DECEMBER 2015

Features

54

Elli
Avram

This Greek-Swede is
hot-as-hell and her
Hindi’s probably
better than yours!

62
THE AMERICAN
On the ground with
the Baltimore native
going toe-to-toe with the
Islamic State.

72
THE COCKTAIL GUIDE
35 delicious concoctions
and one awesome party
await you.

78

PATRICIA ZAVALA
Latin America’s biggest
TV star hits the beach
with Maxim.

86
NAWAZUDDIN SIDDIQUI
A virtual master-class
in acting from this
generation’s icon.

90
STONE COLD
Winter’s finest
designer overcoats.

98
SINGULAR STYLE
Shopping smart begins with
eliminating the guesswork.

112
24 HOURS TO LIVE WITH
JAYESH SACHDEVA
The eclectic fashion designer
and surfer makes it to the
other side.

2


MAXIM

December 2015

photograph by

ARJUN MARK



PARTY SPECIAL

Think of this as your
ultimate drinking
guide. Cheers!
pg. 72

Arena

Agenda

8

32

FROM THE
DIGITAL UNIVERSE
TO REALITY
Introducing the
Bugatti Vision

Gran Turismo.

NEW YEAR,
NEW TRAVEL
The vacay spots that
will trend in 2016
(some you’ve probably
never heard of before).

12

40

SMOOTH RIDE
Maserati and Zegna up
the luxury quotient.

WANDERLUST
Why travelling alone
might be the ultimate
romantic getaway.

14
DR DISCO
Dance floor icon
Giorgio Moroder
kicks off his glorious
second act.

42


16

44

FREESTYLE WAP
On the heels of
his wildly successful
debut single, Fetty
Wap is determined
to make a lasting
impression.

LUXE LIFT
The classic
dumbbell gets a
stylish, `60,000
upgrade.

20
RAHAL 2.0
Indycar scion Graham
Rahal turns into the
next lap of his career
with a family legacy
riding shotgun.

Modus
22
HAIR METAL

Handcrafted
grooming tools are a
cut above the rest.
ICON

24

Nawazuddin gets candid.

MAN IN BLACK
Channel your inner
Johnny Cash with
rakishly suave
grooming gear.

pg. 86

26
WINTER PROTECT
Your cold weather
skin arsenal here.

28
KNOT COOL
Instagram guru The
Fat Jew takes aim at
the topknot.

30
UNDISCOVERED


Travel in 2016 is
going to be wild.
pg. 32

4

MAXIM

December 2015

BOMB SQUAD
It’s the year of the
bomber, again.

THE ART-OTEL
Le Meridien is an
undiscovered haven
for art-lovers.

Emporium
46
THE STOWAWAYS
The getaway vehicles
you’ve been designing
secretly, now exist.

50
THE NEW HEAD TRIP
Will the advent of

virtual reality change
the way we travel?

52
HIGHWAY
HATCHBACK
The new Baleno is
heading to the top of
the charts.



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6

MAXIM

December 2015



JEANS FROM
R s . 1,295


A MAN’S WORLD

FROM THE DIGITAL
UNIVERSE TO REALITY

A creation from a video game takes form in the real world; it's the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo.
by HECTOR MANON

8

MAXIM

December 2015


INSIDE

DR. DISCO: GIORGIO MORODER
INDYCAR RACER GRAHAM RAHAL
MEET NEW HIP HOP STAR FETTY WAP

December 2015

MAXIM


9


auto

THE REINTERPRETATION
OF A FUTURISTIC
RACING CAR
WITH SEVERAL
CHARACTERISTIC
FEATURES OF THE
BRAND LIKE THE
GRILLE AND
THE WING .

10

MAXIM

December 2015

GRAN TURISMO, THE SERIES OF VIDEO GAMES
for PlayStation, has been a revelation in every
sense of the word. Not only does it give you
the thrill of driving any type of vehicle on a
race track or in a competition, but it does so
in a very realistic way. The best part is that
you can do all this in the comfort of your
home, without worrying about the high costs
it would involve in real life. Anyone can

experience it, you just need a console screen
and you're ready.
This has become a great opportunity for
automotive brands to show off their latest
creations and show them to an audience that
is interested in the car and could eventually
buy one. That's how the Vision Gran Turismo
project was born, where if a brand wants—
and pays the proper fees—it can present its
digital creations that could never be a part of
real life. We have already seen some examples
of brands such as Subaru, Mercedes-Benz,
Hyundai, SRT, MINI, Infiniti, Peugeot,
Dodge, Alpine and Lexus doing this, but
without a doubt, one of the most impressive
cars recently came to light during the
Frankfurt Autoshow.
A creation of Bugatti, the French brand
belonging to the Volkswagen Group, the car is
simply called Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo.
This is the reinterpretation of a futuristic
racing car with several characteristic features
of the brand like the grille and the wing that

takes its inspiration from the 1936 Type 57
Atlantic, the lateral curve that frames the
cockpit as it does in the Bugatti Veyron and
blue tones of the carbon fibre body in honour
of Type 57 that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans
in 1937 and 1939.

The design is full of sharp angles and
aerodynamic elements which function to
keep the car close to the ground at over 400
kmph, and also to feed oxygen to the engine
which is located in the central part of the car.
There's a giant spoiler on the back
that communicates with the fenders and
fascia, and acts as the DRS system of Formula
1 cars, in which you change the angle to give
more support or speed when the car moves.
The grille is the highlight in the front,
along with aggressive new headlamps,
which are different to what we have seen of
the brand in the past. They are made up of
four units each and are half-hidden inside the
car's body.
On the back you'll find four tailpipes at the
centre and an air diffuser on the lower part
to create the ground effect required for
stability on curbs and on straight tracks.
The spectacular interiors continue the
blue theme in different tones, showing the
carbon fibre tinted in these colours, a
futuristic racing wheel, a seat belt with five
points and a central console displaying a
small screen for the circuit.


Under the hood we find the impressive
Veyron engine with 16 cylinders, 8-litre four

turbos and 1,000 horsepower that hits the floor
through a complex system of traction.
Let's not forget that with this engine, the
Veyron set a new speed record for a production
car in 2010 with 431.072 kmph, so it's possible
the Vision Gran Turismo will be even faster
thanks to a much lower weight.
Of course, right now it's only a virtual
concept, but the big surprise is that the car
really exists in real life and was in the Frankfurt
Autoshow, stealing all the thunder at this
important international exhibition.
Rumours are rife that the next Bugatti
successor, the Chiron, will look like this—
keeping all the luxury and daily usability that
the French brand promises. The mechanics will
be different, probably using the W16 engine,
but will be assisted by electric motors to fill
gaps in the thermal power and drive so it can be
converted into a super car like the Ferrari
LaFerrari and McLaren P1. While this happens,
car fans can now download the package to have
the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo on their
consoles and use it on the tracks of the game—
we get to drive a Bugatti somewhere, right? The
brand claims that virtually the car can reach
upto 400 kmph on four sections of the La
Sarthe Circuit, where the 24 Hours of Le Mans
actually takes place. In theory, this means it
would be faster than the LMP1 cars—the top

category at Le Mans.

December 2015

MAXIM

11


fashion meets auto

SMOOTH RIDE

Maserati and Zegna join forces, and the silk hits the road.
by BEN KEESHIN

SILK IS NOT THE MOST DURABLE MATERIAL.
Rather, it’s the sumptuous, insect-spun
fabric of shawls, slippers, and the linings of
better coats—a textile that transcends
commodification, more shimmering asset
than sturdy cloth. Lovely, but with the
integrity of a pecorino shaving. Silk, in its
grained opulence, is party-at-night, not
workaday. Even as automakers outfit their
cabins with materials seemingly poached
from a high-luxe spaceship—carbon fibre,
open-pore wood, fibre-optic lighting, and
glove leather—silk has remained off the
menu, too delicate for the interior of a

sporting car.
That’s exactly what the head of Maserati,
Harald Wester, thought. Looking to add a
dose of exclusivity to his company’s already
rarefied sedans, the Quattroporte sporting
limousine and the smaller, stiletto-quick
Ghibli, Wester turned to another century-old
Italian powerhouse, the textile manufacturer
and fashion brand Ermenegildo Zegna,
for ideas about a new, ultimate interior
fitting. Zegna’s chairman, Paolo Zegna,
suggested silk.
In June, telling that story to a gaggle of
prosciutto-addled journalists wilting happily
in the Hemingway Suite at the Grand Hotel

12

MAXIM

December 2015

des Iles Borromées on Italy’s Lake Maggiore,
Wester reiterated his reply: “Preposterous.” A
trained mechanical engineer, Wester thought
immediately of Maserati’s battery of durability
tests and had visions of hydraulic pistons
punching clean through silken upholstery like
a spoon through ricotta. Silk, he said, would
never stand up to rough treatment.

At first, he was right. The initial silk Zegna
produced—a cut of its finest apparel-quality
material—did not survive even 10 percent of
Maserati’s testing regimen. In Wester’s words,
the result was a seat cover with “more holes
than silk.” Undaunted, Zegna and Maserati
spent two years working to find a silk—pure,
not a micron less than 100 percent—that was
strong enough to live inside Maserati’s
athletic sedans.
The final product is an exclusive Zegna
mulberry silk in anthracite gray, double the
weight of Zegna’s suit material. Paired with
Poltrona Frau leather, it covers the seats, door
panels, roof lining, ceiling-light fixture, and
sunshades: Overall, one Zegna-equipped
Maserati uses four times as much silk as a
Zegna suit. According to Maserati, the silk
meets every standard of its leathers and will
last the life of the car.
As we snaked out of the Hemingway Suite,

the journalists were assigned sedans—mine, a
perfect Ghibli S Q4 in lustrous Grigio with a
red-anthracite Zegna interior. After I plopped
with no undue delicacy into the car, Zegna’s
mastery became immediately apparent. The
silk fittings were stitched meticulously, with
sharp detailing recalling the crisply cut suits
for which the fashion house is famous. The

panels were visually understated, with the
low-sheen richness that makes the material
so bewitching, and as a tactile experience,
they crackled with allure. It was impossible
not to run palms, knuckles, and cheeks (yes)
all over the interior of the Ghibli like a
trapped truffle pig.
Then I punched Maserati’s starter button
and the car’s rorty motor sprang to life. With
fingertips placed gently on the aluminium
paddle shifters, I conspired with the Maserati’s
410 horsepower and Zegna’s custom-built
Panoramica mountain roadway to treat that
gorgeous interior to the drubbing of its life. I
threw the Ghibli into corners, prodded its
twin turbocharged V-6 to screaming, and left
an Italian tollbooth with a haste usually
reserved for newly enriched criminals.
In the face of wanton abuse, the silk stood
strong, sleek, and unperturbed. In truth, I
was the party much worse for wear.


Maserati’s Ghibli S Q4 boasts a silk interior
by Ermenegildo Zegna.
Bottom right: A model walks the runway at
Zegna’s latest menswear show in Milan.

December 2015


MAXIM

13


playlist

DR. DISCO
Giorgio Moroder, the musical wizard
behind some of disco’s most enduring hits,
takes another twirl on the dance floor.

O

2015 ○ Déjà Vu
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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.
—Gabriella Paella

PE R FOR M E D

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music

FREE
STYLE
WAP

New Jersey
hip-hop star Fetty
Wap’s debut single,
“Trap Queen,”
has become one
of the year’s
biggest hits.
Can he keep the
momentum going?
by KATHY IANDOLI

Coat and suit by Bally;
shirt by Calvin Klein
Collection; shoes by
Marc Jacobs



music

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 anything to do with love,
really,” Fetty explains. “Trap Queen” is
actually a semiautobiographical track about a
girl he met who wanted in on his already
booming drug business. “She learned how to
cook crack, and she kind of did it so good
that she made enough for the both of us,” he
says. “She knew how to stretch that shit.”
The song hints that doubling their efforts will
keep the money flowing. “It’s not like, ‘Oh,
babe, I love you, let’s work for this,’”
he clarifies. “No, we’re about to go break the
law, and we’re gonna have some fun.”
Fortunately, Fetty has since found another
method of supporting himself. The song
changed everything for the father of two (a
four-year-old son and newborn daughter).
“Once the music started doing good, I didn’t
have to look for a way to provide for my kids,”
he says. “This might be my chance to better
my son’s and my daughter’s future.”
Balancing fatherhood with his new life is still a

work in progress, as Wap’s rigorous travel
schedule coupled with studio sessions has
limited his parenting time. “It bothers me,” he
admits. “Not all the negativity, not the one-hitwonder talk—that’s the only thing that actually
bothers me.”
While the upstart still has a Paterson zip
code, he has another place a few towns over,
in Hackensack, that doubles as a gigantic walk-

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MAXIM

December 2015

in closet. One room is entirely filled with
Jordans—a fetish he adopted while selling
mixtapes on street corners. Any extra
income from those sales went straight to
his sneaker habit. Now he buys a pair a
day. “People are getting shot over these,”
he says, running a hand over his Air Jordan
XI’s, a.k.a. “Space Jams.” In his bedroom
is an extensive collection of Robin’s Jeans,
straight from the factory. “I like mine with
different-coloured zippers,” he says of his
exclusive denim. Collaborating with their
designer, Robin Chretien, is the next item on
his career bucket list, and Fetty is slowly
becoming a fixture in the company’s New

York City offices.
Flashy purchases aside, Fetty Wap is one
of hip-hop’s humblest characters. When cable
network Music Choice gave him the MC100

Award, he cried on-air because it was his very
first award. He has a special phone that never
leaves his house that still holds his first texts
from Kanye West (who invited him to perform
at the Roc City Classic show) and Drake (who
appears on his single “My Way”). As a child,
he developed congenital glaucoma and lost an
eye (he wears a prosthesis), and though he
suffered in his younger years, his fans have
found him a source of inspiration.
That childhood setback has been beneficial
in other ways. It taught him to be grateful for
the successes life brings him and take nothing
for granted. “You never know what could
happen, and personally, I don’t care,” he says.
“I just want to get up in here, get this money
so that my family can live good, and if the
music don’t work out for me, nobody can’t
say I never tried.”
photographs by

THOMAS GOLDBLUM

S T Y L I S T L : WAY N E G R O S S ; G R O O M E R : M A N N N A N C E F O R K E N B A R B O Z A .C O M ; P R O P S T Y L I S T: L I N D A K E I L


Jacket, shirt and tie all
by Dior Homme



speed

RAHAL 2.0

Indycar standout GRAHAM RAHAL doesn’t
just compete against other drivers—his family’s
racing legacy is always in the rearview.
by DAN CARNEY

THE SON IS FAST, JUST LIKE THE FATHER WAS.
Graham Rahal, driver of the #15 Steak ’n
Shake car in the IndyCar series (co-sponsored
by Maxim), is having a career year. He just
scored a pair of thrilling runner-up finishes:
At the Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber
Motorsports Park last April, and at the Grand
Prix of Indianapolis in May. More important,
he has been fast and furious in every outing
on the IndyCar circuit. But don’t look for the
signature ’stache that his legendary dad,
Bobby, sported during his Indianapolis 500
win in 1986. “I can’t grow one,” Rahal says
with a chuckle. “It looks terrible.”
If the young Rahal has a handicap, it
might be the weight of expectations. Bobby’s

dad, Mike, raced Porsches before Bobby
became an Indy 500 winner, three-time
CART-series champion, and team co-owner
with none other than recently liberated Late
Show host David Letterman. Graham is
named for the late English Formula 1 star
Graham Hill.
Graham, 26, who is a spokesman for
Sunoco’s tongue-in-cheek fragrance, Burnt
Rubbèr, is tall and slender. He loves golf and
is a fiercely devoted hockey fan. But he
always wanted to race cars for a living—with
or without his father’s blessing. “I really

20

MAXIM

December 2015

wasn’t supportive,” Bobby recalls. “I wanted
him to do something different because the
pressure to perform is greater. But he’s a very
tenacious young man.” Graham isn’t just
tenacious, however. He’s one of the most
talented drivers in the sport.
“I think the biggest key to success is a
relentless mentality,” Graham says. “In racing
or in life, there’s lots of speed bumps, lots
of times in which you feel like you aren’t

progressing, then suddenly, all the hard
work pays off.”
They cut a deal: A’s in school equalled
racing time, first in karts, then in entry-level
Formula BMW cars. Graham first tasted
success in the Pro Mazda developmental
series when he was 16. He followed that with
a European test in a Formula 3000 car,
beating the pole-position-setting lap in the
prior race. Setting that lap time in an
unfamiliar car and track, against Europe’s top
young drivers, was what convinced Graham
he could succeed as a professional. “At that
point I was thinking, Maybe this can happen,”
he recalls.
THE SATURDAY MORNING DAWNS COOL AND
drizzly at Barber Motorsports Park. The night
before, the drivers sleeping in motor homes

at the track had been pounded with the first
major Alabama thunderstorm of the summer.
Those who’d stayed in hotels returned to park
in soupy fields that caked mud on their shoes.
They gather in bunches in the meeting
room, leaning in to chat with their neighbours
before the proceedings get under way. The
chief steward starts with housekeeping—minor
rules adjustments, Indy 500 practice
scheduling. Juan Pablo Montoya, who would
go on to win the Indy 500 four weeks later,

wants to argue about a detail involving yellow
flags during qualifying. The steward shrugs
him off.
These are the familiar rhythms of life in
the IndyCar paddock: meet, discuss, drive,
photographs by

JULIAN DUFORT


Rising star Graham
Rahal with racing
legend dad Bobby

“THE KEY TO SUCCESS IS A RELENTLESS MENTALITY. IN
RACING OR IN LIFE, THERE’S LOTS OF SPEED BUMPS.
THEN SUDDENLY, ALL THE HARD WORK PAYS OFF.”

repeat. There’s practice, qualifying, debriefs
with engineers to make the cars faster, and of
course, the races. Graham was practically
raised on the track, much like another
IndyCar kid, Marco Andretti, son of Michael
and grandson of the great Mario. Both
Graham and Marco wanted to follow in their
famous fathers’ footsteps.
For Graham, it was always about the cars,
not the legacy. Street cars, racecars, old,
new—it didn’t matter. It’s an obsession he has
indulged since his very first ride, a 1964 Mini

Cooper, through a current fleet that ranges
from the exotic (Porsche 918) to the mundane
(Acura MDX). His all-time favourite? The
Porsche Carrera GT.

“I’ve always been a big Porsche nut,
and the Carrera GT is just the greatest street
car ever,” he gushes. “It is so difficult and
so rewarding to drive. I love it. I absolutely
love it.”
Upon reaching his goal of racing IndyCars,
Graham wasted no time establishing his
legitimacy and putting to rest any whispers
that he was only a lucky legacy. He won the
2008 season opener—his first professional
race—when he was 19, making him IndyCar’s
youngest-ever champion.
The top-performing Honda driver in the
IndyCar series, he is notching impressive
times despite a Honda engine that is notably
less powerful this year than the rival Chevys.
For 2015, his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
team brought in two of the engineers he
worked with previously. Graham needed a
crew he knew and trusted, his dad says. “If
you have confidence in your engineer, that’s a
powerful asset,” Bobby observes.
Orbiting Indy at 380 kmph, his top

speed at the Indy 500, requires steely

confidence, a point Bobby illustrates with a
baseball analogy: “If you’re worried about
getting into the batter’s box with some guy
throwing 150 km per hour, you ought not be
there,” he says.
By this season’s race at Barber, the
team changes had paid off, with Graham
enjoying a white-knuckle charge through
the field at the Grand Prix of Alabama.
Then, after the Indy 500, he made a podium
finish at the Detroit Grand Prix.
At least he has someone to go home
to who truly understands racing’s pressures
and heritage. Graham is engaged to Courtney
Force, the professional-drag-racing daughter
of legendary champion John Force. She, too,
needs to win races to uphold a family
tradition. The young couple have discussed
kids, possibly extending their families’
automotive legacies. Because racing isn’t just
something that happens on the track—it’s in
the blood, too.
December 2015

MAXIM

21


THE STYLISH MAN


HAIR
METAL

Pittsburgh’s Studebaker Metals
proudly handcrafts grooming tools
that meld beauty and brawn.

1

by A L I D RU C K E R

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 handforging 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-nearindestructible 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 staples fit for
the manliest of modern medicine cabinets.
Evoking the aged patina of blacksmith-forged heirloom tools,
the rough finish on Studebaker’s gear is achieved in the most
authentic way possible: by being pounded into shape on an
anvil. A single safety razor takes about 16 hours to make; its

three components, including the delicate threaded closure,
are hand-cut and hammered into a thing of beauty. The
moustache comb (yes, it’s also great for the wildest of
beards) is similarly handcrafted, with each tooth finely
sawed down and polished, giving it exceptional glide.
The diabolical-looking instrument, inspired by the silhouette
of an upturned ’stache, is Studebaker’s most popular
grooming item. “I know guys who are carrying them in their
pockets and using them daily,” he says. Studebaker is equally
proud of his safety razor (“I based the design on an old
German razor I found in a thrift store”) and shave brush
(“There’s really no chance that those badger hairs are ever
gonna fall out”). With such rigorous attention to detail, it’s no
surprise that he stamps every piece with his name and city of
origin, a shout-out to working-class Pittsburgh. The Iron City.

22

MAXIM

December 2015

2

3

1. Brass and Badger Shave Brush
2. Silver and Brass Handmade Safety Razor
3. Hand-Forged Moustache Comb


photograph by

Z AC H A RY Z AV I S L A K


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