I wept into my coffee cup upon reading the obituaries earlier this week to the “elegant master of devastating chic” as TheGuardian so eloquently described Hubert de Givenchy. An aesthete, art and fabric expert, his timeless designs — immortalised in the movies and grace of muse Audrey Hepburn and on the narrow column dresses worn by Jackie Kennedy — continue to enrapt even five decades later. His designs hark back to an era when a minuscule number of one-percenters globe-trotted and dominated international society. Not so any longer, when the number of uber rich has exploded around the world, especially so in India, where we have over a hundred billionaires and many more millionaires. It’s likely this thought that propelled the founders of Luxury Lifestyle Weekend (LLW) to stage their inaugural event in Mumbai last weekend.
Having just returned to the city, from an OTT wedding in Hyderabad, where I was bedazzled and blinded by the diamonds and gold adorning the women and men (note to self: consider upping closet bling factor by saving for a thick diamond sari belt), I dashed off on a Sunday to Bandra Kurla’s JioGardens to check out LLW. I also had to attend three different brunches, hosted by Architectural Digest , the Elephant Family and by my friend Kirti Makhijani respectively.
Designed by ace architect Rooshad Shroff, whose presence dominates my life in the form of a coffee table in my bedroom, the fair was neatly laid out, with ample room to move and browse. I lingered at jewellery designer Renu Oberoi’s booth — her designs are as fetching as she is — browsed makeup at Bobbi Brown (best lip colours!), smelled fragrant after visiting Jo Malone, admired carpets at Jaipur Rugs, tasted chocolate by Du Rhone Chocolatier, sighed over the va-va-voom watches at Panerai and Frank Muller, and was yet again tempted by Le Mill’s finely-curated selection of ready-to-wear.
It was now lunchtime and as I hunted for the Elephant Family brunch, I bumped into Akash Sheth, LLW’s managing director, who, despite fielding multiple calls, was a gentleman and escorted me over. As I walked in, I realised I had just missed Mehernosh Heeramaneck’s elephant auction! Mehernosh, a wonderful jeweller and antique expert with an enviable eye, looked happy with the result, as did Ruth Ganesh of the Elephant Family. Given that the proceeds go to protecting the Asian elephant, it was heartening.
Then it was over to Kirti’s lunch, where I air kissed a host of familiar faces, many fellow mothers from my children’s school. I admired an elegantly attired unfamiliar face with closely cropped short hair – she turned out to be an old school friend of the husband’s who now works at the World Bank. Givenchy would have approved.
On to the AD brunch where I greeted more familiar faces. I bumped into Koel Puri, in town from Paris for the India Today Conclave that had featured Sonia Gandhi and Hillary Clinton. “Is the weather ghastly?” I enquired. “Yes, but it’s still Paris,” she shot back. Touché. I bounded up to old chum Nikhil Khanna, in from Delhi, who immediately sat me down to discuss Tina Brown’s Vanity Fair Diaries (we are both fans). Before we could really delve into the heart of the book though, both of us were interrupted by various acquaintances.
I later asked Akash how things went, and he was upbeat. “We had more than 30,000 people attend, and 80 brands wrote to us and said they weren’t expecting a show, production experience and turn out like this,” he said. “It’s taken us two years and the team outperformed.” He went on to add that jewellery and watch exhibitors were thrilled with their sales, as were the real estate and car brands, although he wouldn’t disclose numbers. Clearly, given that Assocham estimates India’s luxury market to hit $30 billion this year, LLW’s wooing of the wealthy appears both prescient and smart.
This fortnightly column tracks the indulgent pursuits of the one-percenters.
