Scroll through Itrh’s Instagram page and you are bound to fall in love with their vintage-modern aesthetics. Opulent yet restrained and imbued with a strong sense of Indian heritage. The Telegraph chatted with Mohit Rai, celebrity stylist and one half of Itrh, on the brand.
Mohit Rai Sourced by the correspondent
How did the two of you meet and how has the journey been so far?
Ridhi (Bansal Varma; below) and I had met in college and we were both studying in NIFT in a design course and we were also doing a lot of textile and knitwear development and that’s how we both developed a sense of understanding of Indian textile and heritage craft. I’m just a lover of the Indian maximalist aesthetic. The journey has been very good personally, of course, and then to take the plunge professionally came after about 10 years of knowing each other. It has sort of very organically filled the space in the market that we both felt was there.
Do you pitch in with designing as well?
Yes I pitch in as a designer as well but Ridhi is primarily the designer. I only sort of work with the overall creative direction and the narrative wherein I do work with her on design but Ridhi is definitely the core designer of the brand.
The clothes are gorgeous...
Playing on textiles and rich textures of India was always the idea. The core strength that we wanted to work with was Indian textiles and giving them a current context and an identity that is not so driven by the old Indian royal portraits. The idea was to make sure that this is for a contemporary person channelling an Indian heritage aesthetic.
Though rich and opulent, there is a lot of subtlety too. How do you arrive at a balance?
Through years of training in designing and styling and directly working with a lot of personal clients, real brides, as well as celebrities, we have perfected the art of maximalism while keeping a sensible balance of the personality.
What kind of crafts have you worked with so far?
We have worked with chikankari, Madhubani, kalamkari and many more.
(L-R) Kajol, Kareena Kapoor Sourced by the correspondent
The silhouettes have a rustic-vintage charm about them and there is a certain bohemian-ness too. Who is the muse?
Our muse is someone who has maximal style, who oozes royalty of the majestic Indian empire.
Gold is a recurrent motif in your collections. When in doubt go for gold, right?
There’s no competition when it comes to the colour gold, it wins every time. Gold is something that we always fall upon. It’s the classiest colour ever, from our heirloom jewellery to our Kanjeevarams to our desserts (with varq on them), everything and everybody goes back to gold because it’s such a classic thing. And we love the maximalism of it, we love the whole vibe of it.
What are you getting to Calcutta?
Signature metallic lehngas, Anarkalis, cotton mul angrakhas, the new stained glass collection, sharara sets, chikankari, hand-painted Madhubani dupatta, hand-painted kalamkari saris.
At a glance
What: Itrh & Payal Singhal presented by Styleograph and curated by Chikky Goenka
Where: Kolkata Centre for Creativity, 777 Anandapur EM Bypass
When: September 2-3, 11am-7pm
Payal Singhal takes us through day-to-night festive looks that we can rock at intimate #newnormal occasions.
This happy yellow lehnga with bomber jacket from the Athleisure collection is perfect for a festive lunch like an outdoor brunch for a friend’s wedding or Mehndi or even a wedding welcome party.
Juhi Godambe Jain
A fun and yet comfortable short Anarkali and sharara in the brand’s signature print in the soft buttery crepe is great to wear to hang with friends.
Shweta Tripathi Sharma
This crop top skirt is fun, flirty and a great outfit for dancing away on an all-nighter with the girls.
A PS classic kaftan kurta with Kutch embroidery and cool and comfortable palazzo pants in silk with mukaish, is perfect for an evening aarti.