Style according to you is?

For me style is the gateway to self discovery.

Five items in your closet you can’t do without?

My shirts (which usually have graphic prints on them), some wacky T-shirts, neckties, scarves, smart jackets and low-waist, slim fit jeans in black and dark grey are wardrobe must-haves.

Your most extravagant buy?

A felt overcoat from Tommy Hilfiger which is a smart double breast, three-button suit with raised collars. It has a smart zipper and interesting box pleats at the back.

What do you like to mix and match?

I like wearing shirts over graphic printed T-shirts, and embellishing my jeans with metal chains, while I often pin badges to my ties and cravats.

What kind of a shopper are you?

I swing between being an occasional buyer to being out-and-out impulsive when it comes to shopping. So there are times when I wait for my shoes to wear out completely before going shopping for a new pair and at other times I go ahead and buy something that I like on an impulse, without a second thought.

Favourite accessories

Neckties, cravats, rings, wrist-bands, handbags and my canvas shoes.

Latest buys

I recently bought some sweatshirts and pullovers from Benetton and a Dior shirt from a flea market. But it’s is a genuine Dior and is an import reject.

If money were no object, what would you add to your closet?

Suits from Hugo Boss, jackets from Armani, jeans from Diesel, shades from YSL and Johnny Depp’s quirkiness.

A trend you are sporting at the moment

It’s a schoolboy look as well as a rock star look mixed with a dash of Spanish fashion designer, Cristóbal Balenciaga, who is known for his stark yet elegant designs.

Your favorite shopping destination

I love Camden High Street in London and flea markets around the world for their variety and element of surprise.

If there was a fire what would you save?

A bottle-green German army jacket that I picked up from Delhi’s wholesale market Sadar Bazar.

Essentials in your handbag

The traditional wooden drawing board or takhti, a small bag for pens, colours, markers, pencils, lead and drawing inks, drawing sheets, tissues, a cross (rosary cross) and my iPod with earphones.

Indian designers whose creations you love wearing

I love menswear in Abhishek and Nandita Basu’s Fightercock line as it is very casual and very stylish.

Inherited treasures

My mother’s eyes, some of her Pashmina shawls with intricate work and dad’s silk neckties.

Clothes they say maketh a man. True or false?

True, as in this fast world the only aspect with which you can convey what you are in a blink of an eye is through your sense and style of dressing.

Is there any outfit you love to wear but your family hates?

A T-shirt that a friend got me from Pushkar. It has a sadhu smoking a chillum (pipe) printed on it.

You have a nose for?

Good Life by Davidoff and Jovan Musk by Jovan.

Biggest fashion faux pas….

Anybody sporting leopard prints.

One aspect of fashion that bugs you the most

Blingology and excess of glamour attached to fashion.

A fashion tip

Stay fit and wear clothes that fit you well.

(As told to Chitra Papnai)

Photographs by Jagan Negi