“The best part of a party is getting dressed up to go,” quipped New York society doyenne Nan Kempner, famous for her stamina to socialise (she also said she wouldn’t miss the opening of a door). Over the past two weeks of non-stop dressing up, my admiration for clotheshorse Nan shot up considerably. How on earth did she attend couture shows in Europe multiple times a year, plus hordes of benefits and society events in the US? I have been out almost every single night over the past two weeks, and I am completely exhausted. I even have a sprained ankle to prove it.
It all began with the lead-up to the launch of the book I co-authored with my friend and fellow journalist Mallika Kapur, Changemakers: 20 Women Transforming Bollywood Behind the Scenes on October 17 (read it!). We worked over time to ensure we had as many of the women we had profiled attend, not to mention our guests of honour Farah Khan, Anil Kapoor and Rajiv Masand, as well as social swans, corporate tycoons, and sundry well-wishers. In the end, it turned out swell, as the Chandon and Hennessy cocktails flowed.
Since then, it’s been a whirlwind of social soirees. I found myself at a celebration to mark the high-end fashion embroidery brand JADE, whose chief guest was Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri. A small but well curated exhibit of old textiles, collected by the designers Monica Shah and Karishma Swaili, greeted us at the Crystal Ballroom of the Taj Mahal Palace. I was soon whisked away to meet Maria Grazia, who spoke of the need to nurture handmade textiles, something that the West has essentially lost. She said it with such feeling I felt like abandoning my Cushnie et Ochs dress for a handloom sari then and there. After an elaborate show of JADE’s latest collection, I found my pal Vishal Shetty DJ’ing. This guy can get anyone on the dance floor. Unfortunately for me, my YSL heels were not designed for dancing. I hurt my ankle and made a hasty exit.
The next night, it was the new members-only Quorum Club in Gurgaon, with its extraordinarily furnished, cosy interiors. Every time I come to Gurgaon, I am amazed at the tall gleaming skyscrapers that could be anywhere in the world, in contrast to its awful roads. I was doing a book event with Barkha Dutt (Mallika and my former classmate at Columbia) at the Quorum. We had producer Guneet Monga ( The Lunchbox , Masaan ) and Charu Khurana (she won her case in the Supreme Court so women could work as make-up artists in films) with us on the panel. Any worries that no one would turn up were assuaged when I saw a packed house and some familiar South Delhi faces in the audience. Afterwards, over some Merlot, conversation flitted between bemoaning traffic and the humungous impending wedding of a DLF family scion. Imagine the wardrobe stress for that event. When the wedding did happen, Instagram did not disappoint. Delhiites went all out in the clothes and jewelry department — Nan would have been proud.
Back in the bay, she wouldn’t have been as agreeable given that I skipped an artsy dinner in honour of a visiting friend from out of town, to rest the ankle and my tired old self. But I redeemed myself over the weekend. On both Friday and Saturday, I moderated two panels and hosted a cocktail at the inaugural AD Design Show, attended the country’s largest annual charity benefit for Magic Bus, and made it to the Vogue Women of the Year Awards. By the end of the fortnight, I had gone through most of my new or least worn outfits. It’s a good thing Diwali is around the corner and new clothes are a must during the festival. Tradition to the rescue.
This fortnightly column tracks the indulgent pursuits of the one-percenters.
