Tarun Tahiliani talks bridal style, Bollywood fashionistas

For all those brides looking towards Bollywood for inspiration this wedding season, ace designer Tarun Tahiliani has one piece of advice. "What fits Katrina or Deepika's 5ft7" zero size bodies are not good for every bride." It's indeed a stern message for those wishing to replicate their favourite star's look for their own special day. "Make sure you work your designer," Tahiliani continues. "Ensure the designer creates for you, something which represents and enhances YOU." So it's all about being body positive, being yourself and most importantly looking the best you can on your D-Day. "Elegance" is the key word in Tahiliani's bridal lexicon as opposed to being "over the top." Excerpts from a recent interview with Tarun Tahiliani as the designer returns to the city once again to showcase 'In Elysium', his Couture and Autumn/Winter collection which includes concept saris, lehengas, bombers, draped kurtas, kaftans, jersey tops, dresses, jumpsuits and scarfs in silk, tulle, brocade and bandhini at the Shangri La Hotel on September 17 and 18 (11am to 8pm).
Today every bride wants to don a designer gown for her wedding and most often than not Bollywood is a huge inspiration when it comes to what a bride would like to wear.
I am flattered that most young brides want to be seen in a Tarun Tahiliani. We started our occasion wear lines to reach out to even more brides, grooms and bridesmaids. In a country, where we have very few icons from society, sports, media in the spotlight, it is but natural that Bollywood becomes our influencer.
What's the first bit of advice you'd give brides-to-be coming to your event?
The best bridal dress, would be a mirror to your dreams, desires and most importantly, your persona. BE YOURSELF, don't go like a someone being caparisoned off. It is not how many kilos of embroidery you have on your garment; it is how beautifully fit your garment is. Choose the colours well. Select stylish silhouettes.
Over the years do you find a difference in the expectations from a bridal designer?
Today, brides are more open to experimentation with cuts and colours on their D-day. 
Destination wedding on an exotic island or beach, dramatically impacts their dress choices. Brides opt for lighter, fresher, featherweight fabrics, in aquatic or sunset shade. If Udaipur or Jodhpur, is destination select, then brides reflect the regal grandeur of Royal Rajasthan with heavy embellishments, traditional silhouettes and big jewels. 
Based on your experience what does it take for an Indian designer to make it big in the West?
Today the West is looking at India as a market. There are several challenges in the Western Design Wear Industry. 
I don't recommend any designer should leave home ground and head West, at a time when everyone in the West is heading East. Serve your market honestly, serve our natural extension markets - like Dubai. What do we have to sell to Italians in winter?
What drives you to design today - is it different from how it was when you started out in this field?
What keeps me motivated today is my pure love of design. I get up and I am thinking about it and that's all I want to consume my life with. It's unfortunately, also, what became a giant self-indulgence, so now we are a little more careful to balance commercial considerations with my love of design.
Do clothes make a man or is it a man's innate style that makes the clothes stand out?
Style is all about the person, and the personality. It is about individuality. As we are crossing borders and moving towards global fashion we are looking at comfort, lightness and structure rather than heavily embellished outfits that inhibit movement in this fast-paced age.
'Why would you wear a copy if you can afford the real thing?'
With the proliferation of social media, every celeb worth her Manolo Blahnik heels or Chanel jacket boasts her own Instagram account these days, where every look she dons, be it to the charity gala red carpet or the grocery run garners a zillion hits. The downside of all this publicity is of course the fact that what a designer has conceptualised over many a sleepless nights, from the sketching stage to the final stitch on the wow-inducing one-off piece is now easily replicable by any roadside darzi with a keen eye. Tahiliani is very vocal on this subject. "This sort of blatant replications affects designers both in terms of money and is an infringement on your creativity," he fumes. "Unfortunately in India there seems to be no value for intellectual property rights and I suppose that is great luxury in a country that is this poor, but having said that, this kind of duplication of bad quality speaks volumes to me as an individual. Firstly, let me say this, that people who value quality and originality would never buy a copy. However, that is a very small minority of people in Delhi and surprisingly there are people with vast amounts of money and inordinate wealth who still go for the copy, which I don't understand. To me it is a reflection that they don't value themselves. Why would you wear a copy and not the real thing if you can afford it?
"The real thing has a name because of what they have done and therefore there is an expertise - a Chanel jacket shoulder is a Chanel jacket shoulder, you may choose to wear a similar design from a brand that does fast fashion, but it is never going to feel the same as a Chanel. So, it tells me that if you wear copies you either don't value yourself or that there is some problem, particularly if you can afford it, but if you can't then it is different. So, of course, there is a financial consequence of people wearing copies but for me the much greater danger is and I have seen it with my own eyes, when people look at someone wearing a copy and they are unable to tell because they are not conversant enough with the product, that it is a copy and therefore they start thinking that a bad quality copy is the original - to me that affects our reputation; that affects the kind of power that the brand might have or the perception of the brand and to me that is a much, much more dangerous consequence in the long run.
"Obviously, we do different things to counter it. One is our fit, which is very difficult to copy; we also do a lot of layering in the processes, which most copiers would not even understand. We employ little techniques so that people in the know will know it is the real thing and will also know when it is not."
 
TÉte-A-téte with Tarun Tahiliani
Style for me is.. non-cluttered, functional, streamlined, with a touch of one's inherent sense of culture and creativity
My definition of fashion is... Classics with a twist of contemporary. Contemporary with a twist of classic.  
Less is more when it comes to.. Style across all categories. The age of dusty excess is over!
The worst fashion buy a woman can make... Inappropriate clinginess.
The biggest 'in' thing this season is... Personification - the Expression of Oneself. With the Lightness of Being. 
The most outrageous fashion I've seen of late. Bridal Fashion going medieval. Why? For what?
A style rule that is overrated.Comfort.
Bollywood actresses who get their style on point every time... Sonam, Shilpa Shetty and Rekha.
The ideal Tarun Tahiliani bride will never.. dress in ill-fitting heavy Medieval Lehengas that she will not be able to walk in, or dance in; look 'repressed'.
Fashion destination I can never get enough of... Rome.
Most priceless piece from my personal collection.Old Kanni shawls.
Trends might come and go, but style is.. Forever. Think Jackie O or Maharani Gayatri Devi.
Dubai for me is.... a blossoming city, evolving, the eternal Spring of eternal possibility.
I champion plus size fashionistas because I believe... real is beautiful. Have you ever seen an emancipated woman, who lives life on her terms, unhealthy? I love Adele and what she represents.
 
Ambica Sachin
ambica@khaleejtimes.com