When Shantanu & Nikhil showed their couture collection at the JW Marriott in New Delhi, it was obviously an extravagant affair. From the thought behind the collection, the location, the set, the accessories and of course the clothes – everything oozed grandeur and the fact that they made it a point to be social media active made the whole evening even more special. They had an active twitter wall put in and everyone in attendance could see what people were saying and all the photos they posted from the event with a simple hashtag #SnNCouture (you know how we love everything #GeekChic, right!) Nikhil Mehra of the duo took us through the idea behind the collection and this is his story…
A few months ago a click of a button got me staring into the grey concrete walls of heritage buildings created centuries ago on my computer. The first impression after looking at this incredible site got me awestruck. For a moment I did think that this could be a passing image like many images during the day, but somehow it kept haunting me till the last switch point that I turned off in my office. I knew I was onto something; usually I sleep it off and wait for answers of where am I going with this. The morning after was riddles with answers. The design inspiration hit me like a lightening bolt …
The morning meeting with the design team kick started the journey to a brand new collection; this was the birth of fall ’14 Shantanu & Nikhil couture. Days later the four if us found ourselves standing under the very same concrete column in Istanbul. The design journey was now half way and from being just an idea we became a bank of textures, colour swatches, and muslin tulles.
The Rani sultanate was born! She was a woman with fierce confidence, ability to change societies with her one glance. Her intuitive fashion sense and color pallet seemed perfect to rule the trends of the coming season. With this ideology we searched the streets of Istanbul to bring back the real story of our Rani Sultanate.
Months of piecing of all our bits of inspiration through handwork, visuals, storytelling and constructive drapes made the idealistic woman real.
She was then presented in the form of a luxury evening at the JW Marriott, sponsored by Johnnie Walker. The evening saw the Rani’s vision in a modern art décor.
As told to MissMalini by Nikhil Mehra from Shantanu & Nikhil.
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