Raghavendra Rathore brings a surprise for Bangalore’s fashion-conscious women

One of the first names to come to one’s mind when the topic at hand is Indian Male Fashion — Raghavendra Rathore often defines Male Indian Fashion for the rest of the world. In town this evening to officially showcase a brand new collection to the city as a part of the Blenders Pride Fashion Tour September-November 2012, After Hrs caught up with the maverick designer to find out more...

“I’ve been with the Blenders Pride Tour for almost eight years now and it’s more than rewarding to be a part of the tour once again. Bangalore has a great crowd when it comes to fashion and it’s always a pleasure to showcase my collections there,” opens Raghavendra.

Always expectant of the designers new collections, we ask Raghavendra to define this season’s offerings. “This season, like always, we celebrate heritage and tradition with modern aplomb. There’s opulence in textures, colours and fabrics that emulate the old world charm and we’ve indulged in rich textiles like brocade to accentuate each ensemble. We’ve also tried to give the traditional dhoti, the achkan, the kurta, the waistcoat and the bandhgala a fresh look by making subtle style changes and we’ve juxtaposed fresh and vibrant colours with pastel tones to reinvent our colour palette,” Raghavendra explains.

But will those be the most obvious of changes, we ask? “Not really, while that will be the basic changes, you have to realise that this will be the first time Bangalore will see our new labels. Called Club Jodhpur and Club J, these two mid-price ranged collections are aimed at mass consumption and will focus on exclusively ethnic and western collection respectively. Our show in Bangalore will open to creations from Club J, focusing on extremely interesting denims in colours, hues and shades you’ve never seen before. The idea is to ensure that our collection is non-competitive and hence extremely different. This will be followed by the Club Jodhpur collection that is desi at heart and yet completely Label RR in soul,” Raghavendra answers.

We’ve also heard about a possible women’s collection? “Yes, you’ve heard right. We’re known for our all male collections, but we know it’s about time to divert into women’s fashion too. This collection will showcase a few of our experiments, but a full fledged women’s line can be expected only in a year or so,” enthuses Raghavendra.

Most questions answered and realising that Raghavendra is on a tight schedule we ask him the most important question — why so many labels? “RR or Raghavendra Rathore, our main label is for a fashion conscious clientele, people who are willing to pay a price for quality, ingenuity and great design — this is however not the future of the fashion industry and as I learnt from a big player like DKNY, you need to have a several labels to cover all sections of society. Club J and Club Jodhpur are not necessarily cheaper, they’re just more mid-price ranged and hence will reach out to a larger customer base,” Raghavendra concludes.