MASTERS of Maximalism

Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla speak to Anamm Inamdar on 40 years of craft, conviction and creating beauty without limits

- Chikan Swatch

Indian fashion, as we know it today-glamorous, couture-led, and built on tradition-would simply not exist without Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla (AJSK). Based in Mumbai, where their couture house is headquartered, the duo launched their brand in 1986 and have since become the bedrock of luxury Indian design.

Born in Kapurthala, Punjab, Sandeep Khosla attended The Doon School in Dehradun, briefly joined his family's leather business, and later assisted designer Xerxes Bhathena, where he met Abu Jani, a kindred spirit with a shared passion for visual storytelling and craft. Though neither received formal training, the two taught themselves through rigorous exposure to textiles, embroidery and costume design to become masters of revivalist Indian couture.

For nearly four decades, the duo has stood at the intersection of craft and couture, tradition and radical reinvention. At a time when Indian fashion was still finding its voice, they gave it volume-unapologetically maximal and unmistakably Indian.

THE BIRTH OF A LEGACY

It all began in 1986, with a conversation that changed everything. “There was no holding back,” they recall of that first meeting. “We connected on an instinctive level—our aesthetics, our appetite for beauty, our dreams, it was as though we were destined to work together.”

With one lakh rupees, gifted by their parents, they launched their first collection at Mata Hari, a boutique in Juhu designed to feel like a theatrical escape.

Inspired by Jani's cherished old Hollywood postcard collection-particularly one of Greta Garbo as Mata Hari in a glittering bustier-the store embodied the same sense of cinematic allure. Its peach-toned walls, mirrored alcoves, and a single circular fitting room became a haven for their earliest clients from Dimple Kapadia to Jaya Bachchan and Parmeshwar Godrej.