Tag: Kim Kardashian

RUBINA’S RADAR | BILLIONS ARE FASHIONABLE

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OCTOBER 27, 2023

It is you and your skin, that makes fashion visible and desirable, with or without clothes caressing your person. And who knows skin better than Kim Kardashian who turned billionaire with Skims, and billions are fashionable! The success of Skims for women made her launch Skims Men on October 26th with a fabulous campaign featuring pro athletes to add a few more billions to her skin game. Her billionaire sister, Kylie Jenner, posted an affordable Hi with Khy, her new clothing line that will retail vegan leather coats priced at $198 November 1st onwards. Meanwhile, Indian fashion will be celebrated with regal ease, in the palaces of Jaipur this November, with the sound of clinking glasses of Glenlivet and Royal Salute adding to the allure of the night.

LOS ANGELES: Skims changed the shapewear game for women around the world, making its founder, Kim Kardashian a billionaire. As of July 2023, the valuation of Skims, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, stands at $4 billion. And Kardashian wants more, stretching her seamless sights and tights on men. Skims Men dropped on October 26, with a campaign featuring pro male athletes – Brazilian soccer player Neymar Jr. (Al Hilal SFC), American footballer Nick Bosa (San Francisco 48ers) and Canadian basketball player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder). There are three collection for men, “designed for your best performance” as it claims, in cotton, stretch and sport, that includes underwear, tees and tanks and socks in her trademark soft and comfortable fabrics. Prior to her Skims era, Kardashian could never find shapewear to match her skin tone, making her dye the limited ones available with tea bags and coffee in her bathtub before her red carpet appearances. This vacuum in the market prompted Kardashian to create Skims with business couple, Jens and Emma Grede in 2019 with underwear, shapewear and lounge clothing for women in multiple hues to match every skin tone around the world. And, Skims for women has been a fitting, body hugging success since, as will be Skims for men, in all likelihood.

©Neymar Jr and Nick Bosa for Skims Men

JAIPUR: Jaipur, a UNESCO world heritage site since July 2019, really seems to be in step with fashion this holiday season. The city is hosting not one, but two fashion shows on the first weekend of November and on the same date, in its historical and walled confines. There’s the Rewild fashion fundraiser show by the House of Anita Dongre, founded in 1995 by Anita Dongre and her siblings, Meena Sehra and Mukesh Sawlani, taking place on Saturday, November 4th at the City Palace. It is jointly hosted by designer Anita Dongre and Princess Diya Kumari of Jaipur and her daughter, Gauravi Kumari, with a brunch the following day. In line with Dongre’s belief that “the opportunity to lead a dignified life should be accessible to all, from people to animals,” the Anita Dongre Foundation has collaborated with the Nature Conservation Foundation in Mysore to raise funds to preserve and protect the Earth’s wildlife, their focus being elephant welfare and conservation in India. And, a mere six kilometres away, a capsule fashion show at the Rambagh Palace will see designer Rajesh Pratap Singh, exhibiting his collection on its grounds the same evening, along with other designers. Interestingly, Dongre’s show is being held at the City Palace, and the Rambagh Palace show on its grounds, both palaces belonging to the divided royals of Jaipur. It’s Pernod Ricard for the win in Jaipur this season, celebrating fashion with their scotch whiskies – Glenlivet at Dongre’s fundraiser and the befitting Royal Salute at the Rambagh show. Royal Salute has been a part of royal history for over 70 years, given it was created on June 2nd, 1953 to honour the coronation of the late Queen Elizabeth II of England, and named after the ceremonial 21-gun salute fired from the Tower of London to mark royal occasions. Royal Salute has been a part of Pernod Ricard since 2001.

Anita Dongre (Photo by Rubina A. Khan/Getty Images)

MUMBAI / BALI: He’s Indian, he’s Goan, and he’s been a Bombay guy for a while now, but come November, he’s all set to become a Balinese guy. Chef Dane Fernandes, Executive Chef of the JW Sahar Mumbai is moving to the Westin Nusa Dua Bali, Indonesia in November, both hotels under Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel chain. Marriott International generated approximately $20.77 billion in revenue in 2022 worldwide. Fernandes is all about food, especially hyper regional fare, that he learnt to cook from his grandmother in Goa. Anyone who works with him learns the art of innovation and patience, no easy feat in a hot and busy kitchen. Once the youngest Executive Chef for Marriott Asia Pacific at 29, he abhors boredom as much as he adores a late night workout. Fernandes plays ball, runs marathons and works out as much as he works in his kitchens creating delicious foods, leading a team of over 200 people.

Chef Dane Fernandes, photographed by Rubina A Khan

“I am leaving for the Westin Nusa Dua on November 9th, and I am hopeful and excited. I’ve always loved embracing cultures and I feel that moving to Bali will be a spiritual awakening of sorts for me, where I will be able to connect with my inner self. I am really looking forward to cooking with the fresh produce in Bali and the quality and range of ingredients that are available in the country. I hope to create new dishes and flavours, mixing Indian and Balinese culinary styles. But what I am looking forward to most is eating authentic Indonesian food,” says Fernandes, who might just take up running through paddy fields by dusk as his daily workout fix over enclosed gyms in Bali.

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©Rubina A Khan 2023

RUBINA’S RADAR | YOU’RE DOING AMAZING SWEET AND GREEN MUMBAI!

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OCTOBER 10, 2023

There’s always something new happening in Mumbai. And when it’s sweet and delicious like cupcakes and macarons and green like forests, the only way to describe it is by saying, “You’re doing amazing, sweet and green Mumbai!” like Kris Jenner would. Except Jenner had said “You’re doing amazing sweetie” to her daughter Kim Kardashian posing for a Playboy magazine shoot, circa 2007 – a cult sentence in pop culture since.

MUMBAI: New York’s Magnolia Bakery is finally opening in Bandra, Mumbai on November 1st, 2023, five years after marking its sweet presence in India. Magnolia first opened in Bangalore in November 2019, expanding to four locations in the city since, and opened its fifth outpost in Hyderabad in November 2022. The first Magnolia Bakery was opened by Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey in New York in 1996, but went on to change a few hands in its ownership over the years. Magnolia Bakery’s delicious cupcakes and frosted desserts became so popular that it started the cupcake craze in the 90s, with starring pop cultural mentions in the hit television series, Sex And The City and the film, The Devil Wears Prada, and many other film and television shows. The mention of the bakery on an episode of Sex And The City gave it immediate fame, so much so that it became a tour bus stop in New York. Magnolia’s first outpost outside the US was opened in Dubai in 2010, followed by one in Abu Dhabi in the UAE and in countries like Qatar, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and of course, India. Since 2021, Magnolia is owned by a private equity firm co-founded by Hudson Yards developer, Stephen Ross. I have only ever had Magnolia in New York, so bring on the deliciousness!

©Magnolia Bakery, New York

MUMBAI: The 161-year-old French patisserie, Ladurée Paris is also opening in Mumbai at the Jio World Plaza Mall in November, around Diwali, to make the festivities in the city even sweeter. Headquartered in Paris, France, Ladurée is an ambassador of Parisian macarons with their exquisite pastry art. Ladurée Paris first opened in India about two years ago in New Delhi’s Khan Market in September 2021. In 1862, Louis-Ernest Ladurée opened a bakery called Maison Ladurée in La Madeleine, but had to reinvent it as a pastry shop following a fire in the Paris Commune uprising in 1871. The Parisian macaron, as we know it today, was created by Parisian pastry chef, Pierre Desfontaines, second cousin of the creator of Maison Ladurée, who had the ingenious idea of ​​assembling two macaron shells, with a tasty ganache. And voila, the beloved double decker macaron came into existence. It is said that 15000 Ladurée macarons are sold everyday around the world, and the sales in Mumbai will definitely add to that count. 2023 is the year Ladurée celebrates and honours Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, also known as Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, with a macaron called Eugénie. Can’t wait to try the Eugénie macaron with a crunchy biscuit and a melting centre coated in chocolate, and my forever favourite, the Barre Chocolat.

Laduree’s Barre Chocolat photographed by Rubina A Khan

MUMBAI: The Indian Hotels Company Limited opened a new hotel in Mumbai, Taj The Trees, in Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli on September 19th, 2023. Spread over eight acres in the eastern suburb of Vikhroli along the Eastern Express Highway, Taj The Trees has views of the Mangrove Forest on one end and a Sculpture Park on the other. The hotel has 140 rooms and 11 suites, a spa and wellness centre with an infinity pool and 3 restaurants – Shamiana, Nonya and a rooftop bar on the 12th floor, The Mangrove Bar. Taj The Trees is the coming together of two of India’s greatest business legacies for the first time – the Tata Group and the Godrej Group. The hotel is owned by Godrej Properties and is managed by the Indian Hotel Companies as a luxury Taj hotel. Pirojsha Godrej, Executive Chairperson at Godrej Properties said, “We are happy to open our first hotel, Taj The Trees, in partnership with the Tata Group, as we aim to deliver quality and sustainable luxury in a green, connected, and vibrant neighbourhood.” The green mangrove trees and the languid shoreline make for great visuals in a city where the skyline is dominated with concrete towers and buildings. It remains to be seen what kind of efforts and policies have been adopted and adapted by IHCL towards making this a green forward hotel, aside from glass water bottles and linen changes that are the bare minimum in every luxury hotel worldwide. Taj The Trees is quite a tongue-twister, so T3 is what I think it will soon be called, not to be mistaken as a new airport terminal in Mumbai though. Along with the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, Wellington Mews, Taj Land’s End and Taj Santacruz, Taj The Trees is the fifth hotel under the Taj brand to open in Mumbai.

©Taj The Trees

It is rather unimaginable to think of Mumbai as green, where grey concrete is a defining colour, but the idea of waking up to verdant forest views feels calming and energising.

Disclaimer: Any part of the content on the rubinaakhan.com website cannot be reproduced without prior permission and crediting the website and the author.

©Rubina A Khan 2023

RUBINA’S RADAR | A LITTLE GLAMOUR NEVER HURT NOBODY

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RUBINA’S RADAR

The Beyoncé of the beauty business is celebrity makeup lines. Everyone’s got one or wants one, not Bey of course. Lip Kits, Kyshadows, Kylighters and what have you for that Calabassas glow-up by the 21-year-old billionairess on the block, Kylie Jenner and her company, Kylie Cosmetics, founded in 2016 to Kim Kardashian West’s KKW Beauty and fragrances that launched in June 2017 to Jennifer Lopez’s 70-piece limited edition collaboration with Inglot in April 2018 to Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty line that dropped in September 2017 – every girl in the world is obsessed with these race, gender and colour inclusive beauty products that make you look like the glam goddesses pushing them. Not only do they make you look and feel beautiful, they’re selling out in seconds globally with every new collection drop! It seems like everyone wakes up to makeup with these celebrity lines!

Kim Kardashian West | KKW Beauty
Rihanna | Fenty Beauty
Jennifer Lopez | Inglot
Kylie Jenner | Kylie Cosmetics Lab

It’s taken India a while to get on the collaborative beauty carousel aside from the passé promotional posts on Instagram where everybody’s an advertorial beauty advisor, trying to Kontour like a Kardashian. As if! Lakmé India’s stepped up its beauty game by dropping its first ever celebrity makeup line with Bollywood’s most original and enviable pout – Kareena Kapoor Khan in August 2018. Taimur Ali Khan’s haute mom’s limited edition collection – Shades Of A Diva, the Kareena Kapoor Khan Signature Lakmé Absolute Range celebrates Indian skin tones and beauty vivacity with Pout Definers (duh!), Face and Cheek Contours, Waterproof Lip Definers and the works. What’s missing though is a definitive Khan Kajal for our beauteous Indian eyes. At least some of those ghastly makeup video wanna shines can now Kontour like Kareena or Pout like Poo, with a makeup range designed for Indian skin tones, curated and endorsed by a Bollywood star, the biggest magnet of all. Let’s see if this celebrity collection is a blockbuster in the beauty market and the kind of numbers it pulls in with her name.

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Kareena Kapoor Khan | Lakme

India’s grand couturier Rohit Bal’s giving “Are you wearing Rohit” a whole new essence ever since he dropped his own fragrance line for men and women in February this year. Bal launched an Arab essential, Oudh and Aab for men and Vana and Oas for women. Bal is known to experiment with his inherent talents, having collaborated on an exquisite home decor line with Good Earth in November 2016, an extension of his 2015 Husn-E-Taairat couture collection. In keeping with his indomitable spirit for artistic excellence, Bal’s velvety, luxurious fragrances add another dimension to his creative pursuits marking an impressive debut in the beauty business. Bal’s Oudh is enchanting and as seductive as the Arabian originals in the Middle East. What’s a desert country like Dubai without the exotic Oudh wafting through its architectural modernisms anyway? Wearing Rohit Bal apparel and couture is de rigueur, but the fragrance line has taken Bal to another level of luxe altogether. What’s next? A makeup collaboration?

Rohit Bal | Photo: Rubina A Khan
Rohit Bal’s Oudh Fragrance | Photo: Rubina A Khan

Whilst on all things glamorous, flying to exotic locales is quintessential to fashion forwards worldwide. The Wadia Group’s domestic airline, Go Air, is all set to go international come October 2018 with direct flights to two of the world’s most fashionable and luxe destinations – Male, Maldives and Phuket, Thailand from Mumbai and New Delhi. Go Air’s direct flights to both Male and Phuket from Mumbai will definitely put an end to the stretched nights spent at the Mumbai airport flying into Male via Colombo at unearthly hours on SriLankan Airlines. In this demonetised Indian economy, I had to read the tempting introductory fares twice over to believe them. The Wadia Group launched Go Air in November 2005 as a low-fare domestic airline operating over 230 daily flights across 23 destinations. Taking flight as an international airline in October 2018 after 14 years of domestic operations, is a great move forward for the company and one of great pride for India.

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Go Air | Photo: Rubina A Khan

Disclaimer: Any part of the content on the rubinaakhan.com website cannot be reproduced without prior permission and crediting the website and the author.

©Rubina A Khan 2018