Bling it On Men!

My wishlist for this year is so long, that it'll take more than blog to fit in! Even my bucket list for all things luxurious runs a mile long! Talk about materialism and vanity! I'm so full of it and I’m loving it! I WANT IT ALL! GRAB-GRAB-GRAB!

Suddenly Bling seems to be on top of my list.

It all started few months back.

I hated the thought of wearing stuff that had bling in all the wrong places. Especially Ed Hardy t-shirts that had burning skulls in metallic rivets and crystals or even worse hissing serpents.. Ed Hardy has come a long way - thankfully dark and gory has been replaced with nice and decent.. i recently saw Tiger/ Phoenix and "normal" prints that i would love to wear and flaunt! Although it's embroidered and not bling - still preferable (wearable).

Then on an online sojourn i chanced upon an awesome piece of Bling Gucci belt and i fell in love with it instantly!

No sooner I realized and reaffirmed that Bling was in – Bling was everywhere! Touché! The moment I like something (or someone) – it (the object of my affection) becomes a hit! 

I read somewhere that Bling is feminine. It’s most certainly not! Even if guys would think so- it’s about time men came face-to-face with their feminine side!

Bling is akin to royalty and luxury! Dude, its uber-cool!

Women shine in bling all the time. It’s time men bask in its glory too. Wearing Bling doesn’t necessarily mean going over the top. Like a guy friend of mine actually bought a Juicy Couture jumper and he looked a wee bit hussy wearing it! Ha!

Bling in on but bling it properly!

Many leading brands are Bling-ed now. More popular being Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Christian Audigier, Dior, Cavalli & Emporio Armani.

Check out the Gucci belt I fell in love with. Please gift it to me or send me $250,000 so that I can buy it!

Gucci Diamond Belt

The Belt features a platinum double G Gucci logo buckle embedded with 30 carats of diamonds!

Heard the latest - diamonds are a girl's best friend - Not anymore I guess :)

On my wishlist are Glitterati Loafers by Jimmy Choo - again something to die for! These are exquisite and breath-taking!

Jimmy Choo Men's Glitter Loafers

 Two more must-haves in my wishlist -

 


Men's Bling Sunglasses-Gucci


And...

Dior Luxury Wrist Watch


Crystal-studded Menswear - Swarovski Elements

This reaffirms that Bling is in and how!

Bling Bling guys!

Ciao!

I promised Trendspotting - My fav menswear designers and menswear future. I shall be back with more stuff!

Updated on Nov 28th ->

Or why else would Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld showcase maharaja-style turbans, brooches and pearls for men. Excerpt from an article published in TOI Indiatimes by Nona Walia, TNN on Nov 27, 2011

Royal power, maharaja style!

- Amit Anand

The Most Fashionable Hairstyles for Men in 2011

Read More @ Coolest Haircut for Men Over 40

Updated -26th October -

The Manliest Hair Alive: Fall 2011 Edition

Updated in November 2011 -

A Haircut Returns From the 1930s

and,

Men’s 2011 / 2012 hairstyles: hair trends, cuts & colors


Updated on 7th December ->

Men's hair trend: The quiff

-Amit Anand

Blenders Pride Fashion Tour Promo with Priyanka Chopra

Blenders Pride Fashion Tour Promo with Priyanka Chopra
“I wouldn’t want to be like you” by The Alan Parsons Project - Rocking!

-Amit Anand

Lust for Lingerie - Part Deux

As men’s choices evolve and their preferences become bolder – men’s lingerie is getting a whole new sexier avatar.

The transition has been quite obvious. Change is there to see not only in the style and shape but also in the choice of fabrics used for lingerie.

There are both natural and synthetic (or a mix of both) fabrics used widely – from Cotton, Satin and Silk to Leather, Spandex, Vinyl, Latex, Nylon, Polyester and even Fishnet (nude/see-through/netted)!

Amongst the Y-Fronts (Frenchie snugfits), the most popular styles of lingerie today are the eternal basics like Jocks and Briefs, then come full on Boxer shorts to more ethereal – Thongs or G-strings(below) and, Tangas.  

Calvin Klein G-Strings

There are also varied shapes fitting into varied contours (and sizes) like crotch-clinchers, crotch-enhancers(extra-cushion/ padded), crotch-less, stretched and shape-wear (bum/thigh-tummy tucking briefs) - commonly referred to as a spanx for men.

I am also quite intrigued to see some novelty lingerie products that are available off the shelf – which seem to be pretty novel and naughty at the same time. It’s said that a picture is far better than 1000 words!

So more about this in the later part of this post J

Choosing the right undergarment is very important not just for comfort sake but also to ensure that the fit is just right for your body type.

Perhaps, the best way is to try out the undergarment before buying (if trials are permitted).

A sure shot way of picking the right underwear is to check if the waistband doesn’t roll down while wearing it.

The most popular brands are (amongst my favorite – Calvin Klein) Jockey, Hanes, Greg Parry, Fruit of the Loom, Champion, Gregg Homme, Speedo, Andrews Christian, JM Intimode, Unico, California muscle, Zakk, Neptio, Everlast, 3G Mens..while some popular high-street clothing lines for men also have their own line of lingerie-wear.

*Note- Most Lingerie brands are available for sale on the web.

The finest exponents of lingerie wear also come from the luxury brands like Armani etc.

Image - art8amby

Image - hellomagazine

Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal as the face of Emporio Armani men’s underwear

Novelty-wear – Okay! This is what I referred to in the beginning of my post.

Novelty-wear is the new kid on the block in men’s (and also women’s) lingerie.

Novelty refers to a natural progression to being different and new-age in all its glory of creation. It refers to a statement that sans the ordinary - celebrating the existence of creativity.

The most notable novelty-wear is lingerie with a message that may have sexual connotations like – Safe sex=More fun; etc. Or, lingerie having animalistic or a birdy silhouette and even nearly naked lingerie that is just barely there covering your essentials or elongating them beyond visibility and obviousness (see below)

Talk about Lingerie - and the idea one gets is to strip (not to the bones) but to a bare minimal – that is as invigorating and liberating - as it is arousing!

Latest addition to this post - Move over G-Strings - C-Strings are here -

Updated on 21st December -


Men's underwear sales are on the rise, and you might have heard that men's underwear is one of Alan Greenspan's favorite metrics for predicting economic growth.

Read more @ : 

Men's underwear, Alan Greenspan and Sexy Santa

Btw, enjoy my video-list on men’s lingerie -

Read Lust for Lingerie part I

Updated on -> 27th Jan 2012 -> 

Men's underwear leaves the Stone Age

Updated on 4th Feb 2012 ->

Taking notice of men’s undergarments, industry recognizes sweet spot between need and fashion

and,

Men’s Valentine underwear from Banglads and Dead Good Undie

Updated in the month of May 2012->

Call It Victor’s Secret

-Amit Anand

VAN HEUSEN INDIA MENS WEEK Male Model Audition In Mumbai Mandira Bedi Rahul Dev

Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) has scheduled the 3rd edition of the Van Heusen India Mens Week from September 2-4, 2011 at The Grand, New Delhi

VAN HEUSEN INDIA MENS WEEK Male Model Audition ..., posted with vodpod  Also checkout -> 

 DELHI AUDITIONS LINK cheers!Amit Anand

Lust for Lingerie

A very close American friend of mine was invited to a pool party in a resort outside Delhi. She was aghast and disgustingly shocked to see some men jump into the pool in their underwear!

She was quick enough to flutter out and run away from the scene!

She even took a picture and showed it to me later! I pleaded for a copy but she wouldn’t give it to me.

While I was reeling under the temptation of putting that photo in my blog.. I thought of a better idea – why not write something about the underwear itself!

I read countless magazines and I seldom-ly see anything written about man’s most intimate garment.

Is writing about underwear a taboo topic? I wonder!

Anyways, being a hedonistically metrosexual man, I don’t shy away from writing about it.

After all, being comfortable with one’s innerwear is the first step towards a confident persona!

When it comes to men, “lingerie” is a feminine word- sensitive and sensuous. Hence, Lingerie is always invariably associated with women.

However, this is not so. A quick look in Wikipedia, Lingerie is described as “fashionable and possibly alluring undergarments. The term in the French language applies to all undergarments for either gender. In English it is applied specifically to those undergarments designed to be visually appealing or erotic.”

Erotica aside, men today wear fashionable lingerie for reasons like comfort, style and shape (!).

My vocabulary on men’s lingerie was quite limited to Jocks, Briefs and Boxers – the 3 contemporary styles of lingerie - till couple of years back. On a visit to a lingerie shop located in London’s famed Soho area, I was pleasantly curious and yet bewildered to see there were other types that men wore!

Over the years, perceptions have changed and men are more open to embracing lingerie and thankfully giving it as much as focus and thought as they give to their outer-wear!

So G-Strings/ Thongs and Tangas are not uncommon lingerie preferences for men of today and men of (sexual) substance!

I’m deliberately keeping this post short. More on Lingerie and some interesting revelations in my next post tilted, obviously, Lust for Lingerie Part Deux!

Worth Reading as updated in the month of November 2011 -

Men's Wear Trend: Under Color

Updated on 4th Feb 2012 ->


Taking notice of men’s undergarments, industry recognizes sweet spot between need and fashion


and,


Men’s Valentine underwear from Banglads and Dead Good Undie

-Amit Anand

The Economics of Indian fashion – Corporatization – The future?

The Indian fashion scene is going to get bigger in the coming years. It has been well documented and there is a large repository of statistics and figures to prove this fact online.

Thankfully, few Indian designers (fashion intelligentsia* as I call them) have identified the loop holes as discussed in my last post and have taken strides to move out of the Bollywood bubble.

Likewise, some Corporates have also been quick to eat into India’s potentially sweet fashion pie as the retail dynamism in the country is steadily growing and Indians are realizing and endorsing distinct brand categories making unconventional choices (buying more luxury over necessity).

Perhaps, for Indian fashion to be recognized globally - corporatization is a natural and maybe the only sensible way of progression and evolution.

The reason why foreign brands have been successful is primarily because they always had a strategy in place to tap into corporate resources that were, and are still willing to finance/fund them putting their product/s on the global fashion map.

Hence, foreign (designer/luxury/high-street) brands have made sensible corporate alliances that have taken their brand to international shores without worrying too much about their product’s marketability and sustainability.

Designers and corporates can collaborate at many levels from the classic co-ownership model, to partnering on equity model or, in most cases a complete or partial acquisition of a designer’s business like in the case of Jimmy Choo being bought by Labelux, a luxury goods company backed by Germany’s billionaire Reimann family (which incidentally was bought from a private equity firm Towerbrook).

The most notable amongst my list of India Fashion Intelligentsia* are Ritu Beri and Manish Arora.

Ritu was one of the first South Asian women to head a reputed French fashion house - she was at the helm of Jean-Louis Scherrer for a year from 2002 to '03.

Ritu has also participated in international fashion weeks and was felicitated with the Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Letters (Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters), one of France's highest civilian awards by Ambassador of France to India - Jerome Bonnafont.

Other than Ritu Beri, Manish Arora has also received international acclaim in the prestigious London and Paris fashion weeks in the recent past and has been constantly supported by Swarovski at a global level.

There are a lot of positive strides that our designers seem to be making at international level but the strides are not giant in size as it should be - to put India in the global fashion map in a big way and not just - as a tiny speck of dust.

The luxury market in India is expected to grow to $30 billion by 2015. Plus there are an ever increasing number of wealthy Indians both in India and abroad that are more than willing to embrace Indian haute couture.

I earnestly hope to see Indian fashion labels shoulder to shoulder and head to head with the likes of Gucci, Cartier, Dior, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, among others.

Indian fashion industry must project a global image paving way for smoother designer-corporate alliances in India that are already a norm in the global fashion industry.

If our fashion fraternity, corporates (including exporters and retail chains) and governmental bodies act in tandem and collaboration – Indian fashion can see the light of the day as global force to reckon with!

 My favorite Indian designers - team of the Fashion Intelligentsia - the embodiment of Indian haute couture- Ritu Beri, Manish Arora, Rohit Bal, Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna, Shantanu & Nikhil, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla and also, Suneet Verma.

Manish Arora





Katy Perry in a Manish Arora's ensemble







Hedi Klum in a Manish Arora's amazing ensemble, Image credit: ontheredcarpet.tumblr.com

News I like - Updated as on 27th July 2011 -

Franklin Templeton PE Buys 20% In Kimaya Fashions For Rs 60 Cr

Updated on 20th December 2011 ->

Indian Designers' Designs go global -


Indian designers: 2100 has been merry time in global arena



Updated on 28th March 2012 ->

Designer wear Affordability - Corporatisation Success Mantra

-Amit Anand

Indian fashion industry = Bollywood backyard?

Perhaps the biggest endorser of India’s fashion talent is Bollywood!

It’s a norm to see Bollywood celebrities as showstoppers –walking the ramp for leading fashion designers in countless fashion weeks that are held from time to time in the country.

It’s no big secret that the strongest motivational factor for fashion models for choosing modeling as a profession in India is to have a career progression to eventually become a Bollywood actor (barring a few exceptional cases)!

Even fashion shows are choreographed and modeled to suit Bollywood sensibilities!

The question here is – Is the Indian fashion industry really a Bollywood backyard?

Bollywood is both the influencer and the end customer and somehow entire fashion industry revolves around it!

Reason is obvious. Fashion in India has always been influenced by Bollywood.

Almost 3 decades back - the Indian fashion scenario was rather bland.

Fashion Designers were an unheard lot. There weren’t any super models or high end fashion labels, haute couture and prêt-à-porter collections. People (masses and classes alike) were not brand conscious.

Bollywood itself aped Hollywood style adding its own garish and loud style quotient that stars endorsed on and off screen.

The Masterjee (tailor) would make clothes on order aping the style, the fit and the finish to the T of one’s favorite star.. And that was termed Designer wear!

Hence it’s always been Bollywood - that kick started India’s fashion industry.

Till today, its influence is only growing stronger although it has matured as an established industry now.

While Indian fashion reached an embryonic stage of evolution; Milan, Paris, London and New York had already become the fashion capitals of the World and continue to remain the Hub of all fashion activity.

The India government has resolved to open up and liberalizing foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail and in a way have paved way for luxury brand to enter into the Indian market- our own designers seem to be losing out their high-end customer base because of their frog-in-the-well approach (obsession with all things Bollywood).

I am asking a simple question – Why has India not produced a Gucci, Prada, Armani, Valentino, LV, Jimmy Choo, Hugo Boss and countless other luxury brands that are akin to being hot selling items in the high healed Indian’s must-have list?

I know our designers are a talented and motivated lot. But for how long supporting two biggest industries in India – Bollywood and Wedding - remain the only way of sustaining businesses.

I think it’s about time our designers think global than local.

As much I love Gucci, I would still love to buy Indian designer wear that has a global appeal, essence and presence.

This discussion shall continue in my next post.

I welcome comments from readers.

Thank you


Updated on 20th December -

Indian Designers' Designs go global -


Indian designers: 2100 has been merry time in global arena

- Amit Anand