Designer Nitya Bajaj recently launched her first menswear line, showcasing her take on the indigenous craft of Ajrakh.
“While dressing women clientele, many times requests came from their spouses asking for twinning outfits,” says Bajaj, who has recently designed costumes for actor Janhvi Kapoor for her movie Devara, also starring NT Rama Rao Jr and Saif Ali Khan. “This led us to explore this segment within our workspace, where we began with a small menswear unit of exploring men’s cuts in traditional Ajrakh.”
In an interview with Lounge, Bajaj talks about the menswear line and the experience of creating film costumes. Edited excerpts:
What inspired you to venture into menswear? The Indian menswear space has traditionally been synonymous with bandhgala and sherwanis. What new twists have you given to men’s ceremonial wear?
Bandhgalas and sherwanis are evergreen. We have introduced bundi jackets encrusted with semi-precious emerald stones and embellished festive kurtas with zippers and metal rivet buttons. Print-blocking, contrast piping, and emphasis on detail are our key elements in the collection.
You’ve been experimenting with Ajrakh for a while now. How have you extrapolated this craft to make it relevant to new tastes?
The brand has been working closely with Ajrakh clusters across Gujarat and other parts of the country, developing new prints, colours and blocks each season.
For this collection, the Ajrakh patterns were created by reimagining the wooden blocks into more geometric design. Florals were replaced with lines, circles, rhombus, and shapes like paisleys and stars. It was challenging to create masculine Ajrakh patterns in jewel tones for men, but we truly enjoyed the process. We tried to use this traditional craft in modern-day, contemporary silhouettes. Also, we introduced Ajrakh in modern pantsuits, corsets, resort sets, tassel cover ups, bustiers, shararas, and concept sarees for womenswear.
We recently designed Ajrakh for actress Janhvi Kapoor for her movie Devara as well.
How was the process like?
We had a mature palette of crimson, ivory, navy, and turmeric offsetting the grandeur of the colourful set. I truly enjoyed adding silver ornamentation to my Ajrakh pieces for Janhavi’s look. It is something we would like to introduce into our upcoming collections too.
How was the experience of designing for a film?
Creating costumes transports you into your dream world. You are living the director’s vision. It is a big encouragement and self-accomplishment to see your brand take centerstage on the big screen. Retail is solution-based, where you are providing your signature to your customer as per their requirement.
You guide them on what will complement them and it elevates you to a pedestal where your inputs can help boost someone’s confidence. I love styling my clients and giving them a perfect look for their special occasions. It is very gratifying and encouraging to see them lay their trust in you.
Going back to your question, it was a fun rollercoaster ride where we had to meet deadlines for fittings and approvals alongside creating the best fits for Janhvi for her dream sequence in the film. Janhvi was equally involved in the process and gave inputs in creating embellished blouses and asymmetric drapes for the song.
Manish Mishra is a Delhi-based writer and content creator.
This post was originally published on here
