Bollywood seems to be keeping many of our designers busy these days and Narendra Kumar Ahmed (in picture by Rashbehari Das) is definitely one of them. Unlike most stylists, the Mumbai-based designer, however, wants to restrict his designs to John Abraham’s wardrobe for the moment.

“I am very comfortable designing for John since his personal style statements don’t come in the way of his film wardrobes. Though he has some likes and dislikes — for instance he doesn’t like to wear large floral prints — he is otherwise very open to whatever the designer decides,” explains Narendra, in town for Cirque Selecte on Thursday.

Designing for John is also a big challenge, feels Narendra. “The challenge is to make John look sexy even with clothes on. People are so used to his bare-bodied sexy look that I want to establish that he looks as sexy with clothes as without them,” he smiles.

Awaiting the release of Baabul, Narendra is also working on John’s wardrobe for his next film, No Smoking. In Baabul, the “urban, sophisticated singer” sports an eclectic wardrobe that changes with the mood of the movie. So, there’s a mix of whites, pastels and darker evening hues. “In Baabul, John has also worn a sherwani, for the first time in a film,” he reveals.

Anurag Kashyap’s No Smoking, “an off-beat film with a strong message”, sees John playing a corporate honcho. The look, hence, is “stylish, edgy, sharp and structured, with lots of greys and blacks”.

“It’s not that I don’t want to do complete movie wardrobes, but at the moment I don’t have time for that,” says Narendra. Television, however, is very much on the designer’s table. For one, he has designed a line of shirts for ESPN’s cricket commentators in the ongoing South Africa tour. The plain and embroidered shirts boast “elements of Africa” — motifs and “safari” colours like beige, khaki and rust. “The shirts are light and viewer-friendly and we have incorporated a sense of travel, while maintaining the seriousness required for sports commentators,” explains ‘Nari’.

The four different designs are being sported by 12 commentators including Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Wasim Akram, Zaheer Abbas, Syed Kirmani, Alan Wilkins, Harsha Bhogle and Gautam Bhimani.

On the fashion front, the designer is busy with a host of orders following his highly successful shows at the just-concluded Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai. He will also showcase his men’s wear line in London soon.

One of the very few Indian designers dabbling in women’s wear and men’s wear with equal expertise, Nari believes his forte lies in “forms and structures”. “I love cutting and fitting, whether it’s men’s wear or women’s wear and I enjoy doing both equally,” he says.

Talk to him about men’s wear and the designer is visibly passionate about it. “Very few designers in our country do men’s wear because it’s a far more difficult task. It is all about details; there are very fine points of focus within a garment. Whereas, in women’s wear the focus is more on surface ornamentation. In men’s clothing, you have to get small things right, like the stitches, collar sizes, fall of jackets, sleeves...”

He also rues how designers don’t consider men’s fashion glamorous enough. “That’s a very wrong notion. Men’s wear can be very stylish and glamorous and I think I proved that in my opening show at Lakme Fashion Week,” he smiles.

He sure did, with some help from ‘model’ John.