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‘Men will wear skirts’
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When Rohit Bal makes a style statement, people sit up and look. BHUMIKA K.manages to catch the mirage that he is, between his jaunts to the London and Paris fashion weeks
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Photo: Murali Kumar K.
AMBIGUOUSLY YOURS A lot of clothes Rohit Bal does for men end up being worn by women
Designer Rohit Bal does make shy and nippy sort of appearances at his shows. But all said and done, it is known that Gudda, as he is popularly called in the fashion world, is a man who lets his clothes do all the talking.
Dressed in a frayed snuff-coloured linen jacket and cream Jodhpur pants, , blonde boy Rohit Bal spoke to us a few hours between the London and Paris fashion weeks.
When he showcased his collection recently, a steady stream of muscled men strutted like proud blue peacocks wearing Bal’s predominantly blue and white collection ‘Siyahi’ featuring Benarasi brocade sherwanis, indigo blue embroidered white jackets (in intricate Iznik patterns), offset by the models wearing a patch of blue sindoor on their forehead and… nose rings and kundan-studded footwear!
“When I design, I don’t think of the gender; it just happens that men are going to wear it,” explains Rohit Bal. “That men are going to wear it is not pre-meditated.”
Rohit Bal’s collections have always been gender-bending. Once earlier, models wore blood red sindoor in their hair and wore skirts in a predominantly red collection.
So is it the shock value that makes him design such clothes? “A lot of clothes I do for men end up being worn by women. In the future it won’t make a difference. It will be more androgynous. Men will wear skirts,” he asserts, and adds as an afterthought: “No, when men wear it, it just looks more interesting… yeah,” he shrugs.
He should know best, he’s been in the fashion industry for over 15 years now and has set the bar when it comes to men’s fashion. He’s then dabbled in everything a successful international designer would — his signature line of perfumes, boutique hotels, children’s wear, a restaurant Veda, luxury watches with Titan, home furnishings…the works. “When I design — man, women, car, child — everyone is the same,” he says.
Is fashion something that can be surmised in waves? “I don’t think people should talk of fashion in waves. It gets monotonous. Fashion changes and it’s about drifting against the tide. It’s a new thought, a story or a theme. It’s the opposite of repetitiveness. It has to constantly reinvent itself, whether it’s serious, fun or funny.”
Various inspirations
A history graduate from St. Stephen’s (Delhi), this intriguing man from Kashmir started off in his brother’s garment export business.
History it seems, does impact his work. Siyahi, in fact is inspired by the colours, architecture and patterns of Constantinople, Byzantine and Turkey.
“I suppose it (history) does (influence design)… I look at design more intensely, sharply and critically. I’ve brought about in this collection a blend of Persia, Iznik and Macedonia.”
Rohit Bal has been a brand ambassador for two very organic fibre driven materials — linen and khadi — one a hi-flying fashionable fabric and the other, a humble symbol of India’s freedom struggle.
“People need to take khadi more seriously. It’s the thread of modern India,” Bal declares. “It’s not a fad. It’s the soul of India, part of our national heritage. It is the next linen…it should be.” A starry-eyed prophecy after Gandhi Jayanthi, we conclude.
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