Tahiliani's main studio space on the first floor.
but people come to us for our techniques. The base material might be quite simple – just the usual silk and tulle. We have started working with a lot of hand-woven brocade but it’s really about what we do. We create our material because Indian fashion has traditionally been about textiles. Our job as designers is to continue that tradition but give it a modern shape and form.
If you were to choose a person from the arts, past or present to represent your brand, who would it be?
Amazing! And Delhi is so totally ready for that right…
India is ready! Indians are out of control…
I mean people spend all these millions and then lie in bed wracked with a fever for weeks after because it is so exhausting (laughs)! It’s one thing if you have to go for one wedding but sometimes now you have to go to five in a night because there are mahurat days.
We work with a lot of new materials all the time,
How do you refresh yourself creatively?
I exercise and go away on trips. I am also a huge museum fiend. I’m off to Washington DC for my son’s graduation and all I can think of is what museums I want to see. In a country like India there is so much sensory overload
You’re resolutely Indian in your creative
approach…
Creatively there’s just so much to draw from our culture. I love the drape form – love the way the Indian traditional dress is, because it is draped…the way a sari or a dupatta is draped is simple and yet beautiful in its simplicity. Even the men wear drapes – the dhoti, turban, everything was draped. Sadly this tradition is dying in our country: you see it mostly with the sadhus and the fakirs, how they take bits of fabric and drape themselves, and carry that off with a waistcoat…that’s always exquisite to my eyes.
What elements according to you define luxury?
The prerequisite and essence of luxury, and sadly, one that’s often not adhered to, is if things feel fantastic, then forget how they look. For me, the first thing about luxury is how it feels on your skin if you close your eyes, not a projection of what you are showing to
NOV — DEC 2012
Have any new materials been introduced
in your collections in recent times?
Tough question. I think because I am a romantic, I have a vision of this…in India, amongst the actresses that would have to be Meena Kumari, because for me, she just exemplifies sensuality. Even somebody like Picasso who reinvented himself so many times while staying true to his original talent.
all the time. There are ugly urban centres everywhere…but it is possible to take just about anything if you open your mind and convert it into anything. But to do that you have to be able to see it through your eyes…