Our time now, say designers Pankaj & Nidhi Ahuja

It’s going to be their first-ever fashion show in Bangalore and needless to say, Pankaj Ahuja is excited just as he is nervous.

“I used to visit Bangalore way back when I was working with Rohit Bal but it’s been almost eight to 10 years since I’ve visited the city,” opens up Pankaj adding, “Something or the other was on all the time in the city those days. I have a lot of good friends there and so, I hope to have a good show there.”

The husband-and-wife pair are a part of the Seagram’s Blenders Pride Fashion Tour, 2012 and after successful shows in Kolkata and Chandigarh will be heading to Bangalore on Sunday to showcase their collection.

Revealing details of the collection — Liquid Gold Tree that they will be displaying here, Pankaj says, “Around 90-95% of the clothes are brand new and specially designed for the tour. While there are a few pieces from our previous collections, including the one we showed at the Lakmé Fashion Week in August, we’ve reinvented for this tour.”

Delving into the creative details,  Pankaj elaborates, “We wanted to do something special and so for this collecton, we’ve incorporated intricate gold lattice work. In fact, this is the first time we’ve worked with gold for our designs.”  

While on the topic of collections and how ideas evolve, Pankaj explains, “There are times when the theme for a season hits at you and at other times it’s not the theme that leads the way,  but a technique or even a colour that dictates you.”

With a rush of fashion events that (sometime) happen back-to-back, expecting a designer to come out with a fresh collection every single time seems like a tough ask. That’s probably why we have designers creating repetitive looks.

In such a milieu, does the duo make a conscious decision to do something strikingly original every single time? Pankaj mulls a bit before he matter-of-factly states, “For us, the thought process behind working with every collection is you have to feel excited about your subject. You have to love it. And that’s the way we work.”  Fair enough.

Moving on, it’s time to throw focus upon how wonderful 2012 has turned to out to be for the couple. From winning awards to being selected as the grand finalé designers for the recently concluded Lakmé Fashion Week among others, Pankaj & Nidhi have hogged the headlines and have been the toast of the country’s fashion pundits, this year.

Even as he acknowledges the recognition, Pankaj states, “We have, sort of, been at it for quite a while now. This year has been particularly good for us. We won the Elle Best Debut and Best Collection awards early this year. This was followed by getting shortlisted for the Vogue Fashion Fund, winning the Regional Woolmark Prize and then of course, there was Lakmé Fashion Week.”

Even as he lists out the achievements, Pankaj avers that the turning point for this upswing   had to be, “showcasing the Wycinanki-inspired collection at the Wills India Fashion Week — Fall/Winter, ’12 in February.” Inspired by the Polish folk-art form, the collection, in Pankaj’s words, “was a blitzkreig of new techniques and a burst of colours.”  “There’s always a variety of stories we try to say through a collection and this one spoke,” Pankaj says about the vibrant line, which made it to the cover of a prominent fashion magazine.

“It’s been a roll from then on,” he enthuses adding, “but of course, none of this could have happened without the seeds we’d sowed through all the years of hard work.” “The tree is finally growing!” he wryly concludes.