BENGALURU: Bengaluru is a summer city, allowing room for experimentation for menswear designers, as the weather permits many offerings for the warm months, says lifestyle designer Raghavendra Rathore, who is hosting his trunk show in the city this weekend. The pandemic has significantly hit several sectors and it’s no different for the fashion industry. According to Rathore, the pandemic has given vitality to online sales with the entire sector of high-end fashion finding itself in this new migratory space, where the importance of digitising has become a part of business strategy.
“Perhaps in some cases, this is more important than the traditional brick-and-mortar boutiques approach,” he says, adding that Bengaluru is an important market for most designer brands in the north.
The city, he says, thrives in the evening like any other metropolitan, offering endless possibilities of dressing up. “Traditionally, it is also an important base for production of high-value items. But with regard to fashion, it has higher expectations of quality from designer brands, thus becoming an important date on most high-end brand’s calendars for trunk shows and events, to woo in younger and more adaptive customers who have a style of their own and may not conform to trends on runways,” adds Rathore.
The two-day trunk show has been curated with the demands of summer season, and will host a range of products, including accessories such as shoes made in Italy, cufflinks and heirloom buttons that can be designed with personal insignias, family totems and more. The silhouettes vary from everyday wardrobe styles to evening and festive styles that have embellishments.
“The importance of customisation and controlled spending on embroideries on clothes has moved to investment in heirloom buttons which can be passed from one generation to the other, as well as simplification of styles. Spending a lot of money on outfits which have too much embroidery that can only be worn once versus spending on jewellery and perhaps the intimate wedding experience is a big trend which is here to stay,” he says.
Despite designers mushrooming, Rathore points out that there is room for any sort of talent who wish to try their luck in the industry. “Having said that, I believe that new brands and upcoming designers must always understand their customer, keeping them in the centre of their strategy as they build brands. That is key,” says Rathore.Bespoke Collection by Raghavendra Rathore Jodhpur is being showcased at Armadio, 34, Sankey Cross Road, Sadashiva Nagar, on March 6.