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Ruling the ramp
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He has done 'em all, from MacDonald's uniforms to sleek bandhgalas. Raghavendra Rathore is quite the prince of the designing world, says BHUMIKA K.
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RIGHT ROYAL Today's designer needs to be a leader, says Rathore PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
Broad-banding fashion, he's designed for DKNY, has "done things" to T-shirts but is happy diving into Rajasthan of the 1920s to turn up the best bandhgalas. Scion of the erstwhile royal family of Jodhpur, the man with the regal look and deep eyes also has the insights to design new uniforms for MacDonald's and concepts for Bollywood films.
Welcome to new-age royalty. Raghavendra Rathore is emblematic of what one would call transitional royalty — learning and drawing from the past but not riding on it. And keeping it classic all the way.
"I, for one, have always felt like a general without an army. I can't change where I was born into, but I was not comfortable with the knee scraping... These are things I grew up with. But I have a fantastic base of respect for that heritage. You cannot make a brand purely on some phenomenon. The product has to be good for you to sustain," says the prince, who hates being called that. Rathore was in Bangalore to show off his collection at the recent Castle India Men's Fashion Fair.
Radical redesign
He's been witness to the democratisation of royalty. From all the regal trappings to the abolition of privy purses. And the sniggers his family attracted when they stepped into the hotel industry, letting tissue-using foreigners into their palaces.
Taking all that in his stride, Raghavendra Rathore is now busy heading a professional design house, Rathore Jodhpur. He winces at the word "corporate" and feels it's too loosely thrown at creative people. Yet, it's a new and daring organisational structure he's trying in the fashion industry. His team's divided into cells that meet every morning, create challenges for themselves and let individuals perform.
"We change the course of the company at the drop of a suggestion. It's a transparent American system. I draw the same salary as the last person who joined. I feel pressure and tension equally. We've removed the paranoia, a huge deterrent for creativity. Today's designer needs to take control of the creative, the vision, the marketing, branding and the finance."
He's learnt his lessons rather young in life. He would wake up in the morning to find his father sitting with 700 people around him in the courtyard, chatting about a stolen cow or something. The elder Rathore, who instilled in him the value of such human interactions, also taught him the basics of branding. "When I was young, my father took me to the first Coca-Cola plant in Hyderabad to see how it was made, and make me understand that this could have been made by anybody on the street. He explained to me very early in life that things become brands by virtue of just consistent quality."
When in Jodhpur, he switches off and grabs the paintbrush. "I'm an artist and I paint. That's what I do for a living. This is all an extension," is how he dismisses the rest of his ventures. But he's always looked upon his ancestors as designers. "They designed the (Jodhpur) fort when the shoe was being invented in London in 1204. Then they designed the Umaid Bhavan Palace and the fittings."
The second lesson his dad taught him: "You are the son of the desert. You've got to conserve your resources. If you have a long bath, the people who work with you at the hotel will think that's a month's supply of drinking water. He was a total socialist."
Rathore has this very contemporary almost knowledge-industry kind of attitude as he moves into consulting, which, he predicts, is the next big thing in design. "It's the future of fashion where we are seen as software companies of design. We create not the hardware which is the garment, but the concept of the garment." He's translating it now by advising Bollywood directors such as Vidhu Vinod Chopra on his next film Yagna and advising MacDonald's on their new uniform. "I see that my role is larger than just fashion."
Last year he tied up with Shopper's Stop to create a common brand where the store does the production, marketing, and retail, while he handles design and provides good fits and samples. A breakaway from couture norm, something only a daring designer would do. But Rathore insists this is the only way to make inroads into new India's mass buying power.
Often running away from all this, he drives his jeep around Rajasthan and on one such visit to the Bikaner museum, found instructions from the Maharaja to serve his guests ice and chocolates. The mention of ice and chocolates in the desert land triggered in him a desire to dabble in chocolate making. The idea teamed up well with his clothing business because very often grooms who got their wedding achkan designed by him asked him to recommend good sweets. It's now going the franchisee way and making waves in Dubai malls.
Next on the cards are more lifestyle products — gun cases and outdoor products such as very upmarket all-leather picnic sets. But the man who knows his luxury also makes salads for friends. "Living on my own in New York for nine years, I started making salads instead of elaborate Indian meals. Back home, as my family business is hotels, we have large stocks of food in the freezer. Jodhpur has a very interesting bunch of youngsters — all polo players, all health people — and other friends for whom I would make salads."
As he talks of the heady land of polo and princes, panache and pomp, he brings you down to earth, where his feet are firmly planted, with a truism many have had to live with: "If you start thinking of yourself as a prince, you've had it. That's the end of you."
Classic template
Rathore Jodhpur, a luxury company as it's called, is a focussed brand. One that stands for excellence in terms of the "Incredible India" factor. It reaches into the past, takes what appeals to modern sensibilities, and converts it into an enticing product. "My references are always to the 1920s all the way to the '40s. Maybe the '50s was when our design sensibilities started changing. Something somewhere went terribly wrong, because from proportions, we went to quantity," says Raghavendra Rathore. He believes that if you get proportions and texture right, nothing can come in your way. "That's what Michelangelo did, that's what all the biggies did."
Nothing we're doing is new, he insists. His clothes are just plain classic. "I keep the base content of my design appealing to the larger audience. It's not for funky, young trendy people only. Of course, we have shirts that do strange things. But the template is classic. It's easy to see youngsters in go-go party clothes, but that gives you a childish look. It takes away from the character and you become second to your clothes."
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