Designer Manish Bansal is known to design for men but with the opening of his flagship store, he has delved into fashion for both men and women. He tells S Mallik the store will offer a pret line as well as customised outfits
You have quintessentially designed for men, for the most part of your career. Why did you decide to open a unisex storeIJ
I have three reasons to why I have decided to launch the unisex collection. One, since I showcased at a fashion show many women have walked up to me and said that they love the aesthetics of my designs and they would love to wear something like that and I should make smaller sizes, too. Hence came the idea of making smaller sizes but at the same time keeping my aesthetics intact.
Second, besides the whole ‘boyfriend’ trend saw girls wearing their boyfriends clothes with anit-fit and giving androgyny a whole new dimension.
And last not least, womens wear is a great market and as a designer it is a natural progression to expand your product range as one grows.
The store launch was also accompanied by an exclusive preview of your SR16 collection. Tell us about the inspiration this time.
The collection develops a philosophy on ‘Friends & Fences’ that highlights the fact that it is easier to make friends than to put up fences. The collection explores the innocence of friendship from the book The boy in striped pajamas during the time of war. In this story, the boy makes friend with a captive boy in a concentration camp. Their friendship develops even though they are separated by the fence between them. The collection simply reflects that though we may come from different backgrounds, shapes, size and colour, we still can co-exist in small spaces and care for each other.
What were the fabrics and colours that you used in the collectionIJ
The fabrics used are white cotton, linen, Indigo, denim chambray and loopback these are the four fabrics which compliment each other well for the summer season. The colors I have used are Indigo, faun and white keeping a subtle palette throughout the collection.
Now that you have opened a flagship store, that, too, for both men and women, will it be pret or coutureIJ
The flagship store will have the pret-line. However customisation will be offered in apparels and shoes. In the Indian market, it is essential that one offer’s customisation to their customers. Customisation offered will be limited to certain design features and will not change the aesthetics of the label for eg. we will be happy to change the signature ‘B’ sweatshirt letter to any other letter without changing the fit of the garment.
What else will the store have in offer for its customersIJ Will you also be customising and designing for customersIJ
I want to use the store space to do more collaborations and I have recently collaborated with The Shoe Factory and we are offering customised shoes for men and women both casual and formal, one thing that the customer can look forward to.
I would love to collaborate with creative brands, maybe accessories and bring something more unique service within the store that compliment the aesthetics of Manish Bansal.