Sahil Aneja takes adds street iconography to the generally studied menswear
By Asmita Aggarwal
He honed his craft working with the masters of menswear Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna for six years, so the Central Saint Martins graduate Sahil Aneja always knew that dressing men would be his final port of call.
The first-timer at the AIFW SS17, Sahil launched his own label in 2012, and this year won the Grazia Young Designer Award. Always keen on crafting clean silhouettes with a focus on tailoring, the challenge like most menswear designers face, he too believes that there is only so much you can do season after season. So he plays with the colour palette to make it a right fit.
In India a lot of men are struggling with what to wear, but social media has turned all that around. You have blogs, twitter and instagram where you are educated on whats happening on the international as well as domestic scene. But what really makes you a success is if the customer is happy with what you made and he keeps coming back to you for more, he smiles.
Even though Sahil believes that menswear has a huge potential to grow exponentially, whats missing is the willingness to take risks. Every designer wants to be able to sell well so sometimes they compromise on innovation making the line dull and usually boring, he admits.
Avant Mood, the name of his SS 17 line is best described as happy and fun with a focus on an interesting palette. From blacks, greys to whites there is a pop of colour added with salmon pinks, icy blues and refreshing peach. Along with parkas, biker jackets and layered shirts, Sahil has introduced something he calls the new tuxedo. We have developed crests that we put on patchwork pockets with the option of personalised initials engraved on them. Nothing is overpowering everything is rather subtle, more tone-on-tone, he concludes.
