When the Royals Were Young

May 21, 2021

Sardar Singh of Jodhpur. Nawab Saheb Mohammad Jamiyat Khanji Babi Bahadur of Balasinor. HH Maharaja Sayaji Rao of Baroda. HH Maharaja Saheb Gaj Sinhji of Jodhpur. HH Maharaja Saheb Kishen Singhji of Bharatpur. Nawabzadi Birjees Jehan Begum and Nawabzada Wahid uz Zafar Khan Bahadur of Bhopal.Maharaja Shivaji Rao Bhonsle of...

WHEN A WADEYAR QUEEN POSED FOR A VACCINE

May 14, 2021

Vaccines are making headlines today as the nation grapples with the tsunami of Covid-19 infections. The media is full of images of serpentine queues of people seeking protection from the killer disease with vaccination. It is in this light that we share a very rare image of a painting from...

DARBARGARH IN POSHINA: REGAL RESIDENCE & CULINARY DESTINATION

May 14, 2021

Possibly one of the most elegant of the Gujarat royals, the family from the Poshina jaagirdaari exudes a sense of old world grace that reverberates through. The patriarch, Kunwar Harenderpal Sinh, with his lovely wife, Kanwarani Kailash Kumari, and his very good-looking son, first met me when we took Royal...

Velvet Duck: Get ready for fun, frolic and frock

April 10, 2021

The name itself prepares you for its quaintness. Velvet Duck, a newest kid on the online fashion blog, is getting inundated with young girls queuing up for its peasant blousons and pinafore dresses. Not to forget easy to lounge in jumpsuits in the finest cotton. Chic yet comfortable, stylish yet...

Bikaner House: Reclaiming its lost glory

April 9, 2021

For most of us who grew up in Lutyens’ Delhi, the erstwhile palaces of Princely India merely became synonyms for sarkari offices. I spent two lovely years in Curzon Road (or Kasturba Gandhi Marg, as it is known today) and recall these buildings as everyday symbols of a young girl’s...

TAPESTRY TALES OF ROYAL SPLENDOUR

April 9, 2021

Tapestry art has always been integral to the handcraft legacy of princely India. A congregation of rare embroideries, these tapestries were traditionally used for costume enhancement of the royals and for creating large chattars, wall hangings and tents for the palace. Tales of love’s enchantment, an ode to the rich...

A FRENCHWOMAN WITH AN INDIAN SOUL

April 3, 2021

A love for India emerges in the heart of many Europeans who are otherwise uninitiated into its culture by birth or geographical orientation. However, their heart is helplessly in love, possessed by a pressing desire to belong, to feel the Indian sun on their skin, live amongst the heat and...

SARI SUTRA: TIME FOR SOME REGAL MAGIC TO UNFURL

March 26, 2021

The winter woollies are safely in the trunk, the sun has declared the summer alive and the royal designers are all set to present their look for the summer of 2021. Let’s first catch the young royal designers at work in the many quaint cities they call home. And at...

VIBRANT WEAVES OF GENDER DIVERSITY

March 20, 2021

If there is one thing you learn as you walk the mystical ghats of Banaras it is inclusion. A veritable Sangam of people, cultures, emotions, and lives come together by the Ganges defying every written and unwritten law of discrimination. People of every shape, status, caste, creed, or nationality immerse...

REVIVING THE TRADITIONAL TEXTILE OF CHINTZ

March 19, 2021

Cheent, or chintz, as the European high-fashion ateliers like to call it, is an ancient technique of hand-painting and resist dyeing that was practised across many historic textile hubs in India, especially in Gujarat and Rajasthan, where it still remains a symbol of tribal revelry and rustic dressing. Very close...