AARAMBH IS INSPIRED BY MAHABHARATA

Taruna Sharma

Kudrat Couture, a men’s designer wear brand by Chirag Makkar,has come up with its new collection Aarambh. In a free-wheeling chat, the designer gives us a peek into his work and life. Excerpts from an interview:

Tell us more about Aarambh.
This is one collection that is very dear to my heart. It is inspired by my childhood memories, of the tales from Ramayana and Mahabharata my parents narrated to my sister and me on the dining table. These are the epics I have thoroughly enjoy reading since I my childhood.
I always respected the courage and values Arjuna had so I wanted to bring that out in a way I could. If you go through the collection you will realise that It is all about Arjuna’s journey from childhood to his becoming the best archer, disrobing of Draupadi’s, the time Arjuna spent in exile with his brothers and Draupadi, the devotional love he had for Krishna, and finally to The  Great War – The Mahabharata.

What all colours are in vogue this season?
Men are becoming more experimental nowadays. Classic blue black and grey can never go wrong but the colours I feel are in rage are rust, mauve, wine, coconut cream and mellow yellow

What are five styles for men’s clothing in vogue this season.
A style is very subjective as it depends upon personal choice. But I feel the five styles that go best for men are:

1. Layering, just don’t wear one garment, try to layer it with a complementing colour to highlight both or maybe more of them
2. Sneakers, pair them with everything, from a kurta to a suit
3. Accessorise, a good watch, a nice belt, sunglasses and maybe a ring. Looks really nice
4. Prints & concepts, let your clothes express who you are.
5. Kurtas paired with long jackets (front open preferably)

Take us to your journey of becoming a men’s fashion designer?
Actually, I never “planned” to become a fashion designer, I always wanted to be a Chartered Accountant, and I studied for it. But no matter how much I liked accountancy, during my internship period I realised that accountancy was not something that feeds my soul. There is a free period of roughly two months between our exams and results. So that time I reached out to my sister (who is a fashion designer and has her own women’s wear label) and began learning under her. I thought I would learn everything in three to four months but when I entered the industry, I realised that there was so much to learn. I ended up spending three years to learn the intricacies of designing. Then I started my own label, Kudrat Couture in October 2020, in Rohini, Delhi.

How did your family take to this decision of yours?
My family has been very supportive in all my decisions. My mother and sister believed in me from the beginning but my father being a businessman knew that I am must be trained before I walk this path so he told me that I would support you for sure, but you must take a proper training before you start your own venture, and that’s what happened.

What sort of challenges did you face/ are still facing in your journey?
Getting out of bed in the morning is the first challenge I face every day, but honestly my challenges and none other than anybody else’s. We all have been hit hard by the pandemic. Then there are basic challenges like maintaining enough stock, trying to acquire new customers, struggling with a creative block while designing and sometimes maintaining a work-life balance.

Any reasons for doing clothes only for men?
My dad has been asking me this question for a while, but my answer is very simple, designing for men is what excites me .I believe that there is a lot more to offer in men’s clothing as it is not explored as much as it should have been. Whenever I think of designing my first thought is – I want to design something new, something different, something fresh and since there are a lot of areas in men’s clothing which are unexplored I find it aligns with my purpose.

Conventionally, there is not much to design for men whereas there is a plethora of opportunities when it comes to women…Is that true?
I strongly disagree with this statement. We are in one of the most beautiful period of evolution of Indian fashion, we are in a span where men are styling a sari and women are buying from the men’s section! Designing is an art and it depends on how fresh the thought of an artist are.

Any plans to design for women?
One can never predict the future, I really enjoy designing for men and I plan to stick to it for now, but we never know what the future holds!