A flowing salt-and-pepper beard and long hair make Suket Dhir look more like a professor of art than an ace fashion designer. Dhir, 36, looks relaxed sitting in a sun-drenched corner of his studio in Delhi’s Lado Sarai playing with his one-and-half-year-old son, Zorawar. After all, it’s been some time since he spent much time with his son.
Dhir is just back from Florence after receiving the 2015/2016 International Woolmark Prize for Menswear. But he’s not looking super-elated — yet. “Winning the award was surreal and it’s yet to sink in,” he says.
The famous Colombian designer Haider Ackermann’s words are still echoing in Dhir’s head. “Suket is a person with a dream to tell, and I thought that his collection was very beautiful, because fashion at this time is about a dream, and the rest — the business — will follow.” Ackermann was one of the competition’s judges. “When fashion experts like Haider talk about your work in these terms, it’s truly inspiring,” says the designer.
For those who came in late, the prestigious award is given away each year by Woolmark, the well-known pure wool trademark. It’s given to the best designer showcasing six silhouettes made of Australian Merino wool fabric.
Dhir’s the second Indian designer to win a Woolmark prize after Rahul Mishra who won the Woolmark women’s wear prize in 2014. Last year, the International Woolmark Prize introduced the menswear category for the first time.
Winning the prize this year was no mean achievement as Dhir pipped over 70 competing designers from around the world to the post.
Besides pocketing AUD 1,00,000 (around Rs 47.5 lakh), he can now retail his collection at top-notch stores around the world such as David Jones (Australia), Saks Fifth Avenue (New York), 10 Corso Como (Milan) and Boon The Shop (South Korea). For, the winner gets to retail his or her collection at these stores for a year.
Until his outing in Florence, Dhir has never participated in fashion shows. But though he has been low-key he’s no newbie to the world of fashion. “Initially, I didn’t have the money or the contacts to participate in fashion shows. Later, when I could, I chose to focus on my work rather than shows,” he says.
He launched his label, Suketdhir, in 2010 and he has been retailing from Good Earth, Taj Khazana, the online portal Indelust, Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop and from his studio in Delhi (by appointment only).
He’s a well-known name for menswear with celebrity clients like Bollywood stars Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh.
Dhir’s shirts and kurtas stand out with their double seams and jali work on the sides. “It’s become my signature style,” says Dhir.
But the biggest challenge he’s ever faced came while he was creating the Woolmark line. For the competition he chose to create a trans-seasonal collection using Merino wool. “As soon as you think of wool, you think of winter. But we managed to create trans-seasonal wool, that would work in summers too. It will not work in Delhi but maybe in the cooler climes of Bangalore,” says Dhir. He adds, “I managed to get weavers from Telangana to work with Merino wool. It was a new medium
for them.”
The designer says that he finds inspiration in nostalgia and bygone eras. “My aesthetic sense is also inspired by my grandfather. For, grandparents often wear loose, pleated trousers, palazzos or pyjamas with elegant shirts and jackets,” he says.
He even got inspiration from the television serial Malgudi Days that was based on stories by R.K. Narayan. “In it, I spotted tailored jackets worn with dhotis,” he says.
Designer Rahul Mishra says of Dhir: “His clothes look innovative, classic and very international. It’s a big challenge to design for men,” says Mishra.
Dhir, who grew-up in a small town, Banga in Punjab, says that he had been interested in sculpting, painting and photography since his childhood. But he wasn’t clear as to what he would do and dabbled in several things. “My father had a kidswear garments business. I did a B.Com with the idea of joining the family business,” he says.
But Dhir dropped out after a year and did a one-year course in multimedia. He abandoned that midway too and started working at a call centre in Delhi.
However, things changed dramatically after he enrolled at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi, in 2001. “At that time I was confused about my career, but a friend advised me to try my hand at fashion as I had always been interested in it,” he recalls. During his time at NIFT, an internship at the lifestyle fashion apparel brand, Madura Garments in Bangalore, got him hooked to menswear. “I honed my skills as a menswear designer and realised that I enjoyed designing for men,” he says.
Today the floor price for his branded shirts is Rs 3,850, kurtas Rs 7,250, jackets Rs 18,650, blazers Rs 22,000 and sherwanis Rs 35,000.
While Dhir takes care of the creative part of the business, his wife Svetlana manages the business side of the brand. Dhir says enthusiastically: “I always wanted to go global. I hope to reach out to a wider audience.”
