Anshu Khanna

DUSSEHRA AND THE ROYALTY

October 23, 2020

The thrill of knowing they are direct descendants of mythological heroes, a love for their arms and armaments, a story of the conquest of good over evil and the conch shells declaring a battle won—Dussehra holds a very special place for the Indian royal families. For them, the festival denotes...

Bhanu Athaiya: A star among costume designers

October 17, 2020

It was in 1988, as a writer for a leading women’s magazine that I met Bhanu Athaiya, the fabled India costume designer who had done the nation proud when she held the black lady on the world’s most coveted award stage: The Oscars. It was India’s first Oscar and that...

Blending the best of East and West

October 17, 2020

A designer with five decades of work as her repertoire, an Indian couturier who way back in the 1970s set up her own label, Saz, pat in the middle of Manhattan. A grand lady who lives in a home listed as a palace in the famed book Le Palais De...

Keeping the heritage of the havelis alive

October 16, 2020

The world of refinement as we see today owes its allegiance to the myriad craft studios and art ateliers that thrived within the forts, palaces and havelis of India -- homes where, in the past century, princely families resided with their royal entourage of personal attendants available to fulfill their...

The fast rise of slow fashion

October 10, 2020

In 2015, for a fashion brand — which was handmade, rich and rare — to come alive was a tedious and expensive, but predictable, process. You placed a full-page ad in a leading daily, got a star to say it is good (in fact, great), hosted a champagne brunch, got...

How kingdom of Panna turned into a wildlife sanctuary

October 9, 2020

Panna is a sleepy town of Madhya Pradesh, known both for its now dried diamond mines and the wildlife sanctuary that houses the Kohinoor of Indian wildlife: The tiger. Few know that it is also the princely state historically ruled by the Rajas of Bundelkhand, famed for their bravehearts on...

How I detoxed my way through the lockdown with Ayurveda

October 3, 2020

Months of being locked in, with limited exposure to the sun and little or no ways to walk out, jog, take a stroll in the park or feel the wind on your face has had its toll on the delicate balance of mind, body and soul. Add to that the...

Creating colonial castles and heritage havens

October 3, 2020

“Classic colonial is at the heart of Indian sensibility. As a nation, we love to dress our spaces with warm colours, lyrical designs and good art to add depth. As an interior designer and architect, I find this realm of design as my inner calling. I cannot fathom either pale...

Stitching together heritage weaves and modern motifs

October 2, 2020

Mansa, a princely state of Gujarat, keeps a tale of princely patronage alive: one of weaving the most exquisite and vintage motifs in pure silver thread onto the finest silk under the craft project, Sri Tana Bana. The brainchild of the graceful Thakurani of Mandawa, Darshana Kumari, and her two...

Lesage’s incredible passage to India

September 26, 2020

The incredible Indian design journey is full of extraordinary legends. Embroiderer par excellence Jean Francois Lesage is one of these. The son of the founder of the prestigious Paris-based House of Lesage travelled halfway around the world to find the true meaning of his calling, by establishing a renowned atelier...

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