a conviction in yourself to start out in the sector - something that all three have in copious amounts - and voila!, there are fashion statements being trotted out by them you just cannot afford to ignore. Read about them in this week's issue.
The rain's. I really miss them here. When I was in India last month, it rained and rained, and kept me housebound; but I didn't mind. There's something innately romantic and thrilling about claps of thunder, gusty winds, downpours. In Bollywood, rains have always had a special place. Khalid Mohamed unravels the phenomenon of the monsoons, the rain dances, and rained-out semantics in the movies. Enjoy the shower.
In Travel, we go all the way up to the Scottish Highlands. Then, we meet a young woman who's continued to run while taking multiple sclerosis head on. In Pursuits, there's that bothersome question being asked: with music becoming downloadable so 'freely', will the death knell be sounded on the industry? All this and much more.
Enjoy reading wknd. and have a great weekend!