Their name is synonymous with the purest form of artisanal craftsmanship. Over the years, the doyens of Indian couture, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, have refined and redefined their hallowed atelier’s savoir-faire techniques. Amrita Singh, one of the label’s muses and loyalists, had shared with a lifestyle magazine a few years ago, “Royalty may be dead, but the boys are alive!” And it’s not hard to decipher that.
Scaling their epoch-defining thread embroideries to achieve dramatic effects, they’ve seduced several generations of caviar brides and global glamazons for decades. The emissaries of Indian elegance break new grounds with their foray into the rarefied world of haute joaillerie — designed by the duo and crafted by SABOO. After venturing into territories like interiors and decor, jewellery was the next logical step. Inspired by India, every piece spells out a narrative of its own — crafted with the finest and exquisite rose-cut diamonds, the rarefied Columbian emeralds and dainty pearls.
“We’ve always been crazy about jewellery and we found wonderful partners, Saboos, who’ve been helpful in realising our vision. We’ve explored a new genre with these creations — toying with the peacock and other birds motifs. It’s light, wearable yet statement-making. For example, more than a thousand pearls go into crafting one earring. Jewellery is about the celebration of craftsmanship and like our clothes, even our jewellery has to be worn to be appreciated,” says Sandeep with a twinkle in his eye.
Kings Of Reinvention
The duo have branched out into myriad products — there’s an embroidered line of cashmere shawls in collaboration with Jyotica Jhalani of Janavi shawls, a line of exclusive footwear reflecting the label’s ‘more is more’ aesthetic and their western line — Khosla Jani (already being retailed internationally, and seen on the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Katrina Kaif) will be launched in Delhi next month. What strikes me about Sandeep is a child-like enthusiasm and there’s never a dull moment. He jokingly tells me, “We don’t like the word ‘veteran’ though. You need to keep reinventing and moving on. You can’t be comfortable. There were two to three years of our lives when we became comfortable. Then Abu said, ‘It’s getting boring and we are in a classic space’. We had a bit of a tussle and finally, I relented. We are refining our crafts more and more. AJSK as a brand will become even more niche and ASAL is for the aspirational buyer. Now we have Gulabo which is a more accessible line.”
Mr Maximalist
When I bring up the all-pervading maximalism sweeping the global runways, something which they’ve championed over the years, he underscores the fact that they’ve been proud of their core values and aesthetics and stood by it. “Whatever Gucci does is God’s message to you and everything is acceptable. Abu and I, so many times, sit and discuss that we have been at the forefront of so many things in our lives, but we just happened to be in the wrong country. Had we been somewhere else, we would have been somewhere else. Here people tell us — we made many comebacks, we never went anywhere,” he says breaking into peals of laughter.
One’s keen to ask if we could ever picture him taking a radical step and moving into a minimal zone and he’s quick to nix the idea. “There’s nothing small in our lives, we are all about ‘bigness’. What do we do? (laughs) It’s a bit of a problem. However, our label Gulabo is sort of in that space and now we are working on a new show, which is going to be completely different,” he says, with a tongue-in-cheek wink.
Dressing The Who’s Who
Besides their unmatched design prowess, the genuine warmth and rapport they share with the legion of their connoisseurs make them the ultimate go-to label. “God has been kind to us. We have dressed mothers, daughters and granddaughters now — Jaya, Shweta and Navya. We’ve dressed Kokilaben Ambani and her granddaughter. Given the faith they have in us, something must be right about our designs,” he avers.
The unshakable trust which the duo shares with the movers and shakers combined with their inimitable fabulousness makes them the unstoppable designer force that they are.
