Beyond the Brocade

As they unveiled the new Fall-Winter collection at the recently concluded India Couture Week in Delhi, designers Shantnu and Nikhil Mehra who celebrate the silver year of their menswear label, discuss the way forward for modern masculinity in fashion

- SHARMISTHA GHOSAL

KNOWN for challenging established norms in the traditional menswear space, label Shantnu & Nikhil celebrated 25 glorious years of their eponymous label's legacy in fashion with a fabulous new fall-winter collection called 'Metropolis', which they unveiled at the recently concluded India Couture Week (ICW). As the name suggests, 'Metropolis' is a deft fashionforward display of silhouettes that takes into account our identity heritage, and the evolving codes of fashion when it comes to the modern man. We chatted with the designers about writing new narratives in men's fashion with Shantnu & Nikhil Couture, their prêt label S&N by Shantnu Nikhil and about their red carpet couture Shantnu Nikhil Luxe, and how they are diversifying in other categories of fashion to take the brand forward.

Tell us about the couture Autumn/Winter collection, Metropolis that you showcased at this ICW.

Shantnu: Our India Couture Week collection, 'Metropolis', is a bold, future-facing ode to the modern man, structured to subvert and sculpted to disrupt. We've worked with a palette that transitions from deep charcoals to pewter silvers, punctuated by tonal metallics and vintage pastels. Silhouettes blend sharp tailoring with fluid asymmetry, think contemporary overcoat sherwanis, cropped bandhgalas, ruffled shirts, and pearl-studded accents. The textures are tactile yet deliberate, and every fold and seam embodies a quiet rebellion. 'Metropolis' by Shantnu Nikhil is a bold collection that dismantles predictability and rewrites the codes of Indian menswear.

How is this collection different from your previous ones?

Nikhil: Metropolis is a future-facing code of Indian menswear couture. A sprawling new world where history is not preserved, but provoked.