Vogue celebrates 10th anniversary with 1st Vogue Women of the Year Awards

EE News Desk Sep 26, 2017

Spanning diverse industries like science, banking, law, entertainment, fashion, beauty, sports, environmental conservation, and philanthropy, Vogue’s Women of the Year turned the spotlight on inspirational women who have been game-changers of their respective fields and are role-models for many. Select men were also lauded for their efforts.

Held in association with Serum Institute of India, supported by Aranyani, BMW, Carolina Herrera, Colors Infinity, IBM, IWC, Moët & Chandon, Yes Bank, and Wella, the awards ceremony saw achievers felicitated across 19 categories with winners like Arundhati Bhattacharya (Business Leader of the Year), Nina Tandon (Innovator of the Year), Roshni Nadar Malhotra (Philanthropist of the Year), Mithali Raj (Sportsperson of the Year), Sonam Kapoor (Fashion Icon of the Year), Anita Dongre (Designer of the Year), Anushka Sharma (Gamechanger of the Year), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Influencer of the Decade), Padma Lakshmi (Tastemaker of the Year), Mira Kulkarni (Beauty Pioneer of the Year), Twinkle Khanna (Opinion Maker of the Year), Karuna Nundy (Crusader of the Year), Karan Johar (Man of the Year), Shah Rukh Khan (Entertainer of the Decade), Young Achievers Ketholeno Kense, Dr. Krithi K. Karanth, and Deepika Kumari, along with Global Philanthropist and Style Icon of the Year Natalia Vodianova and Global Philanthropist and Leadership Award title-holder Nita Ambani.

Apart from the winners’ list, the soiree was also attended by well-known personalities like Anil Kapoor, Gauri Khan, Aditi Rao Hydari, Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte, Kriti Sanon, Arjun Kapoor, Isha Ambani, Simone Arora, Kanika Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Athiya Shetty, Manish Malhotra, Anamika Khanna, Gaurav Gupta, Payal Singhal, Falguni & Shane Peacock, Abraham & Thakore, Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla, Rahul Bose, Masaba Gupta, Maria Goretti, Arshad Warsi, Anupama Chopra, Kiran Rao, Cyrus Poonawalla, Natasha Poonawalla, Shweta Bachchan-Nanda, Payal Khandwala, Tina Tahiliani, Ashiesh Shah, Sabina and AD Singh, Sunil Sethi, Shivan & Narresh, Varun Bahl, Shyamal & Bhumika, amongst several others.

Talking about Vogue’s 10th anniversary, and the Women of the Year awards, Priya Tanna, Editor, Vogue India said, “10 years, 120 issues, add to that events, digital, video, brand solutions, custom solutions—it’s filled with so many memories. And I am glad Vogue’s Women of the Year Awards succeeded in tugging at the heartstrings of so many because it really was an evening that honored truly incredible women achievers who, like our anniversary theme suggests, have had fabulous style, fabulous lives, fabulous stories, irrespective of any boundaries. They’ve all chased excellence and held on to what they believe in, have all done it with unique inimitable style.”

Speaking about her association with Vogue’s Women of the Year Awards, Archie Panjabi said, “Most of you probably don’t know this but I grew up in Mumbai. I have such vivid memories of this city from my childhood and I am so happy to be back! Thank you Vogue India for making me a part of your 10th anniversary celebration. And congratulations to all the winners, you make us all proud!”

Twinkle Khanna on receiving the ‘Vogue Opinion Maker of the Year’ title said “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank Vogue for this great honor. It is true they seem to have a crush on my husband because they gave him an award a couple of months ago for Beautiful Man of the Decade. So if he is the beauty then I am clearly the beast.

I thought that since its Vogue’s 10th Anniversary, I would like to share with you the 10 things I have learnt in the last decade. So let’s begin:

1. It’s true that we get more comfortable in our skin as we get older but that is also because that poor thing is not as tight as it used to be

2. We don’t need GST on our sanitary pads. What we need instead is an alarm inside it, not a wide breaking one as it would set us on a different path altogether, but an alarm none the less that warns us of imminent over flow and saves us from the 100 trips we make to the bathroom just to check. Now that’s a product I could not grudge the GST on

3. Millions of Indian women fast for their husband’s long life on every Karva Chauth. My dear friend who just won an award does immortalize this in his movies but I don’t think that our 3033 gods are really listening. Because when the mortality charts show up, there are 147 countries above us where their men outlive our good old Indian dudes. So ladies stop because It’s clearly not working

4. It’s difficult to befriend your present if you are still quarrelling with your past

5. God could not be everywhere so he created mothers and the devil could not be everywhere so he created mother-in-laws. Having said that I feel like I am going to be a terrible one

6. The only thing free in life is bad and vice. Enough said

7. Botox unfortunately does not make you look younger. It just makes you look like you are a part of a secret alien invasion desperately trying to fit in with the humans

8. Our satellite only reached mars because it was called mom. I am certain that if it was called dad it would still be circling the Earth, lost but not willing to ask for directions

9. Life is but a chance in the game of choice

10. For centuries women have been looking for a cape but have been given an apron and it’s only recently that we have learned how to swing our aprons around. So let it flutter down our backs and let it take to the skies

Awards like these rather date our work and help us sore higher, so I am truly grateful to be going home with this one.”

Shah Rukh Khan who was awarded ‘Vogue Entertainer of the Decade’ said, “Thank you all the ladies. For a change it’s good to objectify a man and this is very special. Thank you Priya, thank you Natalia and thank you Anaita and Archie. All of you at Vogue, thank you for calling me here and asking me to be a part of your covers. I do belong to the same cadre as Karan Johar’s father. When I was growing up I didn’t know how to pronounce Vogue. For me it was one of the greatest honours of my life to participate and be a part in whichever capacity of the Vogue magazine and when you give me an award like this, which is the Entertainer of the Year, it’s extremely humbling, knowing the last year has been a screwed up year. I don’t think I entertained many people this year. I’ll try my best to keep up to this and I do understand if I’m given this award just to keep the gender equality equation balanced, I’m happy and I’m very proud just for that too. And for everything that Vogue stand for. It’s been wonderful.”

Karan Johar, awarded with the title of ‘Vogue Man of the Year’ stated, “Vogue to me really takes me back to my childhood in more ways than one. So I have to say it is a big part of who I am. When I was young, I always found myself a lot more different from the other boys in my surrounding and in my school. I actually used to go to the raddiwala and ask for fashion magazines. I bought Vogue for the first time and it was enameled with all the glory and the glamour and the fashion that the beautiful platform Vogue represents. I was told by my friends in my building that boys don’t read fashion magazines and one day I found myself feeling very embarrassed because I had a Vogue in my hand and my father said why? So I said I had been asked by the boys to not read fashion magazines. He said you can and you should do what you want to and no one should stop you. And in that moment he also took the opportunity to say that you should lose weight and you should stop singing but he said you can read a fashion magazine. And when you receive validation from your parents, it means a lot. So thank you Vogue!”

Sonam Kapoor on being presented with the ‘Vogue and IWC Fashion Icon of the Year’ award said, “I’m so excited to get this award from Vogue. I have been in this industry for more than 10 years and so has Vogue and I’m proud to say that I have done some of my best and most amazing covers with them. Congratulations Vogue, I have loved working with you! I am who I am because of my father. Just like Karan’s dad told him that it’s okay to be who you are, my father and my mother have told me it’s okay to be who you are. It’s okay to be someone who reads and likes clothes that might look like art. And some might say that she looks a bit crazy. And I’m very proud of who I am and very of proud of being a girl. And I’m very proud of my father and mother for never distinguishing between my brother and me. I was not treated as a boy but I was raised as a girl who is proud to be a girl. I love you dad.”

Anushka Sharma on winning the title of ‘Vogue and BMW Gamechanger of the Year’ said, “It is such an honour to be amongst such accomplished women present in this room. A lot of you have inspired me in ways more than one, perhaps the reason why I’m standing here today. I feel really happy and honored that I could win a title like this – Game Changer. Every decision I have taken in my life has always been to either add more meaning or add more drive and make my life more exciting, to help me grow as a person. I think that’s very important to me. And these might be reasons that have been recognized. God has been kind and has supported me and I would like to thank Vogue for recognizing these efforts because they have actually been as simple as I described them to be. So thank you Vogue. Thank you for this lovely evening.”

Being a trendsetter since the last 10 years, Women of the Year also saw Vogue India facilitate a unique collaboration between IBM Watson and fashion designer Gaurav Gupta to create the world’s first Artificial Intelligence-inspired sari-gown – a true mélange of future (AI) and the past (the Indian sari). Created keeping ace couturier Gaurav Gupta’s signature molding and sculpting technique as the focus, the abstract and fantasy driven, georgette sari-gown was worn by host Archie Panjabi. Through the course of the evening, the outfit glowed in a different color based on each winner’s personality as they received their award on stage.

As the first step in the process, IBM Watson analysed the Twitter profiles of the 19 winners combined with a detailed analysis of each winner’s life and background. Using its Personality Insights API, Watson identified 7 different personality traits, assigning a unique color to each of these 7 characteristics, using generally accepted guides around color and psychology. The 7 traits and their corresponding colours identified were Effectiveness in Organizing Thoughts (Violet), Open-mindedness and Originality (Amethyst), Confidence in Problem Solving (Indigo), Action Orientation (Gold), Conscientiousness (Red), Openness to Possibilities and Alternatives (Olive), and Social Energy (Orange).

Basis IBM Watson’s cognitive analysis, each winner demonstrated one dominant personality trait from the above. With the help of futuristic lighting which was intricately infused in the outfit by Gaurav using his very own boning technique, the sari-gown glowed in each winner’s unique colour as they received their trophy on stage, paving a new way for future primitive designing.

Sr. No. Award Category Winner

1 Vogue Influencer of the Decade Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

2 Vogue and Yes Bank Designer of the Year Anita Dongre

3 Vogue Sportsperson of the Year Mithali Raj

4 Vogue Business Leader of the Year Arundhati Bhattacharya

5 Vogue Man of the Year Karan Johar

6 Vogue Crusader of the Year Karuna Nundy

7 Vogue and IWC Fashion Icon of the Year Sonam Kapoor

8 Vogue Innovator of the Year Nina Tandon

9 Vogue Philanthropist of the Year Roshni Nadar Malhotra

10 Vogue Tastemaker of the Year Padma Lakshmi

11 Vogue Beauty Pioneer of the Year Mira Kulkarni