Prêt it with Tarun Tahiliani at FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week

“Let’s be real, no one is having fun in a 30 kg lehenga.” To Tarun Tahiliani, the true litmus test for any occasion wear is “can we dance in it?”

It has been 27 years since the couturier began his eponymous label, and his career, reach and relevance continues to gain traction. It’s not a secret formula — his designs may be inspired by Indian royalty, but they are based in practicality.

Take, for instance, his latest line, Global Indian, the brand’s return to luxury prêt-à-porter. To be presented in collaboration with Nexa cars at FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week today, it is one of two shows to be presented outdoors at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, to truly enjoy the last of New Delhi’s spring weather. “Prêt is not meant to be sold as sets,” says Tahiliani, 59. “Globally, it is something you can personalise and make your own with your styling ideas.”

Tarun Tahiliani at the final fitting

Return of RTW

2022 is the year of ready to wear — through collections, collabs or capsules. While the pandemic saw Indian design houses stick to recession-proof bridal wear, as restrictions ease, so does the need to be out and about again. Sabyasachi gave his nod with the H&M collab last year, while most recently JJ Valaya announced his branching into it.

Luxury prêt isn’t new for Tahiliani. “It’s where my heart has always been. While we have shown pieces in Milan in bits and pieces, it was before we knew how to scale up. Now our group of specialised industrial engineers helps us keep our pieces price friendly,” he says. Global Indian, consisting of 85 pieces, features separates in signature Tahiliani cinches and drapes such as smocked tops with zippers, printed trousers starting at ₹9,000, a lot of odes to the concept sari, kaftans, jumpsuits and his favourite gilets, which for this show he presents with a sarong. The gilets are the perfect example of what he means by luxury prêt — it’s a piece that works as a cover up on the beach, but can also be paired with lehengas as a choli, or with saris as a cropped jacket.

Designs from the Global Indian sketch book

Menswear consists of bandhgalas,sherwanis, bundi jackets, dhoti pants, pyjamas, and churidars. The designer hopes that buyers will treat this collection as a separates shopping idea. Pieces that he will build on going forward for future seasons. In effect, a collection that can be mixed and matched across seasons, so they won’t go stale. There is also a new bag collection featuring brocade, quilting and embroidery.

Can you dance in it?

For Tahiliani, luxury prêt is about the fabrics. Gorgeous, relatively inexpensive, but cut, detailed, and fitted just right. In Global Indian, the fabrics — in shades of blacks, golds, greys, blush pinks and oyster — are a mix of power-loom and handloom. Poplins, lycra, sushi voile, lightweight georgette, pashminas woven with a metallic thread, an exquisite mashru offering from Benaras, a pichwai motif here and a giant screen printed floral design there, are supposed to make the collection. There’s also a standout chikan embroidery shawl to look out for. “Luxury prêt may not necessarily be something you go to a wedding in, but it’s something you live your life in. After all, you go to a wedding for four days, but you live your life forever.”

Play of textures

Fresh off the wedding of his son Jahaan, the designer has just gained validation regarding his easy-wear projection. “It was an intimate affair of 50 people. Everyone picked up RTW from the stores and they danced their hearts out,” he says. It was a wedding to enjoy, and not a campaign to be shot — a thought many intimate weddings are going back to post-pandemic.

Tonight’s show promises to be an equally memorable one. He has positioned his runway such that the India Gate is included in the frame. “Architecture has always been poetry in stone for me. The India Gate, with its [previously held] eternal flame, signifies a light that never goes out, built for warriors, the people that build our country that is very symbolic to me right now, a moment of great juxtaposition in our history.”

Blueprint for creativity

Tahiliani has never been busier, what with his new line of luxury prêt, the occasion-wear and bridal wear business, and his newest association with Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL) for menswear label Tasva. (The corporate giant acquired a 33% stake in his luxury couture business, while he has 20% in Tasva, a vertical that ABFRL is projecting to grow into a ₹500 crore business in the next five years.) It is a blueprint that we are seeing more and more designers actioning today — tying up with corporates to grow their brands, even as they strengthen their reputation with personal collections. Rahul Mishra’s done it, so has Raghavendra Rathore, Sabyasachi, and Shantnu & Nikhil.

Tarun Tahiliani

But I wonder, at what personal cost does creativity come? What about burnout? “Dior worked every day. Galliano’s genius is sheer hard work. Armani is always at work. These are the people who have consistently created as a discipline,” Tahiliani insists. The observation of highly-successful people will show that while there is something to that mysterious luck factor, success is more consistency rather than creativity. But if he had to provide a formula, it would be this: to shut off the paranoia-inducing news, vet your news sources, and clear distractions. Then there is also his aqua-aerobics, piano lessons, Vedic studies and textile sourcing trips that keep him sane.

Watching a mass exodus of his karigars in 2020, the gut-wrenching scenes on the streets, triggers Partition trauma as any Sindhi family especially will testify. “I had to acknowledge the unique position I was in, safe at home, but there was a responsibility to ensure we could save as many jobs as we could. It humbles you and keeps you going,” Tahiliani concludes.