Fit and Flare

Nikhil Mehra of the formidable duo Shantanu & Nikhil gives a dusty twist to his first love–architecture

By Asmita Aggarwal

If you ask Nikhil Mehra is there a spirit of defiance in your clothes?, he will tell you with a grin that it has been his signature. Right from his childhood when he wasnt academically top of his class; to deciding to go to a fashion school, when his family was against it; and then launching a line when the market wasnt ready for offbeat ideas that resistance stayed. But he has survived the onslaught of time and that proves his mettle even though it was sometimes a choppy outing!

There are some things you will get to know about Nikhil almost in a nanosecond—-he thinks elegance is the cornerstone of style and also a discourse, a medium to communicate and express. And it is his abounding love for architecture that gets translated into engrossing shapes and forms as he gets ready to show his WIFW Autumn-winter 2014 line.

Whether it was Romes basilicas last year or Kolkatas crumbling but magnificent havelis this year, or Istanbul (he is going there after fashion week), geometry and anatomy of ruins have been his pursuits. I tell women who come to me for fittings that self-realization is of absolute importance, so know what will look great on you. I can be a medium to help you find that, but you gotta discover it, he admits.

With his signature game of fit and flare (upper body waists upwards fitted and flare downwards), Nikhil confesses that if women knew how to manipulate forms, they would understand that structure in any garment will be the deal maker or breaker in many cases. I struggle with the inability to stay focused on goals at hand, my biggest weakness, but despite that we manage, as my curiosity factor is alive and kicking and that sets me apart, he smiles.

Showing a trans-seasonal line (it will be available right after the show), it was an old haveli which has been used as a parable to exhibit how Kolkata likes to leave things just they way they are; it is their way of preserving their heritage and that goes for the stupendous marble palaces the British left behind. I went to Kolkata during Durga Puja and it was a revelation, Bengalis are proud to be just that! And we noticed that the life inside those confounding arches and doorways was still well, very Bengali, he smiles.