Guests on a flight to Patna this Saturday morning were surprised to share the all economy cabin with not one or two, but five leading politicians who were on their way to a rally in the city. Seated in the emergency exit row number 13 (which allows for extra leg room at an extra cost of ₹600 a seat) were three newly-elected Congress CMs: Kamal Nath of Madhya Pradesh, Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan and Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh, and they were joined by Ahmed Patel, the treasurer of the party and party president Rahul Gandhi. “Tough getting all these gentlemen together on a single row, but we pulled it off!” shared Gandhi, who himself is often photographed wheeling his own suitcases and trolley, and who seems to have, through example, whipped the old guard into shape away from its first class, line-jumping, VIP culture of yore. Or maybe, it was just a well-conceived photo-op to play up the leader’s ‘aam aadmi’ appeal? One thing for sure, Gandhi has learned from his party colleague Shashi Tharoor’s Twitter gaff a few years ago, and was careful not to mention anything about the group flying ‘cattle class’.

Rose Coloured Glasses

Parmesh Shahani (right) and Faredoon Bhujwala at the Pride March.

Serendipity was certainly at play when we ran in to gay activist and cultural agent provocateur Parmesh Shahani at a smart cafe in Kala Ghoda this Saturday. He was on his way to the Pride March, the first one in the city after the Supreme Court’s 2018 judgment on Section 377. Shahani, who has been at the forefront of the effort to afford the LGTBQA community equal rights, especially within the corporate world, and whose sartorial style has been delightfully flamboyant and given to feathers and lace and outsize glares in the past, appeared to be less flamboyantly-attired than usual. “The dress code is supposed to be casual and comfortable,” he laughed, almost in apology for his (by his own standards) plain vanilla outfit of capris and floral shirt set off by a stunning neck-piece composed of sheer silver bands. His relative dressing down notwithstanding, we both knew that the upcoming Pride March was perhaps one of the most significant ones to take place in Mumbai: a gathering of triumph and joy, marking the community’s coming-of-age and its amalgamation within the larger fabric of the city. “What was most special to me was that it was intersectional – a Pride for all,” Shahani texted us from the scene of the march, which saw more than 15,000 people gather. “There were students from TISS marching alongside others for bahujan inclusion, doctors, parents of LGBTQA children marching...all for a more equal India. It was heartwarming,” he said. And from pictures of the event, we were happy to see that he had given in to the in-your-face exuberance around him by donning a neat pair of flamboyant glares when he’d got there.

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Political Correctness Walks The Ramp

Designer Narendra Kumar (in white jacket) at the show.

To his credit, designer Narendra Kumar has always tried to push the envelope as far as his design mantra is concerned. From having plus size models wear his outfits at a fashion week last year, to directing edgy short films on the lives and loves of millennials, the familiar figure on Mumbai’s social scene has aimed for high-concept fashion that addresses larger issues of the day, regardless of its aesthetic value. This weekend, at Lakme Fashion Week, Kumar launched his newest enterprise, a sports-influenced line (buzz word for fashionistas: athleasure) in partnership with a local sportswear brand, whose launch was accompanied by a film featuring models of varying sizes along with marketing maven Noi Cecilia Oldne, cartwheeling in the process. The new line’s USP is that it is almost entirely created out of recycled polyester and PET bottles. To drive home the point, Kumar lined his ramp with hundreds of plastic bottles in a bid to draw attention to environment concerns. This penchant for introducing political correctness and relevance appeared to be on the minds of other designers too during the on-going fashion extravaganza.

(From left) Janhvi Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Anil Kapoor and Raghavendra Rathore.

Raghavendra Rathore (whose show featured a delightful impromptu cameo when Anil Kapoor, who was walking along with niece Jhanvi Kapoor, was accosted by an exuberant and dancing Ranveer Singh) delivered his style statement by having his master tailor walk the ramp alongside him, when he came on stage to take his bow. According to sources, his gesture of giving recognition and respect to one of the most significant building blocks of the fashion trade delighted his audience and brought forth additional waves of applause for the designer. Meanwhile, given that there appears to be an eruption of extravaganzas from lit fests to art and design biennials currently across the country, sources say that audiences for fashion shows are drying up. “How many times can you startle/charm/entice and enthrall the same jaded 300 people who end up at these fashion events?” said one weary diva. Or as another Mumbai grande dame exclaimed on hearing that a fashion week was around the corner, “What? Again? Good grief!”

First Published: Feb 04, 2019 00:06 IST