This brand takes classic kurtas to give it a more relaxed design

The artwork comes first. A visual cue to the ease, colour and movement thats its behind Bombay Shirt Company’s latest offering, it sets the tone for clothes designed to travel beyond the occasion they were made for. With The Nawab Next Door, the brand steps into traditional menswear for the first time, bringing its familiar approach to the kurta and giving it a more relaxed place in the modern wardrobe.

“Over the last six months, we kept hearing that there was room for something very simple, something classic, versatile and easy to wear. Men wanted to wear kurtas, but not necessarily only for weddings, festivals or very specific occasions. They wanted something they could actually build into their wardrobe. We weren’t looking to create a large traditional-wear line. We wanted to take something as familiar as the kurta and look at it through our lens,” Akshay Narvekar, founder, Bombay Shirt Company.

The inspiration feels particularly suited to the man who packs for more than one destination. A kurta that can move from a festive gathering to a holiday setting without demanding the ceremony that usually accompanies traditional wear.

“The kurta felt like the most natural place to start because it is probably one of the most familiar pieces of Indian menswear. Everyone knows what a kurta is. The challenge was making it feel relevant to the way men dress today. A kurta doesn’t have to mean a wedding, a festival or a very traditional look. It can just be another piece in your wardrobe. The result is a collection that can sit comfortably with things you already own — trousers, jeans, pants — rather than requiring you to build an entire outfit around it,” he shares.

Rather than building an expansive traditional-wear line, Bombay Shirt Company has always worked with familiar wardrobe staples, allowing the details, fit and fabric to give them a distinct character, exploring a familiar garment through its own design language. There are 10 ready-to-wear kurtas in the collection. Here, that philosophy is applied to the kurta.

“The pieces have a certain polish, but they’re not loud. They’re comfortable enough to wear casually, but you can also dress them up when you want to. A lot of traditional menswear is designed around the idea of the occasion. We wanted to reverse that. Start with the garment itself, the silhouette, the fabric, the details and let that make it interesting. That’s why we played with different lengths and proportions. The medium-length kurtas, for example, are more shirt-like, with details such as traditional cuffs. There are three broad silhouettes: popover kurtas, bandhgala kurtas and side-pleated kurtas. Within those, we’ve played with different lengths, fabrics and colours,” he reveals.

The result is traditionalwear stripped of unnecessary fuss. Clean silhouettes and considered fabrics take precedence over embellishment, while the idea of the ‘nawab’ is less about grandeur and more about ease and confidence. The clothes are intended to feel classic without being conservative and versatile without becoming generic.

“The bandhgalas have a slightly more dressed-up feel, while the side-pleated styles give you another interpretation of the traditional silhouette. The kurta already has a strong place in the Indian wardrobe. We didn’t need to reinvent it completely. We just needed to make it work a little better for how people dress today. That meant thinking about things like length, proportions, fabrics and how the garment works with western pieces as well,” he elucidates.

Even colour has been deliberately kept from taking over the collection. “There are softer neutrals like ecru and beige, along with greys and darker tones like navy and dark grey. Then there are a few richer colours like rust, burgundy and pink, which give the collection a little more personality. The collection uses cotton-linen, modal-linen and chambray across the different silhouettes. Linen and linen blends were particularly important because they give the garments a nice lightness and texture, while still allowing the silhouettes to hold their shape,” he concludes.

₹3,290 onwards. Available online.

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