Earlier this month, at his twentieth-anniversary show in Mumbai, Sabyasachi Mukherjee dressed his male models in silk pajamas, flimsy shirts, and kaftans that were no different from what his female fashions were sporting. Then you have the modern-day marketing campaign from Shantanu & Nikhil, in which actor Jim Sarbh is in draped silk sherwanis. Elsewhere, Ranveer Singh, the poster boy of gender-fluid style and OTT, has been setting social media abuzz with a yellow plaid fit via Dhruv Kapoor.
In the South, Chennai-based multi-logo save Evoluzione introduces its Men’s Sartorial Edit subsequent month — “curating young designers who are thinking silhouettes and experimenting with suits and prints” — and in Mumbai, bespoke shoe and eyewear trunk indicates are paying extra interest to what guys want. “Terms like androgyny, un-binary, and genderless are gaining traction,” opines Vijendra Bhardwaj, GQ India’s (former) style director. “There’s an extreme melding of factors of womenswear and menswear, and wondering and redefining the notions of masculinity.” And that is developing “new industry and possibility,” feels Nikhil Mehra of Delhi-based emblem Shantanu & Nikhil, who adds, “The subsequent five to 6 years belong to men.” We speak with 14 catalysts — designers, stylists, and stores — on their new collections and where menswear is heading in India.
With gender-fluid drapes and focus on material, Antar-Agni also addresses “that small percent of authors, bloggers, innovative and sportspeople who will get our philosophy,” says Dubey, 31, who hails from Gorakhpur in UP. At his first show five years ago, approximately 30% of his clients for menswear were ladies. “So we introduced androgyny. We proved that drapes and cuts are important, with awareness at the ‘wearability component and how the cloth falls for your shoulder, the way you manage the strains across the body”. Sneakers paintings nicely with this label, and he brought jackets closing 12 months. He calls them “enhancers — one layer that you could upload on to any outfit.” With this season’s Into the Light collection, Dubey has explored “simplicity and freedom from inhibitions and stereotypes.”
Lessons from Woolmark
“I work on motifs and patterns that might be my own, and I now focus on Baroque or Rococo fashion. The Woolmark experience was a year-long method, with the aid of which time I began dreaming of sheep. I even went to look at a farm with sheep, intending to purchase it! But severely, it made me extra intense in my process. From my very first display in 2014.”
Keeping it easy
“I was working on linen, zari, and lycra blends with subtle artwork. The original idea became not to color block but to break the monotony with flashes of skin at the wrist, ankle, and chest. We collaborate with grasp weavers in clusters in Bhagalpur and Meerut. And Malkha has been sourced from Andhra Pradesh from the very beginning.”
“Our winter isn’t always genuinely wintry weather, so the focal point of menswear is on summer season. In the global context, this makes global manufacturers uneasy. Can India ever be an international participant within the phase, or is it honest to be in comparison as a tropical outpost for global brands?” asks the dressmaker, whose emblem is synonymous with bandhgalas and jodhpurs. The signature silhouette gets a futuristic treatment in Rathore’s ultra-modern series: it can be seen “in the cut of the garments, which resonates an edgy tale,” he says, including that sustainable embroideries and different tailoring strategies supplement it. When it comes to regular put-on, he says, “Pret is the pulse of most manufacturers oscillating in the mid-segment, which calls for a charge-touchy method. This makes it a quintessential part of the menswear enterprise.”
Nikhil Mehra made his first draped kurta four years ago to put on for a celebration. “I got such a lot of eyeballs initially, looking askance, but by the quit, several humans cherished it. We realized then that men were hungry for individuality,” he recalls. Their designs for men “waiting to be confirmed through layout” encompasses gender-fluid silhouettes, navy chic, and now, Indian tradition. “I think the layout will start turning into a language in which you’re from and who you’re. Textiles and cultural effects from unique areas, like tribal prints or Kerala’s dance forms like theyyam, will become famous on jackets, T-shirts, and cutting-edge paperwork. Our next collection will be consciousness on vintage people’s memories,” he says.
