Shahrukh Khan is Bollywood royalty and also on of the top paid actors in the world. Vogue India Celebrated his 50th birthday, photographed by Mazen Abusrour.

Mumbai native and International star, Freida Pinto sat for Bharat Sikka for Vogue India’s 6th anniversary.

The chemistry onset was undeniable with Bollywood it-couple, Deepika Padrone and boyfriend Ranveer Singh, shot by Tarun Vishwa.

Deepika Padukone is one of the reigning queens of Bollywood, shot by photographer Prasad Naik.

The Ambassador car is a classic Indian design. Shot on film by Vikram Kushwah.

This gallery of Indian designers and their black pieces was shot on film by Vikram Kushwah for Vogue India’s 6th anniversary issue.

 

Supermodel Pooja Mor sat for photographer Bharat Sikka in this stunning editorial paying sartorial homage to fashion of the Indian subcontinent, styled by fashion director Anaita Shroff Adajania.

Irani cafes in Mumbai are a dying breed. Travel photographer Hashim Badani teamed up with Vogue India stylist (and fiancee) Priyanka Kapadia for one of my favorite shoots of 2016.

Manish Malhotra is one of India’s top designers, here photographed with Bollywood ingenue Alia Bhatt photographed by Vikram Kushwah

Vogue India

Editor in Chief: Priya Tanna
Fashion Director: Anaita Shroff Adajania
Creative Director: Jolie Wernette-Horn
Senior Fashion Editor: Priyanka Kapadia
Fashion Bookings Editor: Divya Jagwani

Heidi: Prior to Vogue India, you had a strong background in fashion publications here in the US, how did your role as Creative Director different if at all in India?
Jolie: I find the position of art director or creative director is basically the same. While responsibilities will, of course, change from magazine to magazine, even in New York, the main idea is to create and maintain a visual voice for the magazine.

Does Vogue India produce all original content?
We produce about 85-90 percent of our own content. The other 15 percent comes for any of the other Vogues, W, Glamour, and Allures. But, as an Indian magazine, we do aim to showcase women from the subcontinent. For example, we don’t often use blond models as it really doesn’t pertain to our audience.

I had done a redesign for Claudia, a Brazilian magazine set in Portuguese where the words are very long, this posed a design challenge for the cover and the typography selection. What cultural surprises did you have at Vogue India?
Luckily for me, Vogue India is produced entirely in English. The biggest challenge for me, and a constant learning curve, is finding out what will actually resonate with an Indian audience. For example, when I arrived in India I knew almost nothing of Bollywood, either of its current stars or its colorful history. Its hard to contribute to photo concept discussions for an upcoming celebrity shoot when you have no idea who that celebrity is or what has been done in the past! Six years laters, I can finally tell the difference between Kareena and Katrina.

What were the obstacles you had and how did you overcome them?
Compared to New York, the pool of talent is much smaller in India, as is the magazine industry itself. Because of this, unlike our American counterparts, it is very rare that we can claim exclusivity of a photographer or model. There have been months where one photographer shot covers for 5 difference magazines!

But there is new talent, and it is maturing and growing at an exponential rate, even in just the 6 years that I have been here. As a creative director, your job is always to decide what you think are the bet traits to focus on in bigger, existing talent and also to find and foster new talent. There is even more pressure to do this in India with fewer resources. We also have a lot of international talent floating around. Especially after Vogue Greece folded, there was a strange, yet fabulous, influx of Greek talent!

How has working internationally shaped you as a creative?
As an American and living in New York, it is easy to become very insular. People say that New York is the center of the world and I think I started to believe that. In moving to India, everything I thought was put into question. India has a completely autonomous fashion industry, with designers that hold the same stature here that, say, an Oscar de la Renta or Michael Kors would have in New York. Bollywood has its own superstars and a-listers that rival Hollywood for fans and influence. Personally, I  think the idea that America and New York are not the end-all-be-all of the universe has matured me. Professionally, I find this concept freeing. I think it allows me to look at design and conception challenges with new eyes.

How did your redesign/the magazine evolve over the 6 years that you were the Creative Director?
Diana Vreeland famously said, “Pink is the navy blue of India.” When I first arrived in Bombay from New York, I felt bombarded with color. Its vibrancy radiates from everything from the saris worn on the street to the billboards of Bollywood. So, in my first round of redesign for the magazine in 2011, I incorporated orange, yellow and pink into the type and graphic elements. But now, six years later, it is a decision I cringe at the thought of, in the same way one looks back at high school fashion. What was I thinking?! I think the main reason for that change of heart is my own transformation from tourist to local. Which isn’t to say that color doesn’t belong in design (Indian or otherwise). Quite the contrary. But I think after allowing myself to be saturated with the culture’s obsession with color, I’ve been able to look past the surface “exotic” and see the serious craft. In this sense, I feel the design of the magazine has matured with me. In its current incarnation, Vogue India’s design is more monochrome and simple, mainly to let the images and content speak for itself.

Are you using social media as a tool to find talent?
I am an Instagram addict and have found several photographers and illustrators using the app. I often find people keep their Instagram accounts more up to date than their own online portfolios. Its a great tool.

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