Shivan Bhatiya and Narresh Kukreja back-pack almost 10 times a year. From surfing in Phuket, chasing the nocturnal glow of moonlight at Sri Lanka’s beaches, to sailing away along the Gulf Of Oman and rolling on a tomato-pulp-smeared floor at Spain’s Tomatina festival — the designer duo lives life like a “big” holiday. “I want to wake up every day feeling that same spark, zest and curiosity that one feels on a vacation. You are in high spirits on holidays. You embrace new things — people, culture, places, and I want to experience that unfamiliar wonder throughout my life,” says Narresh, who prefers to travel light as a way of “unburdening” himself. Shivan, on the other hand, is a hoarder collecting everything from art pieces, fabrics, and yarns, to candles, and small totems on his travels. “I travel inwards when I am at mountains or beaches, and outwards when I am in a new city,” he adds.
This month, as the duo marks 15 years as an unrivalled holiday wear label, they had gala celebrations at Gulmarg in Kashmir marking the launch of their new collection. “For the anniversary, we wanted to bring the joy of winter holidays. I have been to the French Alps and Europe to ski so many times. But you can't even compare it to what we have in our own country — I was blown away by Gulmarg’s breathtaking beauty,” says Narresh, adding that a unique location accentuates the experience of the art of holidaying which forms their label’s DNA.
Their new edit brings around 50 looks including sweaters, windcheaters, snow suits, puffer gilets, and swimsuits. “We have created a ski and a post-ski experience including a variety of outfits — for dancing, relaxing in a centrally heated pool amidst the mountains, trekking. Since this is our 15th-anniversary show, we picked our three archival prints — Palmera, Izu Juno and Botaneye and created many sub-prints with travel-inspired motifs like palms, peacocks, leaves, and panthers. The ensembles are crafted from wool, knits, cotton and recycled polyester which are suited for minus 10 to 12 degree temperatures,” says Shivan.
Inspiration in the frost
The duo’s collective experience of staying at many winter destinations like Finland and Norway in 2022 served as threads of inspiration for the Gulmarg showcase. They went to Norway’s West Norwegian Fjords, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where they discovered nature in its rawest form. “There are at least a thousand natural waterfalls, and you feel like you’re in a Jurassic park in those jungles!” says Narresh adding that Finland was also a culturally different experience. “The Finns invented sauna some thousands of years ago and you will find it in every house there. They even do business meetings there! And if you come wearing clothes in the sauna, they find it disrespectful because they feel you have something to hide. Finnish people believe that one should be their truest self and that your relationship with your body should always be about love. This concept of self-acceptance was eye-opening, especially for someone coming from India where we have a complex relationship with our bodies,” Narresh adds.
Self-love with swimwear
Speaking of body positivity, since the start of their label in 2010, the duo has been making Indian women fall in love with their bodies with colour-coded swimwear. The decision to tap into such a “risky” category in India back then came from their worldly exposure during NIFT Delhi days and further studies in Milan and Rome in the 2000s. “During NIFT, swimwear did not exist in our syllabus. Nobody in India was doing it. But we went ahead and showcased our first swimwear collection in Bali during our college days which earned wide praise. All our costumes are mostly geometrical forms — for example, a lehenga is a triangle. When we went to study in Rome and Milan, we realised that in India we were body conscious. European apparel is intimate to the body,” says Narresh, adding that they applied their Western learnings in the Indian context. “It’s not just about creating sexy, and beautiful bathing suits — it’s about educating the market so that everyone can wear a swimsuit with confidence,” says Shivan.
While the duo was tagged the “bikini boys” of India, deep down, they were addressing a serious problem — how to make Indian women feel comfortable with their bodies. “For Indian women there were barely any swimwear options. They used to go for layering over intimate clothing to hide ill-fitted inner-wear or conceal some body part,” says Narresh adding, “We had requests like ‘I want a swimsuit that can hide my pregnancy scars,’ or ‘I have to wear the same swimsuit that my daughter wears because there is nothing that suits my body’ or ‘I want a swimsuit that covers my back or hips as I find them undesirable’. But we wanted to make them feel confident. We used brighter colours for areas that women wanted to be highlighted and darker shades for areas which they didn’t want to be seen much. That’s how colour coding in swim suits came about as a problem-solving method,” says Narresh.
Today, 15 years down the line, there’s more sexual openness. Many self-love brands have emerged in the lifestyle segment. Social media is also flooded with self-love photos and campaigns. Eventually, the requests of women have also changed. “Now, the most common request is: ‘I want a beach wedding so can you make a lehenga that is light enough to be carried while walking barefoot on the sand.’ Or ‘I have a pool-side mehendi and I want to jump in the pool in my dress, so can you make a sari that does not crease!’,” says Narresh on diversifying from swimwear like maillots, bikinis and swim skirts to occasion wear like pre-draped saris, lehengas and column gowns that make Indian women feel assured in their skin.