Custom fits for four-legged divas

From bespoke 'sherwanis' to hand-embroidered leashes, pet fashion is nearly as indulgent as human fashion

- Pooja Singh

Ashna Vaswani with her dog Khalisi in J Kutta Couture harness; (below) a Churwan! from Supertails; (above) at a Pet Fed fashion show; and (top, left) August, who has 200,000 followers.

August is rarely under-dressed. Trends inform her outfit of the day but her mood dictates the final look. Whenever she goes to a café in Gurugram, meets a friend or attends an event, dressed in skirts, dresses and pantsuits, people do a double take. After all, this six-year-old ginger cat has over 200,000 Instagram followers.

For the past five years, August's pet parent, Imlinenla Jamir, has been dressing her up in clothes ranging from cottage-core-inspired gingham PJs to Marilyn Monroe-style dresses and strings of pearls.

"August is a diva," laughs Gurugram-based Jamir, who works in the corporate sector. "Cats can be extremely moody; there are days you can't even touch her. But then there are days when she loves being all dressed up and posing for the camera. My mom started making her clothes at home during the covid-19 lockdown, just for fun. Later, once we started posting her photos on social media, we got a great response. We still make her clothes at home, but now we also buy from outside. There's been a big change."

The change Jamir is referring to is the evolution of the pet clothing and accessories landscape in the country. Gone are the days when the options were limited to a red or a blue T-shirt, or a green or a polka-dotted bow. Now you can buy a chikan kurta, a tailored tuxedo, a hand-embroidered lehnga, a cotton shirt with a logo of your choice, even throw in a bamboo fibre or denim leash hand-embellished with words, letters or numbers. Pet fashion is moving towards becoming as indulgent as human fashion, with customisation services being widely available.