Time flies when you are having fun. Much as I dislike clichés, this one has become a personal mantra. It plays in my head when I am coming to work. It stays like a catchy background track all through the day. And even on my way home, it’s the end score to a job well done. I love working at ELLE. It’s been over eight years and yet this feeling persists. In part, it stems from the fact that this sentiment finds resonance within the team. What unites us is the
satisfaction we derive from working for a magazine that has integrity. An old-fashioned word, it best describes our approach to editorial content. But that is the legacy and standard that the brand sets for itself across 41 editions worldwide – making it the world’s largest-selling fashion magazine.
With the Indian edition, we have also had the
responsibility of being the first fashion magazine in the country. From day one, we kept the ethos of ELLE simple: Separate the truly stylish from the mindlessly trendy. Make fashion your own voice.
This December 2008, we celebrate the ‘sexy, stylish, spirited’ nature of ELLE. We start with the Hot 100 section that opens the magazine. It’s a compendium of trends that ruled the year. Film, fashion, pop culture, art, literature – it’s all here. From Zac Ephron to the grown-out bob, we help you exit 2008 on a well-informed note – while setting the foundation for another fabulous year.

Then we bring you ELLE’s biggest project for 2008: Our list of the 50 Most Stylish. This section not only focuses on individual style; it also gives you images that define the word. But our anniversary special is the ELLE Style Awards. The only awards that are by the fraternity, of the fraternity, and for the fraternity– they are based solely on designers’ works and the collections they showed. For 2008, the winner is Manish Arora. Maverick, magician, mad man – we asked novelist Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi to get inside his mind and decipher him. See the other winners inside – as they play with ‘ELLE’ in more ways than one. This issue also has the regular features, plus a fantastic spread with Jennifer Lopez as a designer’s muse to Indian haute couture at its hottest. There are also the writings of Nalini Jones and Anjum Hasan as well as a photo essay on street art. The biggest compliment I keep getting is when readers assume ELLE is an Indian title. We became Indian 12 years ago when you made us your favourite magazine.