MANS WORLD

Three young designers on their plans for Indias first mens fashion week

Three young designers on their plans for Indias first mens fashion week
Its a sweltering morning in designer Nitin Bal Chauhans studio in south Delhi,as trainees from a fashion institute work industriously on researching a Gothic brief that Chauhan has just given them. Chauhan,takes us around his workspace,which has outfits taking shape on male mannequins. My menswear collection is targeted at 13- to 25-year-old boys, says Chauhan,30,pointing to his clothes rack that is full of wildly coloured batik T-shirts,which he plans to showcase at Indias first fashion week dedicated to menswear in September. The three-day event will have shows by 20 designers and 40 stalls for buyers to look at the clothes. The grand finale is expected to showcase a collection by two designers (undecided as yet) who will retail at sponsor Van Heusens stores across India at a price of Rs 1,900 upwards.

Chauhan,a stylish man himself has turned out in structured torn jeans,his long hair tied back and a handkerchief dotted with black skulls wrapped around his wrist. While his clothes spell casual-cool,his tone is serious about how difficult its been to survive in a sluggish market. Its been a tough six months with negligible sales, he says. He is hopeful of a turnaround after the fashion week.
Chauhan,who has participated in two seasons of the Lakme Fashion Week,done three seasons with Wills and participated once in the London Fashion Week, feels that the menswear market is a feasible option. Womens fashion is saturated though theres more money there. Menswear still has unexplored potential. If you do something original that appeals to young people on a mass level,only then can you survive, he says.

Chauhan retails out of Ogaan,Aza and Kimaya in Delhi and Mumbai. However,with stores folding up,payments coming only after garments are sold there are risks,especially for Chauhans irreverent rockstar garb,the kind that most parents are likely to disapprove of and not buy for their 13-year-olds. My price points are Rs 290 a T-shirt. Ill be cheaper than Benetton and FCUK, he says.

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With competition from international brands (in the last six months,Zegna,Cavali and Armani Xchange have opened in India),low sales and high rentals have hit the industry badly.

The menswear market in India is pegged at over Rs 5,000 crore and is controlled by a handful of huge,mass brands like Raymonds,S Kumars,and departmental stores like Pyramids and Shoppers Stop. Designer menswear is,so far,a strictly urban phenomenon,limited to Delhi,Mumbai,Bangalore and more recently,Hyderabad. If Hugo Boss is selling a suit at Rs 25,000,we have to reevaluate our rates, says Rajvi Mohan,28,a menswear only designer based in Delhi. Mohan showed her first collection at Delhi Fashion Week last year to a mixed response. After an internship with Vivienne Westwood in the US,she returned to India determined to differentiate herself from every aunty in Vasant Vihar with a masterji and decided to focus on men only.

For the mens fashion week in September,her work is bereft of embellishment but has subtle block printing,imaginative buttons and interesting collars. We have to deliver what Boss cant. Not a boring three-piece black suit,but a cool,custom made bandhgala that you can wear to a wedding or a night club, says Mohan.
Her studio has an eclectic collection of canary yellow jackets and gold bandhgalas. Another corner of her small room in Okhla has kurtas with smiling faces embroidered all over. Fashion should have a sense of humour, says Mohan. But I have to wait for the market to evolve. Right now my clients complain they look gay in my clothes,she says.

Zubair Kirmani,31,who burst on the fashion scene a few seasons ago retails out of Mélange and Ensemble. He has a small following in Hyderabad as well,but says sales through the usual routes are slow. The menswear fashion week is a good platform. In the other fashion weeks it gets lost,because the focus is on women, he says. For his collection,Kirmai has interpreted the woodwork of Kashmir,his home state,on garments made of only natural fabric. There are only so many ways to make a shirt. Im trying to make the best shirt I can at the cheapest rate,possible, says Kirmani.