Meet Vespa Rodriguez

It has only been a handful of months since Khanna opened a store in Colaba,Mumbai,and the Goa store has taken years in the making. The Colaba store,simply called Arjun Khanna,is tucked away in a lane near the Radio Club. The area is now being called the Soho of Sobo,with its clutter of cafes,boutiques,art galleries and a flea market vibe. “We were looking to move from Khar to south Mumbai where most of my clients live,” says the designer of 20 years. “Farhan Azmi has this terrific and large space that looked like an old warehouse. It was way too cool to let go.”

The Arjun Khanna store is a homage to vintage. The designers opulent clothes—velvet jackets,embroidered kurtas and checkered pants — sit pretty in teak almirahs among two old barber chairs,a few rusty typewriters,cameras that took black-and-white photos a few decades ago,old maps,portraits of maharajas and an assortment of old-fashioned gimcrackery.

If the Colaba store is about Arjun Khanna the designer,Vespa Rodriguez is about Arjun Khanna the person. Khanna says Vespa is his alter ego. “Vespa is many things. It’s beyond fashion; you’ll find in it goggles,a temple piece,Goan art and old stamp collections. It’s a combination of a vintage store,a boutique and a flea market,” he says over the phone from Goa.

The name came about when Khanna,an avid motorbike fiend and restorer,found a Vespa from the 1950s. “After so many powerful looking bikes,it came to me like a little baby,” he says. It became a character for him,and then Khanna added a Goan surname,Rodriguez,to give it roots.

Vespa is a few days away from opening but Khanna has settled into his new address. It gives him sanity and peace,he says. “I was at the end of my tether with life in a city,I craved for the outdoors,” he explains. Giving up a cushy,page-three life was easy,though,when he told his wife Shefali that he wanted to move,she was shocked “but there were no tantrums”.

It’s a very creative existence and Khanna wants to start restoring furniture and some more old bikes too. And a third store in Delhi is in the wings. Work still brings him to Mumbai twice a month,an eight-hour drive is all he takes. “Yes,it is possible to live in Goa and work in Mumbai,” he laughs,inducing much envy.