By The Editors 2/14/12 7:37pm

Opening Shot

Wintour at Vera Wang.

Fashion Week Linsanity

If we had the foresight to pick a week to fall into a nice, 168-hour hibernation, we might have chosen the one leading up to Valentine’s Day. Think of all the tragedy we might have missed: the passing of Whitney Houston, Chris Brown winning a Grammy, the exhaustion of Fashion Week. And on top of all that? We completely forgot to buy something for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s birthday yesterday. But what do you buy the man who has already bought everything? (Another term is a bit out of our price range.)
Do you think he has a #17 jersey from the New York Knicks yet? We don’t know a lot about this Jeremy Lin fellow—apparently he sleeps on a couch and survives off a diet of tweeted compliments from Chris Hayes—but we do know that the DSM-V is considering adding “Linsanity” in its updated edition. It refers to a pandemic wherein a nation collectively falls into a fugue state after Tebow-ing too hard, only to be woken up compelled to discuss the cultural importance of Asian-Americans and/or Harvard grads in the NBA at every social function. Read More

By Drew Grant 1/04/12 8:45am

Profiles

Mr. Arora with one of his creations

Selling the Sizzle: New York ‘Spice King’ Dhiraj Arora Lets It All Hang Out

Shortly after meeting The Observer in the lobby of the Ace Hotel last Wednesday, Dhiraj Arora—who is the owner of the spice company Arora Creations Inc., but is perhaps better known for losing his temper and a good portion of his clothing one wild night at the Four Seasons Hotel—offered up a sly word of warning.

“The last woman who tried to profile me was an editor at Trace magazine,” Mr. Arora said. The editor had overseen a 2007 article in the magazine called “Delhi Rising,” which profiled several successful South Asian Americans. A cover story on Mr. Arora was considered, he said, “but she was eventually like, ‘Yo, D., I can’t keep up with you!’” The two ended up dating, a whirlwind romance that saw the duo jetting around the globe. That was the last time Mr. Arora truly felt he was in love.

We were a little unclear about just what this disclosure had to do with us, until the handsome 36-year-old asked if we were currently seeing anyone. We were. Did our significant other treat us right? Did he take us all over the world? Well, as a matter of a fact, he did.

“That’s really great,” Mr. Arora replied effusively. Read More

By Drew Grant 11/10/11 12:26pm

Scandals

Mr. Arora, Spice King

Spice King Runs Naked Through Four Seasons

Dhiraj Arora is a pretty big deal, though outside the food industry you might not know his name. He’s a bootstrap success story: turning $10 spice packet mixes made in his mother’s house in New Jersey into Arora Creations Inc., the only USDA-certified Organic Indian Grocery product line (according to its website). He was named one of Crain’s Top Entrepreneur in 2007.

He also allegedly likes to run around the Four Seasons Midtown gym naked, screaming at people “suck my million-dollar cock,” or “suck my $57 million dollar dick,” depending on who you ask.

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