Tabla de contenidos para December 2015 en Maxim India

FETTY WAP MAY LOOK GREAT IN A SUIT, but he hates wearing one. When he was 17, his mother told him about a high-paying job. The interview required a corporate appearance. He shaved off two years’ worth of dreadlocks, put on a suit, and showed up for the meeting, only to find that the position had already been filled. A sartorial trauma was born. “Suits aren’t my type of style yet,” the 25-year-old admits. “I’m still not ready for all that.” These days, he can wear whatever he wants. “Trap Queen,” the debut single by the Paterson, New Jersey, rapper (born Willie Maxwell II), recently went platinum. Though widely understood as an unconventional love song about dealing drugs with your significant other, that’s not quite it. “The song doesn’t have…

NO. NO. SO MUCH NO. Please don’t have a topknot. To have a topknot, or a man bun, is to proudly adorn the top of your head with the world’s worst thing. You’re basically wearing two fedoras. No, 10 fedoras. You have a soul patch as a haircut. You have a Hitler moustache on your dome. Your ’do is one of those giant e-cigarettes that people smoke peach-flavoured vapour out of. You have a Croc as a hairstyle. You also look like an overgrown adult baby, and I know that our grandfathers, with their rough hands and war stories and cool bouts with alcoholism, would be outraged. They would smack you with a rough, grown-man hand and then tell you to cut that stupid thing off your head. With all…

AS YOU STEP INTO THE LOBBY OF THE Le Meridien in Gurgaon, you’re instantly transported into a parallel universe, one in which exist larger-than-life statues, curious sculptures and modern installations—all created by some of the most prestigious names in art in India today. We caught up with David Hopcroft, the General Manager at Le Meridien, Gurgaon, to better understand and explore these unique visual wonders. Tell us about the relationship Le Meridien shares with the world of art? We believe the first 10 minutes of the guest experience sets the tone of the entire stay. A Paresh Maity work greets you as you enter the hotel. The figurine is a large face of a lady welcoming you. It is graciously poised and lends a warm touch to the entrance. To…

“YOU MIGHT WANT TO SIT DOWN,” Mike Woods tells me. I recline in an office chair, and a moment later, after whizzing through a space-time tunnel that looks like a tornado made of pure light, I find myself standing on a beach in Hawaii. The colors are vivid and rich, the sunlight dappled. The sound of waves echoes in my ears, palms sway in the wind, and the wide ocean sparkles to the horizon. I am alone. I feel an immediate sense of calm. It’s uncanny, but I would swear my skin is growing warm in the sunlight and a faint breeze is carrying a mist off the water. My heartbeat begins to slow. But as I crane my neck to check the trees for coconuts, the landscape becomes pixelated.…

Zippo and Maxim hosted #TheRealMan celebratory party at Mumbai’s newest hot spot, ARK at the Courtyard by Marriott. Hosted by the enigmatic Manasi Scott, guests spent a thrilling evening watching our real men on film, listening to their stories, enjoying a selection of tipples, and being bewitched by Indian Goddess Anushka Manchanda, who belted out a fantastic mix of tunes. A special shoutout to Arjun Vajpai, one of the six Real Men, who attended the event and spoke about his experience of climbing Everest at the young age of 16 (he’s the third youngest Indian to have done so), and what it takes to be an adventure junkie. Vharun Arora, the winner of the Zippo Twitter contest, also attended the event and got to meet his idol and Real Man…

How do you want it all to end? With my wife, two kids, mom, dad and my grandparents by my bed-side. Seriously, though...with a harem of bunnies, and six packs (beer or abs, go figure). Describe your last day on Earth. Yam and I (Raj? YamRaj?) go hang out at a bar, get a few drinks, get plastered, with a bunch of fine women we find at the bar. We’re so shit-faced, I pass out at some point, and Yam has to sprinkle some holy water (hic, absinthe) to wake me, only to realise I’m in Heaven. Or Hell. That depends. Well, which one is it? Hell. But isn’t Hell really Heaven? Because I can’t do the mundane bed of pretty roses. Give me fire and a demon horse. Heehaw!…

CUBA Place to visit: Viñales Valley When: July to October A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Viñales Valley in the Sierra de los Órganos mountains of Cuba is home to iconic tobacco plantations and outstanding Karst landscape—keep an eye out for cigar-chewing guajiros ploughing fields, a great photo-op for Instagram, while on your hop-on-hop-off bus tour. Viñales enjoys a lasting relationship with tourism (like rock climbing, salsa dancing, cycling tours, hiking and cave exploration) but still maintains its position as a slow-paced settlement surrounded by some of Cuba’s most striking natural beauty. LATVIA Places to visit: Gauja National Park and Riga When: April to August Gauja National Park was established to protect the valley of the Gauja river and its unique environs. In numbers, we’re talking about 500 cultural and…

THEY CALL THEM DUMBBELLS for a reason. For most, the rusty-steel, scuffed-rubber gym weights feel like an obligation, a haunting spectre of would-be exertion that sit in boxes under beds, mocking New Year’s resolutions that have come and gone. They are weights, physically and metaphorically. That, anyway, is how Toronto-based designer Joseph Aaron Klinsky, of JAK Atelier, saw it. A few summers ago, the chef-turned-renovator-turned-craftsman added exercise to his ever-expanding to-do list but was disappointed by the pedestrian design of most workout gear. And so Klinsky began his quest to—yes—raise the bar. His re-imagined dumbbell is grounding, elemental and beautiful. The soapstone weights are fitted over a wooden bar fashioned from North American black walnut, which will oxidise and darken with age—complete with screw-on end caps so the load can…

Have you got to a stage where critical acclaim comes your way so routinely that it is no longer a big deal? Or do reviews still matter to you? Of course they do. Critical acclaim means a lot to me and always will. It’s like a genuine stamp of approval on your work, a reaction from very educated people. It’s really nice that there’s a community out there accurately assessing every element of your performance. This is a feeling that will never end—it feels good that your performances are being liked. Have you incorporated any points raised by critics in your subsequent performances? I think what reviews do is they tell you what shape your character has taken and put your performance in perspective against the rest of the film.…

THE HAIR WAS FEATHERED, bodysuits were tight, and dance floors were packed. The soundtrack? Giorgio Moroder. The heavily mustachioed Italian producer and recording artiste was one of the chief architects of disco and techno, crafting several lascivious superhits for Donna Summer, along with the timeless Blondie classic “Call Me.” He also designed a luxury sports car, collected a few Academy Awards and Grammys, and made a spectacular deejaying debut—at age 73. Moroder’s forthcoming album features Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, Sia, and Charli XCX. Here, a half-century of Giorgio.…

It all started with a cheap drugstore comb. Pittsburgh metalsmith Michael Studebaker was using one to tame his unruly beard when the handle broke. “I decided to make something that would never break or bend in your pocket,” he recalls. “That you could keep forever and even pass down to your progeny—if they had beards, of course.” Studebaker, 29, and his wife, Alyssa, were already hand-forging jewellery on a pair of antique anvils in their Studebaker Metals studio, and that fateful comb snap five years ago inspired them to craft gorgeous and damn-near-indestructible grooming gear like the Hand-Forged Moustache Comb, Silver & Brass Handmade Safety Razor, and Brass & Badger Shave Brush alongside. Since 2013, Studebaker has been banging out grooming tools that are at once old-timey showpieces and everyday…

SEA Made from a single sheet of pre-creased, corrugated polypropylene, the 12-foot-long, 25-inch-wide Oru Bay+ kayak breaks down into a 13-kilo, portfolio-style case that’s small enough to sling over a shoulder, stow behind a couch, or check on a plane. The single-passenger vessel takes about 20 minutes to assemble and is as nimble on the water as its more unwieldy, non-collapsible counterparts. And despite its take-anywhere design, the Bay+ is equipped with an adjustable bucket seat, strap-down deck rigging, and waterproof deck hatch, making it suitable for even the most intrepid multiday tours. 1,03,500; orukayak.com AIR First class feeling a bit too cramped? Then pilot the Icon A5, an amphibious light aircraft that can be hitched to a car and take off from just about anywhere. Articulating wings fold flat…

It’s a week-long celebration of cocktail craftsmanship that will be taking place at 150+ bars across the city with a variety of tasting sessions, parties and master classes in the art of pouring the perfect cocktail. Want in? All you’ve got to do is buy yourself a DCW wristband to get exclusive access. Participating venues include PCO, Smokeys, Beer Café, Delhi Heights, Hungry Monkey, Zerruco, Westin, Summerhouse Café, Hard Rock Café and more. For more info log on to delhicocktailweek.com…

p.4 Lady with drink, Arne9001/Dreamstime pp.8-11 Images courtesy of Bugatti pp.12-13 Images courtesy of Maserati p.14 Moroder, Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images; vinyl record, Matt Cardy/ Getty Images pp.16-18 Bally, Shop No. 225, First Floor, DLF Emporio Mall, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi; Marc by Marc Jacobs, marcjacobs.com/stores; Calvin Klein Collection, Shop No. G-46, Inorbit Mall, Link Road, Malad West, Mumbai; Dior Homme, Shop No. 145, Ground Floor, DLF Emporio Mall, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi p.28 The Fat Jewish, Mireya Acierto/Getty Images pp.32-38 Underwater grotto, Ethan Daniels/ Dreamstime; house in Viñales Valley, Luis Marquez/Shutterstock; farmer, merc67/ Shutterstock; Saulkrasti Beach, Zanna Peshnina/ Dreamstime; old Riga, Anjun/Dreamstime; safari guide, Chris Jackson/Getty Images; Kings Pool Safari Camp, Chris Jackson/ Getty Images; scuba divers, frantisekhojdysz/ Shutterstock; windsurfer, Willyam Bradberry/ Shutterstock; Henryk…