If you ask any young person these days what their most coveted, or in vogue apparel item is, at least eight out of 10 will reply ‘Yeezy shoes’
If you ask any young person these days what their most coveted, or in vogue apparel item is, at least eight out of 10 will reply ‘Yeezy shoes’. The shoes, which don’t look much different from your everyday gym trainers, have quickly become a worldwide sensation thanks to some clever marketing, that has branded them as ‘Kanye West’ shoes.
Kanye West. Pic/Getty Images, Ranveer Singh
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(West himself has been sporting and promoting them). Apparently only 9,000 of this Holy Grail exist worldwide and you can only get your hands (or feet) on them, by putting your name into a raffle lucky draw!
And so naturally when news that 50 pairs of this footwear had arrived in India spread, there was something of a stampede at a suburban store where lucky fans were hoping to get them at the selling price of $350.
However, a source present at the event informed us that it was not to be. “There was a long queue and we were given ticket numbers for the lucky draw, and it was announced that only two pairs remained, when suddenly, in walks a positively beaming Ranveer Singh, who walked straight to the front of the queue and picked up the second last pair - just like that,” said the disappointed buyer.
“Ranveer happens to be the brand ambassador for the shoe company, thus we assume he had dibs on a pair,” said the source adding, “Though all was not lost. I approached the guy who won the last pair and offered him double the price he paid. He sold them to me on the spot. Though it was expensive - I can sell these on E-bay one day where the price starts at $2000.”
His kingdom for a shoe.
Politically correct to a fault
A delicious serving of SoBo showed up last evening to the Taj Apollo Bunder for the launch of Former Union Minister for Home P Chidambaram’s book, Standing Guard: One year in Opposition (Rupa). Spotted were the likes of Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan, Taj’s Chief Revenue Officer Chinmai Sharma, Former Commissioner of Police AN Roy, activist lawyer Abha Singh, journalists Olga Tellis and Shobhaa De.
This was very much the erudite soft-speaking Congressman’s natural constituency, men and women who had perhaps not started out as fans of the UPA, but who over the course of the past few months, have begun to see its virtues in comparison to the NDA’s performance.
But so politically correct and careful were the panelists on stage (Kumar Ketkar, Ronnie Screwvalla, Tasneem Mehta and Anant Goenka moderated by Anil Dharkar), that often they appeared to score own goals in their bid to appear evenhanded and unbiased.
So you had Kumar Ketkar, who, in the past has been accused of being a Congress ‘lackey,’ bringing up the shameful MF Husain treatment when the discussion turned to the subject of intolerance. “That happened in the UPA times,” he thundered.
Chidambaram himself declared “ We have always been an intolerant society,” making the point that intolerance was not the monopoly of the NDA alone.
“But what worries me, is that today you have a situation where intolerance is being justified,” he said, to palpable approval from the audience.
“I do not want to be told what I can eat, what I can read, or who I can love or marry,” said a visibly mellowed Chidambaram. “This is the point I am trying to make in my writing.”
Dubai Art Fair
“Art Dubai is the most important fair in the region. In fact, Dubai has become the hub for contemporary art with major auction houses having important sales, both of regional art and international,” said gallerist Geeta Mehra of Sakshi who is currently in Dubai for the premier art extravaganza.
Geeta Mehra
“Although the blue chip museums will shortly have a presence in Abu Dhabi and Doha, Dubai continues to be the hub for art activity,” she said. “Dubai is able to attract collectors and museum curators from all over Europe and the Far East, and it’s an efficiently planned fair. As for the considerable presence of the Indian art community, she said, “There is a large Indian presence here. Chemould, Sakshi, Jhaveri Contemporary, Chatterjee and Lal, Lakeeren, Project 88 are all here along with artists ranging from Zaria Hashmi, Samanta Batra, and many others.”
Sakshi has been a participant since inception, with a short gap in the middle years of this 10-year-old fair.
Head Cleaner
For all his professional success and salutary civic activism, Vishal Dadlani knows that life should not be taken too seriously. We watched him in Farah Khan’s Happy New Year, where he sportingly played the role of a homosexual judge, alongside Anurag Kashyap.
Vishal Dadlani
Which is why, when we chanced upon this portrait of the artist as a funny man, featuring him with his celebrated bald pate getting some head cleaning, we were delighted. On the verge of a bone-crushing US tour, which sees the musician perform back-to-back in a slew of American cities, Dadlani is obviously in need of all kinds of therapies, including one for his cranium.
“What makes my head so glossy-glossy? ‘BecauseImWorthIt’” he quipped. We think so too.
Kapoor at the carnival
It’s been quite a week for Sunil Kapur, restaurateur and businessman behind a slew of eateries including Copper Chimney.
Sunil Kapur
Not only did he cater the back-to-back private weekend extravaganzas at the NSCI Dome, but when we spoke to him on Sunday, Kapoor, who is also known by his pet name Joy, was at a noisy and joyous St Patrick’s Day Carnival at his Irish House cafe in Lower Parel.
“It’s really noisy out here,” he shouted down the phone line. “The entire mall has come to a stop to watch the Parade!” he said excitedly. The ‘Dublin street’ parade saw unicyclists, jugglers, clowns and stilt walkers. A special mention for the visually challenged foot masseurs trained at The Victoria Memorial School for the Blind.
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