Kunal Rawal X Ekaya Banaras’ first collaboration edit hopes to redefine the Indian groom!

Eponymous Indian luxury menswear label Kunal Rawal has always challenged preconceived notions about fashion by introducing elements of surprise and experimenting with boundary-pushing designs that combine fine textiles with unique silhouettes, patterns, prints and concepts. Popular with several celebrities including Allu Arjun, Sanjay Dutt, Kartik Aaryan, Prateik Babbar, Rajkummar Rao, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Ram Charan, Varun Dhawan, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Vijay Deverakonda, Vicky Kaushal, Shahid Kapoor, Chiyaan Vikram, Rana Daggubati and Sidharth Malhotra, to name a few; the label is known for its ‘muted’ aesthetic that unites traditional works of art with functionality.

Having graduated from the London School of Fashion and established the label in 2006, Kunal’s style of design can be best described as a mix of contemporary silhouettes and Indian embellishments and the label has become popular for its non-conformist and multi-functional approach towards design. The brand speaks volumes for its cultivated imperfection and unconventional aesthetic while being deeply rooted in its Indian culture and surprisingly, for the first-time in its 15 years of existence has decided to use brocade combined with its structured and flowing silhouettes to create a unique festive collection. The collection celebrates banarasi brocades produced by the artisans at Ekaya Banaras and places them in Kunal Rawal’s signature design aesthetic of classic, yet, fun menswear pieces — a perfect collaboration. We caught up with the couturier to find out more about the edit and talk fashion, menswear and more.

What can we expect from the new collection?
The collaboration collection with Ekaya Banaras is a brocade line, and is something I am very excited about. It’s been 15 years since I started the label and I have chosen to stay away from certain things for most of these years and brocades was definitely one of them. This is primarily because, when I was younger, I’ve seen too many bad iterations of the form. Brocades seem to have never been created for men, at least as far as I can remember. Even when menswear designers used brocades, they often used motifs and designs initially created for women and they just made menswear silhouettes from that fabric. That’s probably why I had an aversion to it and while I only mentioned brocade, that list also includes asymmetric silhouettes, drapes and paisleys.

So, then, what changed your decision?
During COVID-19 and the lockdowns that ensued, like everybody else, I got a lot of time to think — and that led to a change of mind. I decided to turn my attention to everything I had an aversion to. So, I decided to finally incorporate these aversions into the label, in my own unique way, for probably, the next 15 years (laughs). It’s taken 15 years for the Kunal Rawal aesthetic to finally be accepted and now I think I am open to experimenting more.

Is the label’s aesthetic finally accepted, though?
Yes. I’ve been fighting quite a few fights with the ‘establishment’ — first it was about how fashion was not taken seriously and then it was how menswear was not taken seriously either. But now, a lot of that has changed. The market is finally evolving and it is ready for labels like us. Indian wear and occasion wear have become so cool again, not only here in India, but across the globe. And I think that is primarily because of young designers, who are putting out this evolution of new aesthetics, so proudly, for the whole world to see. So, now, after 15 years, I feel we’re actually doing what we wanted to do and we’re just scratching the surface, to be honest.

And have you designed all the brocades yourself, considering you just said that most brocades aren’t designed for men?
Of course, we’ve designed all the brocades from scratch and we’ve done it in collaboration with heritage textile label Ekaya Banaras. It’s been amazing, because at the end of the day, it is such an important aspect of designing — having control over how a fabric is created. Ensuring you deliberately decide how a fabric falls, moves; and we got to do a lot of all of that. So, you’ll see a lot of newness from us here.

What are the kinds of colour palettes we can look forward to, especially since this is a collaboration between two labels known for their definitive aesthetics?
It’s predominantly our colour palette, I must admit. There will be my favourites that I am biased towards — I love my neutrals, ivories, beiges, muted golds and champagnes. I ensure I do at least 12 neutral tones every season. It’s so elegant as a family of colours and perfectly suits the functions and occasions we have here during the wedding season. There’s also going to be pastels in the form of whitish aqua and whitish lilac; and these are not colours used in brocades before this. With brocades, people seem to have always stuck to bold primary colours or deep richer colours; but, the palette we have selected is very muted in line with the aesthetic of the label. And, of course, you’ll also have our signature military colours coming in. We oxidise most of the tones used in our silhouettes, so, even in the champagne and golds we’ve used in the groomswear — you’ll see tones like whitish gold, oxidised gold and even a silvery champagne. The beauty of brocade really lies in this — that you can mix two or three threads of different colours and weave it together. So, what you get is that even the warp and weft are very definitive of the brand.

And, what are the silhouettes we can look forward to?
There are so many! We believe in a contemporary take on tradition, so yes, you’ll have the traditional silhouettes for grooms, but with patterns that define the brand. We have panels that are added into a garment to help us customise it to size for anyone. There are also always hidden details in each of our creations. We also have functional plackets and functional openings on the side and at the back of most silhouettes. The whole idea is to ensure you have multiple ways to wear the outfit. The clientele we cater to, demand for a hand-detailed product, an aesthetically pleasing silhouette and also demand for multiple ways to wear it — to get more bang for their buck! So, we factor that in and break our looks up as separates. For example, you will see kurta shirts that can also be worn formally or can be worn as part of an ensemble for an occasion. I wear them under bundis; I pair them up with track pants and use them as an overshirt. Basically, I want people to wear my clothes in as many ways and as often as possible. The piece lying in their wardrobe after an occasion is of no value to me. The more they wear it, the more people will see it, the more people will come to me.

And finally, what’s cooking for SS ’23?
We’re on it full-throttle right now! Sampling is on and we also have a new collection that celebrates what we mean by diversity as a brand. We’re taking that edit to a few shows across the country and it will be available in stores soon. We’ll be having multiple layers of diversity and iterations in that edit. For far too long, menswear has been restrictive. For the last few decades, there’s been no evolution in menswear — it’s just been very maximalist or too simple — men are supposed to look either too dressed or completely under-dressed. There have been too many preconceived notions of ‘men are this’ and ‘men are that’ — but, over the last five years, globalisation, digitalisation and in many ways, the youth of India have changed everything. I really believe the current youth of India is far more progressive and that is what I kept in mind, while designing this other collection, based on diversities.

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romal@newindianexpress.com
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