Fashion

At 85, this feisty Supreme Court advocate still wont back down from a fight

By contrast, Jaising moved through life with a certain defiance of convention and a carefree attitude. She postponed marriage until 36 (initially rejecting it) and chose to remain childless in the 1970s. “My life as a woman is my life in law,” she says. The sentiment runs through her new memoir, The Constitution is My Home, written in conversation with feminist publisher Ritu Menon, and now on stands.

From the start of her career, Jaising’s fight for women to be seen in workplaces and respected in courtrooms went hand in hand. In her 30s, she took on the case of Air India air hostesses who had been denied promotions to supervisory positions. “They were being treated like ornamental figures; their managerial abilities were completely ignored. The injustice was plain. It offended my sense of fairness and moved me to bring a series of constitutional challenges grounded in the right to equality,” she writes in the book.

That fervent ownership plies to every brief she takes on. Whether advocating for women vendors defending their right to sell vegetables or helping educationist Mary Roy (Arundhati Roy’s mother) demand her inheritance, Jaising repeatedly used the law to challenge the ways in which women were denied full personhood.

Writer Githa Hariharan, whose first novel, The Thousand Faces of Night, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the best first novel in 1993, recounts how Jaising stepped in when Hariharan was not considered the “natural guardian” of her own minor son under Indian law. “I went to Indira, and her organisation, the Lawyers Collective, took up the case pro bono in the Supreme Court. We won a landmark judgement in 1999,” says Hariharan. “I helped a little with the research, and it was quite a learning experience for me. We have been good friends since then, and I feel lucky to know such a powerful role model for women, for lawyers, and, indeed, for good citizens.”

And Jaising has been a great role model for renegade women. In the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court, a judge once banged a file on the table and declared, “Thank you, Ms. Jaising. We’ve had the pleasure of hearing you.” Jaising reenacts the scene for me in her living room, demonstrating exactly how she fought back against a bench steeped in class privilege and sexism. It was a casual but pointed dismissal of a woman representing the homeless against three legal heavyweights pearing for the builders. Refusing to be silenced, Jaising hitched up her pallu like a Maharashtrian woman preparing for battle and slammed her own file down in mimicry.

Fashion

Zendaya channels Edie Sedgwick in an all-grey mini dress at the Louis Vuitton Resort 2027 show

Zendaya arrived at Louis Vuitton’s Resort 2027 show at New York’s Frick Collection in a custom silver satin mini dress by Nicolas Ghesquière, styled by Law Roach. A wide fold of satin crossed the neckline, exposing one shoulder before falling diagonally across the body. The long bell sleeves balanced the short hemline, while the silver tone continued through her pointed pumps.

Roach confirmed the Edie Sedgwick reference on Instagram, ctioning his video, “The essence of Edie…” The styling stayed close to that 1960s cue: Tiffany & Co. earrings, a cropped side-swept hairstyle with one eye partly covered by the fringe, winged liner, bronzed skin and a nude glossed lip.

Later that night, Zendaya changed into Look 14 from the Resort 2027 runway for the after-party: a cropped black biker jacket with ribbed detailing, worn over canary yellow satin boxer shorts and styled with the same metallic pumps. On the runway, Look 14 was shown with a grey bucket hat, monogrammed hobo bag and silver boxer boots. Zendaya’s version removed the runway accessories, leaving the contrast between the cropped biker jacket and yellow satin shorts to carry the look.

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Fashion

15 lip balms so pigmented, you wont miss your lipstick

You never really grow out of lip balm. It simply stops being the waxy, fruity tube you kept in your school bag and becomes something a little more sophisticated; part skincare, part makeup and part emotional support object. As adults, we may own lipsticks with intimidating names and ladylike packaging and no matter how much I love a satin bullet, there are many days when I find myself craving the ease of a balm instead. What we really want is simpler: colour that wakes up the face, comfort that lasts and a formula that makes bare lips feel cared for.

Tinted lip balms understands this perfectly. There are buttery balms for the chronically dry-lipped, jelly formulas for the gloss loyalists, ceramide-rich treatments for barrier repair, pH-adtive sticks for the beauty chemistry curious and soft-matte options for anyone who prefers their colour blurred rather than lacquered. They are low-maintenance without looking lazy, nourishing without feeling medicinal and pigmented enough to make lipstick feel slightly redundant.

We looked beyond the first pretty swipe. Each formula was considered for colour payoff, slip, comfort, stickiness, how evenly it faded, how often it needed replying and whether it could survive the real-life obstacle course of coffee, conversation, commute and air-conditioning. These 15 lip balms will make you feel polished, hydrated and put together, without requiring the full glam production.

Guerlain KissKiss Shine Bloom

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Get the comfort of a balm without sacrificing glamour with 95% naturally derived 24-hour hydrating floral care. The shade range spans 20 flower-inspired colours from delicate beige-pinks to corals, reds and brick tones. It gives lips that fresh, expensive-looking sheen without the heaviness of a classic lipstick.

Fashion

Basra pearls were once stitched into royal canopies. Today, jewellers struggle to find a single strand

My grandmother had a string of Basra pearls that felt inseparable from her. When I picture her, I almost always see the strand at her neck, getting tangled up in the folds of her dupatta. As a child, I found the pearls curious because they did not look like the ones I saw on television or in jewellery advertisements. They were slightly misshen, didn’t match, yet they had a gleam that would keep you looking.

I did not know then that they were heirloom Basra pearls from Hyderabad being worn by a woman far removed from her homeland. Years later, I would learn that this is how Basra pearls often survive now, through old family pieces and antique jewellery.

By the mid-19th century, the pearl trade between the Arabian Gulf and India was at its height, with some of the finest natural pearls sold through the Iraqi port city, Basra, to Indian merchants and royal patrons. In Hyderabad, they entered another jewellery tradition, pearing in Nizami satladas, including the much-cited seven-strand necklace of 465 pearls set with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. In Mahrashtrian traditions you will spot them on naths and tanmani necklaces.

So what exactly are Basra pearls, why are they so rare and how can collectors tell whether they are authentic? We asked the experts at Shree Raj Jewellers, Raniwala 1881 and Raj Mahtani Couture Jewels.

What are Basra pearls and how are they different from cultured pearls?

Unlike cultured pearls, which are produced through controlled cultivation, Basra pearls form naturally in oysters. That distinction changes how they look and how they are valued. One may curve slightly, another may catch the light faster, another may sit a little art in tone. For collectors, these variations are proof that the pearl was formed naturally rather and not by human intervention.

Raj Mahtani of Raj Mahtani Couture Jewels says one of the biggest misconceptions is that “value and price comes from perfection.” With Basra pearls, he says, collectors and connoisseurs are drawn to “natural pearls with their organic and subtle glow, and artisanal quality.”

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Fashion

Horoscope Today: May 20, 2026

You may feel a bit emotional today or let’s say that a heightened sense of emotions may have been your normal for the past sometime. Aquarius, could this be because you actually do really feel a lot? But seldom share your thoughts and emotions when it truly matters. The same roads will not lead you to a different outcome, Cancer. And you are figuring it out one step at a time. The past 7 years or so may have felt like a big blur and yet, in fleeting moments, the clarity you expected has arrived. Communication is key for you, Taurus. Make it effective and healthy and it only gets better. Now show up for yourself, for those you love and for all that matters to you. Own your personal power not through arrogance or force but through that quiet knowing that you are cable and you can make things hpen. You deserve the best of what you can imagine for yourself and your loved ones so get cracking on those dreams now, Aries.

Read on for what the stars have in store for you and make sure you check out your sun, moon and rising signs for the complete picture.

You are protected. Whatever you are experiencing currently, Aries, be it on the health front, the personal front, relationships, finances etc, there is a strong energy of protection around you right now. With all this cosmic glow-up in your sign, you better make the most of it in all the big and tiny ways. You deserve the best of what you can imagine for yourself and your loved ones so get cracking on those dreams now.

Cosmic tip: The timing is perfect for you.

Communication is key for you, Taurus. Make it effective and healthy and it only gets better. Now show up for yourself, for those you love and for all that matters to you. Own your personal power not through arrogance or force but through that quiet knowing that you are cable and you can make things hpen. When you feel lost or confused, ask your guides, angels, the cosmos — whatever your belief system — to step in and assist. Breakthroughs will find you.

Cosmic tip: When you ask the cosmos for help, wait to notice how it is helping you.

Your personal and love life pertaining questions may have got you thinking hard and long — sometimes in existential ways and some other times from the gaze and purview of self-worthiness. Gemini, whatever your train of thought, you have cracked the code — the underlying thread is you accepting and unfolding your truest self. Things have hpened lately that help you recognise and put together pieces of yourself and your life like never before. Life is beginning to make sense and wonderfully at that.

Fashion

Pisces Horoscope Today: May 20, 2026

Stop. Right now. Pisces, there is a time to act and then there is a time for you to allow the cosmos to intervene. This is the latter. There are helpers in the divine realms that are offering and extending support and guidance. Listen to your gut and your thoughts. You know you feel a certain sense of repulsion or your energy feels like it is closing in when certain things come to the fore. Those decisions and routes are not for you even if you feel there is no other way out currently. Trust the nudge and follow through. The cosmos is guiding your every step.

Cosmic tip: Pause. Reject anything that feels off.