Antar-Agni as the name suggests is a journey within—thus his unisex label is a lot more than just layering, drapes and lapels, it is an exploration of the meaning of luxury, and why its connotations change to cater to an individualistic mind.

By Asmita Aggarwal

Some things in life are meant to happen, it is called serendipity—that’s why when a doctor’s son went to a small shop in Gorakhpur to get NIFT entrance form for his older brother, he could never imagine, he would one day be a textile graduate from the famed institute in Kolkata. Ujjawal Dubey’s Antar-Agni today completes 10 years, for an underconfident, somewhat hesitant boy from a small town, who had no exposure to fashion, to building an empire, winning a spot on the Forbes Under 30 list, it is no mean feat.

Dubey’s questions about life and its vagaries have often led him to the right path, whenever he felt despondent and out Bhagvad Gita came to rescue. During covid too, when businesses were shutting down at the speed of lightning—one quote kind of saved the day –”Only those who are calm in success and failure can win the battle of life.” He loves literature, never attempting to deep dive into it, rather his motto has been spirituality, understanding human nature, and its fallacies as well as the desire to protect one’s image.

Image is everything now, thus he came up with the exploration of duality in it—you pray but in business don’t think twice before cheating someone for money. “Two-faced” seems an appropriate name for his LFW 2024 line in collaboration with FDCI, a collection divided into three parts—Gyana, Vairagya, Bhakti.

If you observe his journey closely, women buy his unisex ensembles—baggy, bigger shoulders, draped, layered—those who are “cooler in terms of styling and self.” He is unabashed when he says the biggest take away from this decade-long sojourn has been the “strength of common sense and truthfulness towards your inner being”.

Architecture has always moved him, and so has geometry, thus when he was looking at temple-carved pillars made thousands of years ago, he was fascinated by 3-D imprints. It was the genesis of abstract prints/embroideries. The question this year is “Are we really righteous or is it a pretense for the world?” As a child Ujjawal wanted to be an orator admired the skills of Amitabh Bachchan, he believes, all languages matter not just the ones related to the body. Only if we didn’t live in such a structured world, creativity would be everywhere.

Gyaan in his line is represented through Western cuts, structure, lapels, 3-piece suits, and jacket lengths. While Vairagya is depicted through layering, and Bhakti is where you devote yourself completely, thus exaggeration, blacks, deep purples, and greys, as well as forest greens. You can see suspenders, detailing with faux leather, belts, hats, all constructed with his vision.

Human mind is searching for security, fear drives us to look for eternity, longevity, but covid gave him “liberation” as he thought “how much worse can it get?”

When he started, in 2014, there wasn’t even one rack in big showrooms for menswear, he never had a template he could follow, he thought of how he would survive. And in six months, he realized what an uphill task this is— “How do we sell?” He admits he is getting better at handling stress, and thanks to spending time in nature at his Noida office, where he has let in a piece of sunshine, greenery into his living space.

“I was listening to a Youtube video by Andre Taylor, giant in luxury entrepreneurship, he said something that gave me perspective. How do you define luxe? It starts within you, it is the tiny things that give you joy, how you look at yourself, luxe is not a bag, that’s too narrow a definition,” says Ujjawal.

Not a big fan of embroidery, as it “speaks too much” he uses it in moderation, like zari this year, cutwork, appliques, and jacquards he developed in Banaras, or his handlooms in Meerut that were woven by carpet weavers.

If you ask him why he loves everything natural, it comes from watching his maternal grandfather dress only in Khadi. He used to be a Gandhian, so the Nehru cap, dhoti (even in winters), and waistcoat was his uniform, his friends dressed the same way too. “It was in mélange grey, everything was monotone, even the socks, but looked extremely interesting,” he smiles.

His family gave him complete freedom to do what he wants, and even though he says he is “ambitionless”, he has achieved by just moving on without a road map. “Dressing is a mood, everyday it changes, clothing is just one part of it,” he concludes.