The word ‘drama’ defined the Shantnu & Nikhil showcase at the Lakmé Fashion Week X FDCI, held at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai earlier this month. From the clothes to the styling, hair and make-up, the music, the ambience and the presentation. ‘You’, presented by Nexa, was the celebratory collection by brothers Shantanu and Nikhil Mehra that doffed a hat to the resilience of the human spirit, primarily women. An ode to their parents, whom they tragically lost a couple of years back, it was power-packed and imbued with the emotions of fierce glamour. A certain vivacity added to the charm. A play of power structure and fluid romance, the womenswear had a lot of jackets, generous use of belts, the design of which was inspired by corset belts, fringes, hot saris, a hint of sheer, skirts, dresses, gowns, interesting sleeves, shades and stylised hoods. Complete boss babes with a boundless spirit and raw magnetism. The men were dapper in black with a hint of colour. The palette for the show was rich and luxe.
While Tahira Kashyap Khurrana introduced the show, Animal actress Triptii Dimri walked for the designers in her ramp debut, in a silver-grey, mesh, draped skirt and leather corset.
t2 caught up with the brothers for a quick chat backstage, post-show.
Congratulations on a stellar collection! It was one of your best in recent times and intensely personal...
Nikhil: Oh, thank you, we feel the same. We didn’t do anything for them (their parents). They were making us do everything and they still continue to do it. The loss of a parent may be physical, but emotionally, you never lose them and it transcends into your creativity differently. Instead of us feeling sad about their demise, we are creatively exploding right now; they are empowering us and we know they are together. And, we are here together, in flesh and they are with us, emotionally.
It was power-packed...
Nikhil: This is exactly how our mom was, power-packed till the last very moment. She drove to the hospital and gave us birth. On that last day when she left, she made that call and left. This show represented her in many ways.
Talk us through the menswear and womenswear separately...
Shantanu: The focus was mostly on womenswear, but the idea was to bring in our aesthetics of what we do in men’s to transform and translate into womenswear. We’ve always had that strong, commanding military element in what we do, whether you saw that valour crest that was coming out as boleros, the corsets on battalion jackets... it was almost like an ode to minimalism, sartorial excellence-meeting-military-meeting glam and menswear was this time just a prop. It was supporting the strength and fortitude of what womenswear was.
There were influences of SNCC too...
Nikhil: When you look at Shantnu & Nikhil Maison, everything germinating from it has a soul. SNCC also comes from Shantnu & Nikhil. So, you will see this sports luxe... there was a black knitted gown which we had developed through a flat knit in Intarasia and that is our take on luxury, but it’s coming from an SNCC point of view as well and knitwear is going to be an interesting part of our business. We feel that knitwear in its right material and yarn can be a huge opportunity in India.
Did you use animal print for the first time?
Nikhil: First time; usually we do a lot camouflage, but this print was created inspired by the camouflage. Even the size of the leopard print was smaller than usual.
The styling was stunning...
Nikhil: When you have a brand that sits between a blurred line of man and woman, then styling also sits beautifully in a balance. The men’s blazers were on women with their skirts, which were not lehngas, but cut like skirts and that helps to tell the narrative of the brand as a total. Men wore skirts very much like how we have done in collections for women. So, for us, blurring the lines with structures, sartorial is really our space.
Shantanu: We wanted to move away from the ceremonial part of what couture is normally understood to be. When you look at it piece by piece and you look at the separates, these still have a very strong cocktail vibe, but it’s more viable for any occasion.
