The Things Designer Arjun Khanna Can't Let Go Of

The master couturier curates pieces that earn their wear: a trucker jacket mended over and over again, a weathered Leica, and boots that won’t quit.

- By OJAS KOLVANKAR

AS DESIGNER ARJUN KHANNA greets me in his Mumbai store, there’s grease under his fingernails, and next to him, a restored scooter sits on a kilim rug.

That tells you most of what you need to know about him. Dressed in a navy boiler suit, flat cap and Adidas sneakers, and sporting a tangle of bracelets on his wrist, Khanna embodies his design aesthetic. The Kala Ghoda atelier feels less like a retail space and more like an extension of his personality. Every item—vintage cameras, superhero figurines, sewing machines, trunks, or embroidered denim jackets from his personal archive—is a living record of a life spent travelling, meticulously collecting and crafting. Unmistakably, those same values inform his eponymous label and newly launched line, AKOG, devoted to workwear and denim.

Here are Khanna’s top essentials:

1. MY TRUSTY TRUCKER JACKET: