One look at designer Nikhil Mehra, and you wish all the men looked this dapper all the time! t2 caught up with one half of designer duo Shantanu & Nikhil at their 4 Woodburn Court flagship menswear store on his recent visit to the city.
We’ll have to start with how you are dressed!
(Laughs) It’s very simple! It’s a black pair of pants… this fabric is a cotton honeycomb. I like fabrics that are textured. It speaks abundance about the personality that a person has. Again this spiderweb cotton polymix fabric for the jacket is without lining, so it’s good for summer. It’s a jacket but there are no shoulder pads, so it’s like a shirt. Then, a very simple tie that has a little white embroidery to represent our style. When you are doing so many different techniques, the idea is to be on one palette.
Monochrome is always a classic…
As you grow older, there are certain things that you start recognising about yourself and you follow them in design. In menswear as well as womenswear, you’ve seen a lot of black and whites. It’s getting simpler.
Is that how the modern man should dress… simple with a twist?
India has a lot of complexities in terms of design and fabrics, textures and colour palettes. We want to filter it all down and use all those things over a lifetime and not over a year.
Where do you think the Indian man is placed right now?
He is in a great space. I think he is looking for an opportunity to dress out of the box. Men need an opportunity to look different. Women are doing that in India. They’ve always been classic, but you know the Indian man is the most adventurous out of all the men in the world.
Really? How?
He is rejoicing and embracing cultures… I am talking about a man who is exploring every day. How can you not give him different styles to wear? How can you not give him different techniques, treatments? So far men have not been given the right clothes... loose kurtas, handloom fabrics only, to wear and live in those… but imagine if new-age silhouettes came with old-age techniques, where matka silk could be played as a draped kurta? It can be revolution I think.
Do you think men need to think differently for that?
They don’t have the opportunity… most men. They are burdened by a typical lifestyle.
Describing the decades...
60s: Sensual
70s: Maverick
80s: Experimental
90s: Selfish
2000s: Metrosexual
2010s: Equal
IN S&N
Nikhil’s style icons over the decades…
The Beatles, Elvis Presley, John Travolta, Michael J. Fox, A-ha, George Michael, Duran Duran, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Shashi Kapoor, Dev Anand, Rajiv Gandhi, Amitabh Bachchan. Also, this kid Jai Waetford who sang Shy.
Also, typical mentality?
Typical lifestyle leads to typical mentality leads to typical decision-making, but all these typical things come to a really boring end. And that’s when they realise that they need something new. It’s also important for us to have them go through all the typicalities of their lives to arrive at a point to wear a draped kurta. It’s an achievement of self-realisation.
Are there shifts or turning points in how a man has been dressing over the years?
Absolutely! Before Bollywood became a reliable source of inspiration, men were very much in a Fabindia situation. Now they are exploring the wealth of India. A classic band collar converting into something which is much more than a band collar. Then… intelligent film-making… let’s say an Omkara… in fact, if you look at Salman Khan in Maine Pyar Kiya to his recent movies, you will see a major shift in the clothing, from a drop shoulder which was three sizes too big…. Karan Johar bringing in the nuance of design in his movies was a massive turning point. Like Farhan Akhtar’s movie Dil Chahta Hai, it was a huge turning point for fashion… Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara gave an impetus to the young people to be aware of who they are.
We have, of course, always looked at women to be our protagonist for everything we design because we are ruled by women in our lives… my mother, my wife… we have very strong women in our house. The drape comes from them and we introduced drapes for men. An Indian man wearing a drape is really global.
Do you like the word ‘metrosexual’?
I don’t like it. I think it is demeaning for the Indian man. They already have an understanding of being a man who has got the feminine side. You have these beautiful musicians… Amaan and Ayaan (Ali Khan) on sarod, Shujaat Khan and Zakir Hussain… India already has its metrosexuality.
What is your tip for the Calcutta man?
The Calcutta man needs better fit. The kurta has to be chic and well-fitted.