Photography: Samiksha Sharma
Tarun Tahiliani loves understanding the play of fabrics. Known for his embellished luxury Indian wear, he now puts draping at the forefront, advancing his vision of ‘India Modern’ with his new luxury pre?t brand, OTT. His desire to interpret core Indian clothing enters an everyday avatar, keeping in mind the needs of a modern urban Indian woman. Tahiliani focuses on the structure of fabrics and how traditional Indian attire can be transformed into pieces suitable for all occasions and seasons, rather than being restricted to a single grand event.
As I visit his home, which is adorned with both Indian and modern elements, he shares insights about all things OTT, his interactions with life as inspiration, his curatorial process for runways and his thoughts on today’s fashion.
You have been creating luxury couture for many years, what made you venture into OTT?
Since I started design school in ‘91, long after beginning my career as a retailer, I always viewed fashion through the lens of evening wear, particularly in India’s bridal market, which focuses on gowns and intricate beading. I have also always admired the work of Christian Dior, so I signed up for a class, taught by a professor, who had worked with him in Paris and later moved to New York. However, after just a couple of classes, I realised my true interest lies in what we call sportswear. It’s is not athleisure or activewear, but a different category altogether. I switched immediately because, while most go the great fashion lies in beautiful evening wear, sportswear is where you live your life in.
Although I’ve worked with embellishments for years, I find my approach is becoming increasingly toned down. I focus on structured draping, emphasising that the beauty of Indian design often lies in the fabrics itself, rather than embellishments. Today, thanks to both traditional craftsmanship and technology, we can enhance fabrics in innovative ways.
When I first did a show in Milan, I had to align with Western standards but used India as a strong inspiration. I love Indian embroidery but instead of just incorporating that into jackets, I wanted to explore how traditional elements, such as chikankari prints or jewel embellishments, could be applied to sportswear. India is a crazy place of inspi- ration, but it’s often limited to evening wear. There’s very little innovation in sportswear beyond traditional salwar kameez.
I wanted to create something that bridges the gap—a contemporary silhouette that allows young women to move freely and comfortably from day to night. Now what I see is that people either wear Indian clothes or they wear Western clothes so we need a bridge—a beautiful bridge—that allows Indian women to explore their fashion choices.
With the introduction of dedicated stores and production for OTT, what aspects of the brand do you hope to emphasise that may have been overshadowed in your couture work?
I think OTT is something that transmits easily around the world. We’re not just talking about clothes for Indians to wear to weddings; it’s reaching Italians, French people and Germans as well. So, it’s a contemporary new thing.
What used to happen, when I started here, was that the couture stores or bridal stores were much more overpowering and I really got lost. Since we didn’t have it as a separate vertical, the same people were buying everything in the same space. You’re so focused on festivals and special occasions, especially weddings, that you want to embellish everything. When we presented beautiful, simpler pieces, they were out of context. For example, if you put a few minimalist pieces in a multi-coloured store filled with Indian workmanship, what are they going to look like, right? So, I decided that since cou- ture has become so strong and established, I now have the mental space to give ready-to-wear its own charm.
The stores might just be the size of a room because the collection will consist of seventy to ninety pieces. There will be colour waves, and they’ll hang in colour blocks. Not every piece will be done in every colour. It’s like when you walk into a western brand— you can mix and match your story. Even if you buy a set, those pieces can be worn sep- arately, just like how younger women today are wearing a satin shirt with their lehenga and it looks great. Sometimes a full lehenga with dupatta might feel too heavy, especially since women are travelling all over the world. That’s how Indian clothing has traditionally been—versatile. For me, the most beautiful aspect of Indian fashion has always been how Indians drape fabric on themselves.
Unfortunately, the art of wearing a sari is fading. People feel uncertain about it, fearing it might fall off. So, why not reconstruct it with a zipper? This opens up possibilities for dhotis, lungis and different kinds of drapes. I have a plethora of inspirations from places like Kutch that are lost but I aim to bring them back.
Lifestyles have changed. Urban living has changed. Women like my grandmother only sat at home, but now you’re out running around the city, working and taking public transport. Fashion must adapt to support that lifestyle. It can’t be purely western; we have to find balance. While some ideas may seem like afterthoughts, what really drives me is my love for draping and the drape tradition. The challenge is how to bring it into our everyday lives.
You’ve reinterpreted iconic traditional Indian attire like the saree, dhoti, jama, choga. Where do you find inspiration for these pieces?
I look for inspiration everywhere I can. I went to the Kumbh Mela twelve years back and we had Rohit Chawla, who took photographs of hundreds of sadhus and sadhvis. We created a big collection based on those images.
Once, I was at my sister’s house when her daughter’s nanny, who comes from the middle of Maharashtra, suddenly hitched up her pleats into her petticoat because she was going to start cleaning the floors. I stopped and clicked a photo and we created a beautiful sculpted skirt based on that, layered in a similar way.
I can look at an Amrita Sher-Gil painting. I can even look at a statue and study the way it’s carved. In fact, we’re creating something based on sculptures we photographed at the Asian Civilizations Museum. In India, we didn’t document in the Western way. In the West, everything was captured through portraiture. In India, it was mainly miniatures. It was only Ravi Varma who came along and started painting in this detailed way. There are so many sources of inspiration.
Very often, the fabric leads you; it tells you, without speaking, just by the way it falls, what it can do. Like with writing an article, it will never just be one thing. You might pull from various sources, referencing things you’ve read. It’s a visceral process. I could pick up a Raghu Rai book because he photographed India for years. All of this feeds into the subconscious.
You have also used art by Ravinder Dutt, Ram Kumar and others. What’s your relation- ship with art and how it influences your approach to fashion?
So, I grew up with a mother who loved contemporary art. All our houses had contemporary Indian artists and some of my friends’ mothers were big collectors, especially theParsis. In fact, Anjolie Ela Menon used to also paint in my parents’ garage.
I interacted with a lot of art when I was in university and spent a lot of time in museums. In the past, when I started, there was an art-wear project where designers were paired with painters and I worked with Akbar Padamsee. He worked with a knife and oil paints and we had to recreate the technique through machine embroidery. He described his work as the opposite of an excavation because you’re adding layers with a knife. If you look at his metal sketches, they’re beautiful and textural.
Then, I collaborated with The Singh Twins, where I used their prints, cut them up and made our own collages. I also got permission from Ram Kumar to do the same. Ravinder Dutt does a lovely modern version of the miniatures with a mix of tongue-and-cheek humour. He created an image of a peacock flying with a howler on it and included my photo.
I’d once gone to Copenhagen for four days and all I did was visit museums to see their biggest sculptures. I would take my drawing book and look at the way they’d carved the drape. I just did that at the Duomo di Milano about a month ago and those sketches are already influencing my draping. You look at something, create your own variation and give it to the drapers but the fabric does its own thing and that’s the fun part of the creative process.
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Words Paridhi Badgotri
Date 14.12.2024