Parineeti Chopra in Pankaj & Nidhi

My mom would like to see Nargis Fakhri’s photo (wearing Pankaj & Nidhi) more than a model’s photo,” confessed a candid Pankaj, of designer and husband-wife duo Pankaj & Nidhi. t2 caught up with him at ITC Sonar’s Eden Pavilion, moments before Nargis Fakhri walked for him at Seagram’s Blenders Pride Fashion Tour on Saturday…

A lot of Bollywood women are wearing Pankaj & Nidhi. How does success feel?

What success yaar? Success is basically the thrill of people liking your clothes and being appreciated for it. We are happy about that.

What do you attribute this buzz about the brand to?

Just the quality of work, continuously. I think we just like to do our work peacefully and go home. We quite love doing what we do. There are lots of things I don’t like about it too! (Laughs) Oh... the business part of it, nobody likes doing it. I think people find it a bit refreshing as a language of design that we are showing. The benchmark has to be a bit high with every collection. And if it is not, I get sleepless nights. Keep driving… at least trying. It’s hard to do it, season after season to come up with something new.... Right now we are on a bit of a roll, enjoying it, producing good things. I don’t deal with this pressure very well though. You get stressed.

Do you see a turning point collection?

Last year was very important. I cannot quite attribute it to a collection. We got designer of the year award by Elle magazine. We won the International Woolmark Prize… one of the five winners worldwide, sent to London Fashion Week. Big platform. We got the Lakme (Fashion Week) finale last year. It seemed like a breakthrough year and people finally seemed to be saying, ‘these guys are good and they are here to stay’.

It’s been hard work…

Lots… (smiles). I don’t work that hard any more because I have a daughter (Lyla, one). She’s given us some work-life balance. Earlier, we used to be total workaholics. Now, we realise that there is more to life.

So, she’s your Lady Luck?

She’s our angel! (Smiles)

How do you stick to your design DNA and still reinvent with every collection?

Each season there have to be things on the table which will make you go, ‘Ooh! That’s really nice!’ There is some new message each season within the same language. One season it is cross-stitch, another it is 3D applique…. I think it is one idea which makes it new each time.

But that’s your comfort zone. Will you ever venture out and do something drastically different?

Hmm… different would probably be if I got into a men’s line or kidswear. Earlier we would put 30 ideas into one show. Now we are a bit more mature. We send a tighter message. That’s also part of growing up. Maybe two years back, I did clothes with lights on them. I don’t feel the need to do that now. Nidhi is the balancing factor. Left to me, maybe I would do more mad clothes and not worry about commerce and be quite broke! But she brings this stability. How women have this amazing reality about them!

Deepika Padukone

(right in Pankaj & Nidhi)

She’s so versatile. She looks great in Indian, western, gown, blouse, jeans. It’s hard to go wrong with her. She’ll probably wear a man’s shirt and look great.

Parineeti Chopra

Anything closer to the body looks nice on her, maybe a little bit more volume below the waist looks good. Arms kept bare looks good on her.

I would love to dress

Natalie Portman. We would love to dress her! She has the most beautiful face. I’d probably dress her in something on the lines of what we are doing for Nargis (Fakhri; a powder-blue dress).

Saionee Chakraborty

Psst: If you’ve missed Pankaj & Nidhi at Blenders Pride, catch them at Stylefile in association with t2 on November 15 (3pm to 11pm, at The Old Bungalow, 7/6 Burdwan Road, Alipore)