Sunday, August 26, 2012

"A long string of images held together with grace"


The 12th of August 2012, was a sad day for artists and art connoisseurs alike, as Prabuddha Dasgupta took his last few breaths and bid adieu to the world he had once captured beautifully through his camera lens. To call him a mere fashion photographer would be robbing him of his true credentials, that as an endorser and enabler of the human condition, taking photographs "where people could be people" and not cardboard cutouts of popular notions of perfection. I was fortunate enough to be witness to an evening kept in his honour where people(family, friends and people whose lives he had touched) spoke about him and paid their last respect. It was only fitting that the memorial was kept at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi as Prabuddha had spent a better part of his youth living here, as his father was a sculptor who resided in the Gallery premises. Along with riveting speeches by the likes of Mira Nair, the night ended with a montage of Prabuddha's iconic photographs whose impact was further heightened by Leonard Cohen's haunting music. The evening also saw Prabuddha's daughters singing a heartfelt rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine". Prabuddha wanted his photographs to be "a long string of images (that were) held together with grace", and seeing the legacy he leaves behind, I can safely say that he's more than achieved that. They say that the good, die young. I couldn't agree more. R.I.P.















Photographs courtesy: prabuddhadasgupta.com

Friday, August 24, 2012

Grey


Delving into the murky waters of confused gender identities can always be tricky. What started out as a fun project during summer school in Milan by way of a designing an exclusive menswear magazine that catered to men who took a special interest in how they dressed, has turned into a full blown analysis into why certain men act the way they do, and what it means to march to your own beat in the 21st century whilst holding your head up high and coming to terms with why you do what you do. Taking on the subject of "Schizophrenic Sexuality" for my final term project in menswear is proving to be an interesting challenge, one that is helping me in my own journey to self discovery.

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Wednesday, August 1, 2012

La Dolce Vita



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picture courtesy: Rhea Baweja

It's funny how a few days in an alien town can change your perspective on things. Being in Milan for a summer course, did just that, and so much more! Italy, ever since the days of the Renaissance, has been the hub of all things art and culture, with a special emphasis on design. The italians take great pride in their appearance, and I could easily see why their sartorial sense would be any street style photographer's wet dream. The Italians are un-apolegetic about their way of life, so much so that a large chunk of their population are more than comfortable conversing in only their mother tongue,not feelng the need to equip themselves with the unmatched benefits that the English language would avail them. In today's times of identity tussles, we could surely take a page out of their book and proudly wear our individuality on our sleeve and desperately hold onto any raw fleeting emotion that feels inherently 'real'!

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On a side note, inspite of having been sporadically updating this blog for the past 2 years, i'm still quite not comfortable with the idea of posing for the purpose of displaying personal style by way of pictures and the certain douchey connotations I think it has. Now don't get me wrong, in no way am I hating on the personal style bloggers out there! Complete respect and kudos to those who can pull it off, but you've got to admit that posting pictures of oneself on a regular basis is a tad bit narcissistic! I wish there were a better way of letting people in on our style, taste, etc. and basically have them see what we're all about. Oh wait, there is, through pictures(not of ourselves, but of the stuff we own and the things we do), our writing (that can in many ways say so much more about a person than a photograph) and just the compilation of things that we absolutely adore! So before my statements get any further paradoxical, I shall shut up and see ya'll in my next post!