The lockdown has proven to be a strenuous time for both parents and children. With online education being a fairly new concept to most parents and children, need a safe and fun environment that facilitates active and engaged learning. International brand IKEA has a collection of everything you need to transform your nursery into an educational and entertainment hub for children where they can learn and play.
Read on to see how you can create that safe space in the comfort of your own home.
Turn the nursery into a safe heaven where kids can study and play. (Photo: Unsplash)
PAHL
The PAHL desk is just what the kids need to stick to their study schedule in these times. A simple, sturdy and spacious desk, that comes with a space for cables and chargers. The desk that will grow with your child, thanks to the three different heights, as it is easily adjusted to 59, 66 or 72 cm by using the knobs on the legs.
LOBERGET / SIBBEN
The perfect complement to the PAHL desk, this height-adjustable, sturdy chair has built-in lumbar support that gives extra relief to your child’s back perfect for long study sessions! Whether it be homework or adding touches to arts and crafts, the chair along with the desk can accommodate any task. Height is easy to adjust and the modern, clean design suits every need for children at every school level.
PLUFSIG
Children don’t just love spinning, tumbling, swinging and jumping for fun; they need physical activity. Physical play is as essential to their development as studies are. This folding mat aims to inspire children to play more actively at home as playing outside is not an option.
FUBBLA LED wall lamp
A desk lamp ideal for your children’s bedroom. No matter if it’s time for homework or story time, kids will always have the right light. The lamp has a dimming function that also works as a night light. The range of children’s lighting products go through some of the toughest safety tests in the world to ensure safety standards are met.
ISBERGET
In case you happen to use a tablet for your child’s e-class, it is no doubt that children, especially those in younger age groups, may tend to fidget with the tablet during the class. ISBERGET holds the tablet in place and can be kept at a distance from the child. This tablet stand can be tilted in 2 positions, so you get a comfortable viewing angle.
The first-ever digital edition of the Lotus Make-up India Fashion Week Spring/Summer21 opened with what can only be described as a hard act to follow thanks to veteran designer Rajesh Pratap Singh.
Singh’s film makes no pretense of the current situation created by the pandemic both in our lives and in fashion. The collection titled “Fall. ing. 2020” is an honest representation of the impact of coronavirus on our reality and fashion sensibility.
The film opens on a dark and somber note with models surrounded by oxygen cylinders in a desolate setting, the clothes in muted tones of grey, green and mustard depict a world taken by surprise and sadness.
Cut to Pratap’s signature pintuck style in structured silhouettes, models feature pristine white dresses, jackets and kurtas with an almost eerie resemblance to hospitals and lab coats.
The designer also takes a moment to reflect on mental health and people bereaving the loss of loved ones, reflected in metallic tones.
Lastly, a portrayal of what the world is holding on to — hope, represented in colourful ensembles featuring hand block prints, surface techniques, handloom over glass cotton and silk satins in shades of lavender, pinks and red. The oxygen cylinders now painted with colourful pictures representing the artisans and craftsman, the unseen faces behind ‘Make in India’ and the back bone of the fashion industry.
Singh is known for his unique style has used layering in this line-up which comprises of jackets, shirts, kurtas, dresses in bright pastel hues and classic whites.
The designer ends his video with a tribute to the karigars (artisans) and also pledges to contribute part of the sale proceeds to a CSR Foundation for supporting Indian craftsmen displaced due to the pandemic.
The pre-shot fashion film streamed live across various FDCI digital platforms viz Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the FDCI website.
As more and more consumers opt for branded – packaged food items, counterfeiters are flooding the market with fake and adulterated products.
An overwhelming number of incidents and case studies indicate that food fraud is a growing trend. Incidents increase rapidly during the festive season where imitations of branded chocolates, snacks, beverages and even essential items like rice and oil are being sold.
As per findings from FSSAI (the Food regulator) during the year 2018-19, while analyzing a total of 106,459 samples over 15.8 percent of food were found to be sub-standard, 3.7 percent unsafe, and 9 percent samples had labeling defects. This is the first year such data has been compiled for unsafe, substandard and labeling defects.
Consumers deserve good quality product, especially as they are paying top dollar for it. So the question is how can we save ourselves from food fraud?
Nakul Pasricha, President, ASPA (Authentication Solution Providers’ Association) suggests the following tips to make sure you are being given an authentic product:
Home Delivery
Shop at authorised vendors and take the bill
As much as possible buy from authorised retail shops as they will not sell a fake products on purpose. Always insist for a proper bill from the retailer. Bills help in proving responsibility in case the seller gives you a falsified item. Do not fall for an unknown online seller just for convenience.
Be careful while shopping online
While using an online delivery system choose trustworthy – established – authentic websites only. Do not shop from unknown websites because they are giving attractive offers and discounts. Before shopping online verify if the website is reliable and trusted by shoppers.
Packaging reveals the secret
A careful look at the packaging can easily tell you if it is a fake. Counterfeiters produce close copies, but they mostly cannot perfect it. There are visible differences in the logo, size, and colors used in the packaging. Many brands use anti-counterfeiting solutions such as special packaging layers, security holograms, special packaging features, SMS verification, QR code, or a scratch code. They also have instructions for product authentication. For instance Ghee brands like Patanjali, Mother Dairy and Amul have QR codes or security holograms to authenticate the product. A packed rice bag would have a holographic stripe. Check for these and make sure of their presence. Report them with Brand if you don’t find them or if these labels seem tampered. Check for product labelling. Counterfeit products can be easily identified through wrong spelling (an extra or a missing letter) or grammatical errors.
New Delhi: People step out to buy essentials items. (Photo: IANS)
Check the nutrition label on supplements and food items
Always read the nutrition label carefully. Nutrition labels can help in identifying fakes from originals. Fake items usually have some discrepancy in listing the ingredients. If something is extra in it or if something is missing, then the product is a fake. You can also download ‘Smart Consumer App’ launched by the Consumer Ministry and FSSAI to help customers to get accurate information about packaged food items.
Check the manufacturing and expiry date
While buying something always check the manufacturing and expiry date. If the date seems to be way too long ago or if it is damaged or not clearly visible, then that is likely a recycled item.
Be aware of inconsistency in the texture, smell, and colour of the product. These are few key indicators to help you make out whether the product is an original or a fake. A responsible and reputed brand would never compromise on the quality of their products. So, a few minutes invested while buying can make sure we save ourselves from picking up fake food items.
Tele-cardiology: How Covid-19 changed healthcare from traditional to digital. (Photo Courtesy: Pixabay)
United Nations: Confident of winning in the struggle against epidemic in China
We are going through a difficult, unique and challenging time because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has changed our lives remarkably, has affected practically every person, every individual, every professional, every industry. Affected governments across the globe and their functioning in ways more than we could have ever imagined…writes Dr.T.S Kler.
Until an effective vaccine is created, Covid is here to stay and the sooner we accept it and change or adapt the way we live, we will be able to cope up with the same in a much efficient manner. The whole world moved to Digital mode of communication across all sectors to keep up with the new normal. And similarly, we all witnessed a major shift in the healthcare industry replacing face to face patient visits with Tele-consultation, which have proven to be a boon for doctors and patients, ensuring safety for all.
This pandemic led to a sudden nation-wide lockdown, the hospitals were turned into Covid centres, leaving other patients in need of care and treatment high and dry. Statistics show that Indians are already into self- medication which can be very dangerous in case of critical conditions. During the early days of Covid, patients had little or no access to the hospitals and they continued to take treatment according to their will and whatever was prescribed to them in their earlier visits to the doctors. To ensure continuity of quality treatment and care for patients with heart disease, it became important to differentiate between deferrable and non-deferrable activity.
heart functions. (Photo: Pixabay)
In such a scenario, despite being in its early days in terms of acceptance and patient adoption, telecardiology has played a pivotal role. While has made sure that patients with cardiovascular diseases get the much-needed diagnosis, second opinion and relevant treatment, it moreover helped in limiting clinical visits, unless there was an emergency case which could not otherwise be controlled.
The use of telemedicine within cardiac care primarily seeks to achieve remote, real-time diagnosis and treatment of heart disease – including cardiac arrest, congestive heart failure, and arrhythmia.
During this pandemic situation, telemedicine emerged as a key solution providing all sorts of necessary healthcare-related support required by all stakeholders, including – doctor consultation, urgent medicine delivery, home testing and home care. Not only were the existing players seen expanding and stretching their limits but there were many new players and start-ups who entered the market to serve the country in times of such distress. Telemedicine helps in bridging the gap between patients and doctors from overseas by making it possible for medical practitioners or hospitals to consult with different specialists, regardless of their location. However, when it comes to complex medical conditions requiring expert opinion, it’s not easy to find and connect with seasoned specialists.
Tele-cardiology: How Covid-19 changed healthcare from traditional to digital. (Photo Courtesy: Pixabay)
Hypothetically, let’s say a patient can identify a trusted doctor abroad; getting an appointment for an office visit with associated travel arrangements could easily take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. With SeekMed, however, a patient can get through a video consultation with a doctor of repute in less than a week. Patients also have a choice to consult with multiple doctors on the platform before deciding on the doctor they best respond to.
Telemedicine holds the potential to easily meet the needs of today’s cardiologists and has the capacity to completely revolutionize the delivery of cardiac care.
The growing Indian luxury beauty market (Photo: IansLife)
Sargam Dhawan Bhayana.(LinkedIn)
According to Euromonitor International, the premium beauty and personal segment in India, which is Asia’s third-largest economy, was worth $774 million in 2018 and India continues only grow thereon. And the transition from mass to premium to luxury beauty brands seems to be moving extremely fast, feels industry veteran Sargam Dhawan Bhayana…writes Puja Gupta.
“The continuous rise in disposable income and increasing internet penetration is what has made International brands view India as a potential market,” says Bhayana, Director at Paul Penders & Dafni India and the founder of Tressmart and Glow by Tressmart — an online platform that offers premium to luxury beauty and wellness brands.
We spoke to Bhayana to know more about the growing business of luxury beauty brands in India, how international brands see the Indian market and the future of the beauty industry. How do you see India as a market for luxury beauty brands?
Over the years India has been acknowledged as an emerging market for luxury beauty brands. India as a market is a perfect blend for modernity with tradition. India is a country where International luxury beauty brands can perform just as well as Indian homegrown brands.
The growing Indian luxury beauty market (Photo: IansLife)
Indian consumers are also becoming more aware and conscious about the products they use on themselves and are also well travelled and well exposed which has expanded their knowledge on beauty brands all over world. While there are some challenges one faces when entering the market keeping in mind ethnic diversity that characterises India, this also opens doors to different opportunities in the beauty market in India. While Indian women still use certain home remedies when it comes to their skin and hair such as oiling their hair, ubtans among others, they simultaneously order luxury beauty brands of the internet.
It is the increasing access to the luxury beauty brands that individuals have that is identifying India as an upcoming beauty giant. While Ayurveda, Organic beauty has been increasing in trend, the concept of Vegan beauty is also growing. The consumer is extremely particular the natural, cruelty-free characteristic of the brand.
Many international luxury brands have made their entry in India lately. Can there be a specific reason behind it?
In 2017, I launched DAFNI in India, a premium hair straightening brush brand, whose demand seems to continue in the country. Similarly, I bought Paul Penders, the world’s first Vegan and Cruelty-free brand that has picked up even more recently due to its conscious values. After analysing the demand of premium to luxury beauty and personal care products, during the lockdown this year, we launched two e-commerce platforms Tressmart and Glow by Tressmart that has been picking up very well keeping in mind the competition that exists in the e-commerce space.
The continuous rise in disposable income and increasing internet penetration is what has made International brands view India as a potential market. We at Tressmart Marketing Pvt. Ltd. too will be introducing a few international brands in India in the coming months on both Tressmart and Glow by Tressmart.
How has the beauty market as a whole been impacted due to the pandemic and lockdown?
The lockdown period has been quite difficult for beauty businesses in general. For us, being a skincare brand predominantly, customers usually like to try our products before buying but that unfortunately hasn’t been possible during this time, thus reducing brand experience for the customer. Furthermore, initially courier services were also not operational which in turn put business on hold for a while. Then slowly courier services resumed but only allowing online payments and no COD options, which again restricts sale. Additionally, with the current situation, deliveries are taking longer than usual, which of course is completely understandable, however since we at Paul Penders don’t use any chemicals in our products and the ingredients are 100 percent organic and natural, we run the risk of the products getting spoilt due to the heat. Luckily, so far our products have reached customers in good condition.
Sargam Dhawan Bhayana.( Facebook)
Even though this lockdown has affected businesses all over, we feel the steps taken to curb the spread of the virus was imperative.
What do you think about the men’s beauty space in India?
The men’s grooming sector in my opinion is extremely dynamic and has definitely grown over the years. Men have also become quite conscious of their appearance and basic grooming needs which has definitely opened the market for this segment. Furthermore, the emergence of new indie brans booming along with innovative concern centric products focusing on styling and beard care have really helped drive this sector.
How do you see its future?
Bhayana: Looking at the response of the consumer in the men’s grooming sector, male grooming definitely has come of age. According to PGS Labs India’s men grooming market is projected to soar to $5.5 billion by 2021. This segment has definitely disrupted the traditional view of beauty where women were the driving force. From beard oil to facial cleansers, most men have more than one male grooming product in the bathroom, which opens the men’s grooming market considerably.
Agra shifts focus to khadi shoes to tide over economic crisis.
Agra shifts focus to khadi shoes to tide over economic crisis.
Abandoning those home slippers and finally going out during festivals is something everyone is gearing up for. But with the excitement for buying that new shiny pair of footwear, one shouldnt forget the measures that should be kept in focus. Ishan Sachdeva, Director, Alberto Toressi and Ashish Jain, CEO, and Director, Von Wellx Germany share some pointers and inspirations for the festive season shopping…writes Puja Gupta.
Keep it casual: Sneaker is the safest option for any festival, but it comes with a few caveats: Some sneakers may not actually have the comfort needed to get through the entire day. Avoid slip-on styles with super-flat soles and consider an orthotic insert to add even more stability – a tactic that can also be applied to boots. Plain black or brown shoe is one of the excellent choices for all the festive season. A traditional kurta matched with tan-coloured loafer can do wonders for your look.
Break out the prints: Yes your festival shoes need to be sturdy and reliable, but that doesn’t mean they can’t reflect the fun and creativity of the festival itself. Keep an eye out for bright colours and prints when you go festival footwear shopping and make your feet stand out from the thousands of other festival-goers around you.
Top shoes trends for summer.
Go colorful: A festival is somewhere that your quirky fashion flag can fly high. Therefore, there isn’t anything wrong with rocking a bit of colour. Whether you want shoes as your statement piece or you just feel like looking like a walking rainbow, colourful shoes just work on a festival. Plus, with red shoes being such a top colour this season, you’ll totally be on-trend.
Five rules for choosing festival footwear.
The classics: Festivals always calls out the classics, may it be clothes or footwear. Choosing a formal lace up of black or brown color and pairing that with a traditional kurta or with a trouser is going to take your festive look a bar up. The formal footwear will make you stand out from the crowd and are mostly the loved style during the festivals as they are easy to pair.
The buckled sandals: If covering your toes during the festival is not something that you want to do, then sandals are the best option. One should skip the lace-ups as they need to be tied every time throughout the day and instead should choose a style with buckled straps as they are going to keep your feet in place the entire day. Comfort along with style is very important during festivals and you definitely don’t want to spend the entire day tying your footwear.
A new fashion label emerges with the thought that the beauty of this world lies in the symphony of juxtaposed elements — calm and chaos; light and darkness; black and white. Allowing these elements to co-exist without putting them into boxes of convenience is where the brand ‘No Grey Area’ aims to create a sense of wonder.
It tries to create a world that embodies and mirrors a society which looks to the future with positivity, transforming the grey into the known. The brand aims to create an authentic narrative, by fusing Western aesthetics and the traditional pillars from the East to create a modernised Indian design aesthetic, where contemporary luxury comes together with the street.
Men, there’s a new fashion label on the block.
Founded by Arnav Malhotra, a 25-year-old Business graduate from the University of Exeter, whose playground and training in the business of fashion has been at his family-run multi-designer concept store, Evoluzione. The main inspiration behind the brand came is New York City’s counter-culture, rule-bending fashion trends that emerged at a grassroots level which was unabashedly based on individualism, rather than focusing solely on current fashion trends.
Speaking about the launch of his label, Malhotra says, “We wanted to create a brand that explored the grey’ and spurred conversations about real points of interest. One that transcends materialistic clothing and tell stories that start conversations we are not here to preach and tell people what to think. The brand name is meant to be ironic. It is an oxymoron of itself. We want everyone to enter the grey, for there to be ‘NO GREY AREA’.
Men, there’s a new fashion label on the block.
The collection retails starting at Rs. 4,500/- onwards and includes t-shirts, resort shirts, long shirts, polos, dhoti pants, joggers, resort pants, bundis and band-galas and bomber jackets.
Nutrition Month: Leading change in India's hinterland
Nutrition Month: Leading change in India’s hinterland
When Bihar’s Kurmaha village-based Lalmati Devi, a rural labourer from an impoverished background, attended sessions on health and nutrition through a self-help group she’s associated with, what followed was the planting of a nutri-garden — a key provision of the nutrition month (‘Poshan Mah’) to promote better nutrition — leading her to feed homegrown nutritious food to both her family and community. ‘Poshan didi’, as she came to be known, became an icon of good health achieved through nutrition, at the very grassroots level where talks of community-led health initiatives are a far cry…writes Siddhi Jain.
Leading positive nutritional change in the country’s hinterland is Jeevika, the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society. As part of the national nutrition mission or Poshan Abhiyan that has malnutrition-free India as one of its key aims, the grassroots organisation mobilises the local villagers in different regions, to educate them, among other things, about the importance of what has come to be called ‘Poshan Ke Paanch Sutra’ that are important for maternal and child health – breastfeeding, nutritious complete meals, nutritious and diverse food for women, nutri-gardens and hygiene practices.
Often a major focus group for the government’s development communication efforts, communities in villages can help make the national nutrition mission a people’s movement, thereby accelerating India’s march towards meeting its nutrition goals and developing our human capital to its fullest potential. For a country still battling acute malnutrition in its rural parts, people-led – and more so women-led – social and behavioral change cannot be stressed enough. This positive change is only exacerbated by active contributions of Panchayati Raj Institutions in promoting better nutrition for their village health, and moving local health indicators in a positive change.
Nutrition Month: Leading change in India’s hinterland
With the convergence of people, local bodies, development organisations and government departments, a people’s movement bestows deeper responsibility and deeper-seated impact than efforts implemented in silos.
“Through Jeevika, we are trying to conduct activities both at the household and group level during. Our workers closely work with the beneficiary groups including young mothers, midwives and pregnant women, talking to them about the five sutras of nutrition. During home visits, the local workers explain to pregnant women and their families about the importance of nutritious food and what makes for a balanced meal,” Soumya, Program Manager for Health, Sanitation and Nutrition, Jeevika, Bihar, told.
Sunaina, another Bihar resident, could not feed her firstborn breast milk immediately after birth, nor could she give the child nutritious food after breastfeeding for six months. As a result, her child got malnourished. According to Jeevika, following her presence at meetings and sessions at self-help groups organised by the Society, she was much more aware during her second pregnancy.
Nutrition Month: Leading change in India’s hinterland
Along with bringing diversity in food consumption and planting a nutri-garden where she grows different foods, using her home’s toilet and getting necessary vaccination during her gestational period, ensured a healthy second child and her own well-being.
These examples show how through organised community efforts, rural India is slowly coming at par with the health and living norms that are fast becoming the standard in urban areas. For if the nation is to enter the ‘developed’ league, we must leave no one behind.
In Mumbai eatery chain, humble 'Khichdi' is haute-cuisine.
Chef Prabhakar Nagaraj
Owing to the pandemic, food consumption has become a cautious habit and people are highly conscious of what they are eating and where it is coming from.
“It has given us an opportunity to explore ways to keep food simple, nutritious and how it can be transported safely from one place to the other with limited human handling,” says Chef Prabhakar Nagaraj, Managing Partner, Elior India.
We spoke to the veteran to know about the changes being seen in kitchens in terms of safety measures, ingredients, collaborative dishes and waste management.
Excerpts:
Food safety measures taken by chefs in the kitchen
How Indian kitchens are changing. (Photo: Pixabay)
This pandemic has taken away the exoticism of food from the menu. The masses have switched to basic meals, keeping away from complexity in its preparation and the ingredients used. Food consumption has become a cautious habit and people are highly conscious of what they are eating and where it is coming from. To serve this need, we have switched to pre-packed meals with limited variety as compared to the lavish buffet spreads during the pre-Covid times. We assume that this is going to be short lived. Although this step has restricted the inclusion of the number of dishes served during every meal, safety measures are in place as this step reduces the number of human touch-points.
Food is safe when it is handled by as few people as possible and cooked close to the hour of consumption. The pandemic has given us an opportunity to explore ways to keep food simple, nutritious and how it can be transported safely from one place to the other with limited human handling. We can also use flash-cooking methods. Flash cooking involves cooking ingredients on a very high flame so that the outer surface of the ingredient gets sealed, eliminating any loss of internal juices and thus sustaining the nutritive aspects of the ingredients.
Growing importance of Indian spices in the kitchen in the times of pandemic
We are creating menus that are primarily based on local produce rather than being sourced from other states or the country at large. In the near future, we will witness many international dishes being given an Indian twist and vice versa. Our chefs are handpicked from the best hotels and we are able to translate global food trends to our cafe food with ease.
The food which is delivered is as per the requirement of the clients; even though they may all be from the same geography; they still have completely different requirements from each other. For example, consider Vegetable Au Gratin, a famous western dish where you mix vegetables with cream sauce, grate cheese and bake it in the oven. Here we have substituted cream sauce with Makhani sauce which is typically creamy and slightly sweet. You mix it to the right consistency, add grated cheese and paneer on top and gratinate it. This dish acts as Au Gratin but it actually is Veg Makhani. However, the presentation becomes completely different.
In Mumbai eatery chain, humble ‘Khichdi’ is haute-cuisine.
As Indians, we like to bite into food that tastes Indian but looks very Western. For example, if you bite into an apple pie, it may not just have apple inside; instead it may have Anjeer Badam Halwa. These are some of the innovations that can be brought into corporate cafe especially when there is a growing importance to match the taste buds of consumers in India.
The cooking process stays the same, but you need to start mapping ingredients accordingly. Once you use Anjeer Badam Halwa as a substitute ingredient for a pie filling, it should have good consistency, so that the dough doesn’t become soggy. Otherwise, the whole purpose of using different ingredients gets defeated. From an outsider’s perspective, it is just a pie until you bite into it to relish the Anjeer halwa. Indian foods can be very nutritive, though it all depends on the way you cook it.
Increase in collaborative cuisine to dish out magic on plates
Regarding collaborative cuisines, the type of clients that we cater to need us to be at our innovative best. Their profiles create an opportunity to explore the possibility to innovate, which is what differentiates us from our competitors.
The financial luxury of these clients gives us an advantage to continuously innovate and be ahead of our time when we talk about mundane menus with typical components that we hardly ever think of changing. Our chef-led model acts as an enhancer to explore any opportunity to satisfy hungry tummies.
At the same time, when we stand as a premium catering provider, we look forward to bringing a change rather than the usual food. For example, a regular Aloo Mutter Samosa can be changed into a chicken Fajita Samosa. Basically, you are using chicken which is mixed with Fajita seasoning and flavor the dough with cumin giving a Mexican twist to the Indian cuisine.
You can have a samosa of this nature, but instead of using mint chutney or Tamarind chutney, you can substitute it with Salsa. This is something which we have innovated and is the differentiating factor that we bring to the platter when it comes to cafeteria services. It is a requirement at this point in time because when you present your menu to a corporate crowd who are well travelled, they don’t want to have the same rice, dal and chapati. They look for something different and wish to explore new cuisines.
Restaurants may need to adapt to the ‘new normal’ in dining
Waste management in kitchens
This process is being mapped with our ERP (Enterprise resource planning). Whatever the food requirement for any client-site is, it comes to the ERP. Based on this, the production process is initiated, and the dispensation takes place. This is then tracked basis the sales on the site and if there is a huge difference in expected versus delivered outcomes, the on-site head is responsible for it.
A Repertoire of Culinary Experiences
By doing this, we have witnessed a tremendous reduction in food-wastage and this is something we follow as a process where ensuring minimal food wastage is concerned. This drives complete information about the quantity of production that should take place and the raw materials that need to be used in order to fulfill production. Then, requisition happens based on the raw materials where the purchase happens accordingly. So the complete end-to-end process is tightened.
Jewellery, an investment in sentiment. (Zoya Source: Instagram)
It has always bothered me when women refer to their costume or high fashion jewellery pieces as “junk”…writes Sujata Assomull
Style icon Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s three-strand faux pearl necklace purchased for around US $500 dollars was sold for over US $200,000 by Sotheby’s at an auction. While much of its perceived value came from provenance- the woman who wore it; women of style and substance such as Diane Vreeland, Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel knew that costume jewellery is far from junk, it’s a style statement. Investing in a beautifully made fashion accessory is like buying a good handbag – it can last you a lifetime.
Even though I am the proud granddaughter of a Mumbai based fine jeweller, I have always mixed my fine pieces with fashion jewellery, it just looks more effortless. At my own wedding, my diamond bangles were combined with metal bangles.
It’s bling not junk!. (Photo: Pixabay)
So when “India-Proud” fashion jewellery brands, Isharaya asked me to moderate a webinar with art historian, author and jewellery expert, Dr Usha Balakrishnan, one of my first questions to her was about India’s cultural heritage with costume jewellery. I wanted to know why so many Indian women refer to costume jewellery as junk’.
“If you go back in history, jewellery in ancient times was in fact made from items we may refer to as junk such as steel, beads and feather,” she said. It seems junk and not precious materials was the basis for jewellery, perhaps this explains where the term “junk jewellery stems from. Dr Usha added, “Costume is precious, Junk is important.”
That is so true, yes of course fine jewellery is an investment buy-and why it was given to women at marriage times was for its economic value; it was their safety net. But in contemporary dressing, jewellery is about more than just cost, it is also about how it makes you feel. I still own the first Chanel faux pearl strand bought with money saved up from a part-time job. My first boyfriend bought me a pair of Butler & Wilson faux pearl button earrings-something I kept for years and wore with as much pride as my diamond solitaires.
There is more to jewellery than adornment, status and cost-it really is about your connection to the piece, the story it tells and its craftsmanship. I have always found it very pretentious when a woman declares, “I am allergic to fake jewellery”. Of course, many people are allergic to certain metals and it is best for them to avoid fashion jewellery. By the way, if you have a nickel allergy then even keys will give you a reaction (And how come no ever says I am allergic to keys?).
Good quality costume jewellery should be made in brass, and then it will last a lifetime. Isharya uses hypoallergenic nickel-free brass which is then plated with high micron gold. Steel is another great option (a material handcrafted jewellery brand En Inde uses often), for silver, there are so many options in India (Tribe by Amrapali is my go) and Deepa Gurnani uses handcrafted textile techniques for their pieces. So there are many options for those who do have allergies.
And honestly, there is nothing like a piece of beautiful bling to add a touch of glamour into your life. Something we all need now-so even if it’s not made of precious materials let us never call our jewellery pieces “junk”.
