RAGHAVENDRA RATHORE BEYOND BESPOKE

From dressing up Anant Ambani for his nuptials to crafting custom-made pieces for Diljit Dosanjh, Raghavendra Rathore uses the finest fabrics and subtle embroideries. The menswear maven also employs AI to streamline his design process and crafts tailored versions of silhouettes invented by his royal ancestors. Brides Today delves into the many worlds of the designer—albeit ever rooted in Jodhpur.

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This dapper, ever-youthful member of the royal family of Jodhpur is always one step ahead of the design game. Trained in fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York, Raghavendra Rathore is known equally for his sharply tailored bandhgala—worn by the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan and Middle-Eastern royals—as he is for creating India's only fully bespoke menswear brand to partner with Italian luxury major Ermenegildo Zegna and Reliance Brands.

Fresh from a Rajput wedding in Rajasthan (all “turbans and whiskers,” he laughs), the designer says his 30-year-old label is all about slow fashion and classics. “We stay away from hotspots and parties at fashion weeks,” says Raghu, as he is known to his friends. “We're happy to have grown in market share, but we limit ourselves to the classics, besides the festive stuff.” Raghavendra trained under the watchful eye of the legendary Oscar de La Renta in New York, before returning to his hometown and kicking off his own fashion dream with a show in 1994. The world took notice after Anant Ambani, son of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, wore a certain black bandhgala by brand Raghavendra Rathore for his wedding reception in 2024. “There was a demand shift post-Mumbai,” he adds, “and we are now set up for the grooms of the world, wearing what earlier men would look down upon.”

AS CUSTOM AS CAN BE

If your mind is set on a rich Raghavendra Rathore brocade achkan, you can choose from among the existing swatches at their boutiques, or you can take a photo of a brocade of your choice (say, your grandfather's wedding