An expansive set done up in a rich, earthy hue and beautiful Indian clothes styled with contemporary oomph, adding to the mood — the finale of Hyundai India Couture Week 2025, in association with Reliance Brands and an initiative of FDCI, by celebrated couturier JJ Valaya. Known for championing robust grandeur, the master designer chose JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity as the venue for his show.

The collection he showcased was called East, an utterly indulgent dream made up of lovely "antique neutrals, spice hues and deep bridal reds", on silks, velvets, brocades, tulle, and organza. Jewellery designer Archana Aggarwal’s earrings, mathapattis, and statement necklaces complemented an inherent edgy coolness that ran through East.

JJ Valaya chatted with t2 post-show, on the inspirations for East, why fashion will remain forever young, and why brides and grooms should always celebrate India.

East was a stellar presentation! Let’s talk about the mood board. How did you conceive East?

Well, I don’t know, there’s no method to this madness ever. It’s just what I feel at that point in time, for example, at this point, I’m researching autumn-winter ‘26. Again, it’ll come to me when it has to.

So, one day I was reading about chinoiserie, and how the West around the 17th-18th century used to know so little about the East and yet they found a lot of inspiration from that part of the world and how they adapted Eastern influences to suit Western sensibility. For example, Chinese blue pottery, which was then tweaked and made into chinoiserie, took its own form with European motifs combined with the Eastern.

Similarly, at a later date, for example, our jamawar shawls became paisleys. So there was a lot of osmosis happening. And I kind of delved deeper and discovered that the West used to think of the East... and they divided it into three zones, which were the Near East, Middle East and the Far East.

It was an interesting read, and a lot of things were popping out. So I thought, why not just do a little journey of our own into the Eastern hemisphere, which is why we delved into the magical Far East, which I also find very spiritual and mystical. And then, of course, there was the Near East, which represented more of the Balkans, so Albania and the countries surrounding it.

And then, of course, I can never let go of India, my eternal love. So between the three, we just kind of took a little journey in the East and put our own little version together.

Was it also kind of reimagining JJ Valaya Couture, in the sense, it appeared a lot younger?

So what is happening is now we have JJ Valaya Couture, which is our main bridal line, and then we have JJ Valaya Muse, which is our uber-luxury line. Then we have JJV Kapurthala, which is our accessible luxury line. But we have started internally, without giving it any name, a version of couture which is not only bridal, which are clothes that people would want to buy. There are a lot of people who want beautiful clothes but they are not essentially brides and grooms. And at the same time, they find a bridge-to-luxury line not luxurious enough.

So we started and we did a first cut of that in this show, which is where you saw the slightly younger silhouettes, but more than younger silhouettes, also slightly more controlled embroideries. So that was the deliberate move. Couture has nothing to do with this overloading stuff with a whole lot of embroidery.

And now that we have two more stores of JJ Valaya, one in Ambawatta in Delhi, and one in Jio World Plaza in Mumbai, we wanted to diversify the line a lot more beyond bridals. This was our first little experiment with that.

What are the various techniques that have gone into this collection?

We are a potpourri of sorts, not only in our inspiration, we’re cultural nomads and we tend to imbibe from everywhere, but I also like mixing techniques. Of course, they are different techniques, so they need to be named differently. But we tend to blend a lot. We will put the unpredictable, two conflicting techniques together and make it work. That’s part of our DNA. I’ve always found beauty in contradiction. And that is something I practise regularly, not only in my clothes, even in my interiors, where I will mix something very unexpected together, and the results are more often than not very beautiful.

There’s a certain richness in your vision. How do you derive that?

Okay, let’s go across the planet. Now you have a guy like Giorgio Armani, who’s lived his life. He’s now 90-plus, but he’s lived his life in greys, ivories, blacks, devoid of colour, maybe throwing in a hint of colour sometimes, but very rarely, focusing more on cut, more on fall, more on texture. That’s his DNA, you know. On the other hand, you’ll have a Dolce & Gabbana who will go over the top and do things which are dramatic and maximalist at heart.

There are various genres, and there are designers who believe in those genres and practise them in their own way. In India, also, I mean, Rajesh Pratap (Singh) would have a completely different DNA. An Abraham & Thakore would be different, but when it comes to maximalists such as myself or others in the ilk, that’s what they excel in. It’s just there, it’s something inborn. It’s not rehearsed and comes naturally.

The set was very different...

It was more to denote peace, spirituality, a deeper insight that everything begins from within. Just a sense of calm, which kind of balances the chaos in all our lives, and it was purely depictive.

So, after a long time, I worked with Gaurav Raina (for the music). Gaurav and I, earlier, used to work on all my shows. Then, in the middle, I switched to a lot of live music, but this time I worked with him again. And that came out beautifully. We also introduced a vocalist called Aviraas. The second half of the show had a lot of his vocals and they came across so beautifully, so powerfully. It just worked.

The styling was super...

I have to admit, this time I got personally very adventurous in my styling. So I sat with my team and worked out every detail for every outfit. This will be the hair, this will be the shoes, this will be the bag, this will be the accessory, this will be the make-up, this will be the eyes. So we literally went through a very detailed exercise, and it was great fun.

And then, of course, I got Hoorvi (J. Valaya, daughter) involved and told her, "Ok, now I’ve decided everything that I want... You figure out what jewellery goes where, and if you want to tweak it up a little or whatever". This is also probably the first time the father and daughter have worked actively together. In the past, I used to do the clothes and then leave the styling to Hoorvi. This is the first time that I said, "Hang on, I’m going to lay the base of the styling and you’re going to ice it. I will make the cake, and you do the icing". So I think that synergy worked very well.

What are you telling the brides and the grooms that you’re meeting now?

I would just say that, you know, keep loving your country. I think that’s so important. And you know, one of the biggest lessons we were to learn is from the West in this. And though I’m not one for learning lessons from anywhere, this is the one lesson we’ve learned. They have a simple white wedding, but they have honoured that tradition. It has never changed. It’s always that beautiful white gown. And to think of it, there’s not even much happening in that white wedding dress. In India, all our brides need to celebrate this country and say, "Oh, my God, I am getting this opportunity to feel, live and dress like a princess. This week-10 days are my domain". So just go out there and exploit this beautiful country and the beautiful stuff that is created here. You’re going to live your life in gowns and dresses and jeans and T-shirts and whatever, but celebrate your country during those days.

You had an interesting mix of muses...

My choice of muses for this show was very interesting because there were five of them. We opened the show with a cricketer, Abhishek Sharma. He’s a hell of a looker, a damn good-looking guy and had the pizzazz, the confidence and the class. Then, in the middle, I thought, let me get two of my old friends here, who were in their heyday in the top league. So Rahul (Dev) and Mugdha (Godse) together, I thought that was fab and then finally I said, ok, why are we always talking about this one woman who will walk down and people will look at her... let’s do something different. Let’s get together a very interesting pair, who have never been paired before, and in Rasha’s (Thadani) case, has never been on a ramp before.

Raveena (Tandon) is a very dear friend of mine, an old friend, and she was very clear that if and when Rasha (Raveena’s daughter) ever walks, it has to be for you. That was cast in stone. And then Iggy, Ibrahim (Ali Khan), was a kind of a natural choice because, well, we are all about royalty, and he’s genuinely royalty. Saif (Ali Khan, Ibrahaim’s father) and I have known each other for a while. I was reading a lot of comments that casting directors will be looking at this now because nobody imagined these two together. And so that turned out wonderfully well. The chemistry was great. They looked fantastic.

And I think, yes, things fall into place when you really work hard for something, and if you want it to be the best, it will be the best. For a girl who’s walked the ramp for the first time, Rasha’s confidence and her walk were amazing. It was not a filmi walk at all. It was really poised and strong. So, I was very impressed. And they’re such lovely kids, both of them. I had such a blast with both of them.

This was the 18th edition of India Couture Week. Do you think Indian fashion has reached adulthood?

I’ll tell you one thing. Fashion will always remain a child because we’ll always be having fun. And if you really look at mankind, the people who really have a lot of fun are children. Adults, poor guys, get stuck in all the worries and this and that. So I hope fashion always remains like that, experimenting, being fearless.

The house of JJ Valaya has always reinvented...

I think that’s almost mandatory because when you look at it, nobody realises this... now, with over three decades in the industry, we’ve always been looking at the young only. Our client has always been a bride and a groom who are always young, but the youth from time to time is changing, is evolving. So the brand has to adapt, adapt, adapt, adapt, but without losing its soul. So that’s the journey.