It’s the season for change. So slap a fresh coat of paint on your furniture, plump up those cushions and get rid of the damaged relationship you have been holding onto.
If it’s your time for a break-up, get over Mr. Wrong with the latest self-help paperback, It’s Called a Breakup Because It’s Broken: The Smart Girl’s Break-Up Buddy.
Don’t harass your ex with drunken calls at 3 am, stalk him or sleep with his best friend - humorous, yet practical wisdom from comedian Greg Behrendt and his wife Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt. Not surprising stuff since Behrendt worked on Sex and the City and the bestseller, He’s Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys.
These 308 pages don’t hold back: “He doesn’t want to talk to you. Even if you think he does, you’re probably wrong. If he wanted to talk to you, to check on you, to reconcile with you, he would.” Ouch.
Perfect for that friend of yours in need of a reality check, or is it you?
It’s Called a Breakup Because It’s Broken: The Smart Girl’s Break-Up Buddy, Harper Collins, Rs 195.
Innovate or perish - the mantra that has made many corporations successful is also the philosophy of ceramicist Gurmeet Singh, who brings his unique modern perspective to traditional pottery.
Priyanka Vadra and other swish set-ers have been snatching up Singh’s clay and wrought iron designs at the pre-Diwali Blind School sale and at retail outlets in Dubai, but Singh’s full range is also at his Royal Touch stores - two true hidden treasures within the malls in Gurgaon.
Among Singh’s vibrant solids or floral designs, the most distinctive are the charcoal barbeque grillers with four skewers that let you cook kabobs right at your table.
For your own entertaining or as a gift, check out the geometric shape snack plates with clip-on dip bowls and the irresistible ice-cream demitasse cups shaped like wine goblets. Or for a blend of East and West, the new 29-inch plate is designed for communal eating. All pieces are safe in the microwave and oven-toaster-grill.
You’ll be surprised Singh’s e-mail address isn’t innovation@the_drop_of_a_hat.
Royal Touch: DT City Centre, 2nd Floor, Mehrauli Gurgaon Road, Gurgaon. Telephone: 0124-401022. MGF Mall, Upper Ground Floor (near Koutons), Mehrauli Gurgaon Road, Gurgaon.
Telephone: 9899131855.
Ceramic pieces priced from Rs. 20 -10,000, and barbeques from Rs. 350 - 20,000.
There is nothing better than that feeling of pampered confidence after a trip to the salon. You’re blow-dried and coiffed, with nails buffed and polished to perfection.
But we’re not talking about your conventional beauty parlour. This one’s a pedigree apart - literally.
Top Dog is the solution to all of the beauty nitty gritties your dog may need. One of the few dog grooming salons in the city, Top Dog offers everything from the conventional bath, blow-dry and brush, to the frou-frou oil massage for your pooch.
If you have a macho mutt, he can go for the Furminator super short cut. Or if you have a style diva, check out Top Dog’s doggy clothing, bandanas, bow ties and colognes.
What we can’t figure out is - when a dog gets her nails done - would that be a manicure or a pedicure?
Top Dog, Professional Pet Styling Services, 45 Hoosein Manor, Bomanji Petit Rd., Mumbai. Telephone: 98200 70992/32414605.
Email: topdogbombay@gmail.com.
Prices from Rs 50 for basic nail clipping etc to Rs 1000 for shedding treatments.
Okay, so your wardrobe has always been the envy of your friends and colleagues. But are you as gauche around your house as Sophie Kinsella’s protagonist in The Undomestic Goddess? Here’s the thing: It can be fun doing up your house.
Don’t believe us? Take a stroll around Furncraft. The newly-opened branch at the Crescent Mall has a delectable range of European furniture. What’s more, their welcoming fireplace and sink-in couches make shopping a memorable experience. Furncraft believes in exclusivity, so you will never find more than two pieces alike.
Let your imagination run wild with cushions, rectangular candles, cylindrical glasses and vases imported from Europe and in sober blacks and browns, mixed with bursts of colour. And if you like to be surrounded by nature, fill bowls or vases with a pot-pourri of avocado seeds, natural mushrooms or pretty seashells embedded in wax.
With a range as tempting as this, you’ll soon be a true domestic goddess.
Furncraft Decollage, Crescent Mall, 3rd Floor, Lado Sarai. Telephone: 29521801 or 32513362.
Prices from Rs 800 and go up to six figures.
Let a flood of sandalwood and aloe vera wash over you under the powerful jets of a Vichy rain shower. Feel your skin sweat out impurities as you’re cocooned in a detoxifying seaweed body wrap.
It’s all at Quan Spa, tucked away in the JW Marriott in posh Juhu. This oasis of calm officially opens its doors this October, but Trendylicious got inside for a sneak peek.
Quan’s unique offerings of facials, massages and baths are based on the soothing powers of water (and named Ocean Facial or Ocean Wrap accordingly). It’s only fitting that the kimono-clad staff exclusively uses Thalgo products made from algae and other underwater plant life.
Your nose will follow the aroma of orchids while you sink in and out of the plush terry robes and nutmeg-coloured towels. Go for purifying mud wraps, exfoliating sea salt scrubs, or the rose and Ashwaganda milk bath that your skin will drink up.
After all, there’s nothing like a relaxing bath to retreat from the day’s worries.
Quan Spa, JW Marriott, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai. Telephone: 5693 3000
Treatments from Rs 1,900 - 10,000.
You were the first in your girlie gang to wear shrugs and circle skirts. (Your friends lacked your fashion foresight.)
But now that they’ve bought into your style, you all look like clones. So how can you salvage your signature flair?
Check out the new line of chappals, belts and wallets from What’s Pink. The collection is inspired by street fashion, music icons and Indian mythology and divinity.
The designs stand out with embroidered motifs in bright colours, lace, sequins and pearls, contrasted against brocade, silk and leather.
Feminine types will be thrilled with the Kiss-a-Belle range, a vintage collection inspired by the Belle Époque years in France. For kitsch lovers, the Silken Saga designs have mythology scenes in vibrant colours and sequins, and the Gods of Music feature hand-painted music icons embellished to look like Indian deities.
The result: Unusual accessories that express your inimitable style and will keep you tickled pink.
Available at all Be: stores, Buzz at Shoppers’ Stop in Delhi and Mumbai, and at The Oak Tree, Ishna, and You in Mumbai.
Chappals and wallets from Rs 2000-4000 and bags from Rs 4000-15,000.
Shhh. It’s a sale so irresistible that you’ll want to keep it under wraps.
Drop in at Versace’s couture store this month and satisfy your fetish for high glam apparel, now marked down 50 per cent. Fashion snobs may snub you for it, but that’s only because they’re jealous.
And at 30 per cent off, you can’t possibly buy just one of their embellished accessories. Metallic purses, oversized wallets and skinny belts embossed with the Versace logo, a representation of mythological figure Medusa’s head.
Of course, the powers that be foresaw that shop-like-you’re-on-a-mission attitude of yours. This means, unfortunately, that the sunglasses with crystal detailing and sleek steel watches are strictly off the sale list. But don’t despair, there’s plenty of bling to go around.
Miss a chance to go glam, at half the price? Never.
Going to share it with your closest girlfriends? Maybe.
Sale ends September 30.
Versace, J.W. Marriott Hotel, Juhu Tara Road, Mumbai. Telephone: 67102929/30.
Sit up and take notice. Fashion is jumping off the pages of your favourite glossy and making a big splash on the screen. The Devil Wears Prada, in which Meryl Streep plays the devilish editor of a New York fashion magazine, and Anne Hathaway her mousy assistant, is due out tomorrow.
The film adapts the best-selling novel of the same name, and chronicles a few months in the life of a fashion newbie who turns into a runway swan with generous helpings of cinched waists, knee-high boots and Chanel, i.e. the double-C logo pearls. Hathaway’s killer looks are styled by Sex And The City wardrobe pro Patricia Field.
Not since Audrey Hepburn’s black Givenchy dress in the 1961 classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s has fashion been so much fun to watch.
So dress to kill and head to the nearest multiplex.
You’ll leave wishing you, too, had a fairy godmother with a closet of couture.
The Devil Wears Prada opens at theatres nationwide this Friday, September 15.
The lacy lingerie caught your eye, but then you found yourself stuck with a too-solicitous male clerk. Or worse, browsing for your unmentionables right next to the children’s toys section.
How you have longed for a store with only female attendants where you could shop in peace for your pretty pjs and your naughty nightwear.
Fret no more, ladies. Straps opened this summer, filled with bras, camisoles, satin slips, and matching wraps. They carry Triumph, Vanity Fair and other premium brands at a range of prices. You can even find that Wonderbra you’ve been looking for.
Try them on in their spacious trial rooms, with trained friendly female staff to help find your size and colour.
And as a final touch, they’ll pack your purchase in a nifty little bag with re-usable transparent straps. Whip them off, and try them with any bra!
Straps, M-32, GK -1, M block market, New Delhi. Telephone: 46566489.
Additional locations in DT Mega Mall (Gurgaon), Lajpat Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Kamala Nagar (Delhi), Shipra Mall (Ghaziabad), and Spice Mall (Noida).
Prices from Rs 200 - 2000.
Let’s not deny it. All our mums hoped we’d embrace some of their traditions – keep and treasure our long locks, marry men (not women), learn how to boil water.
Newcomer store and brand Ruh is the ideal solution to the problem. It’s old meets new, East meets West, traditional meets contemporary.
Housing talent from the National Institute of Design, they’ve managed to knock out some pretty fantastic pieces of clothing. We’re talking wraparound kurtis made from Maheswari silk - Ruh’s is a special weave that includes more cotton than silk, making it ideal for almost-everyday wear. And we bet you never thought salwar-kameez sets in khadi could pass off as haute couture, but guess again.
Mums understand the material, daughters the designs. Skirts, shirts and even sarees. The cuts are clean and stylish, and incorporate unusual motifs in metal rivets and gota patties.
It’s like nothing out of your mama’s wardrobe.
Ruh, F21, first floor, Quorum, High Street Phoenix. Telephone: 24903919.
Prices from Rs 800 - Rs 5000.
