BackA purist at heart
Nimish Shah, the recently-appointed creative head of Bhaane, talks about being a tastemaker who knows ‘how to make it cool’Nimish Shah reveals the new look of the store in Khar, Mumbai, where the entire season is being showcased for the first time
PremiumIt’s on a smoggy December afternoon that we enter the Bhaane store in Meher Chand Market, Delhi. Nimish Shah, the recently appointed creative director of this contemporary wearable clothing brand, is in the middle of a juggling act—from getting the company’s office ready in Okhla to preparing for the big reveal of the Bhaane store in Khar, Mumbai, which opened on 12 December. “This is the first time we are revealing our entire store, fully done up," says Shah. “It was launched last year, but then I came in and started fussing over it."
Shah is also the founder of Shift, a premium fashion and lifestyle brand with a common-sense approach to sustainability.
Over the past few months, the team has taken its own time to design the space, waiting for the right kind of creative energies to come together. For instance, the Khar store entrance, he says, has a Shilpa Gupta piece in neon lights that reads: “Light is Being, Being is Light."
“I have been a huge fan of Shilpa’s work. I love how she converts the mundane, back-of-your-head thoughts into an art form using local materials. With Bhaane being a public space, we wanted art which is more of an observational commentary, and this was a match made in heaven," he says. For the first time, a showcase of the entire season’s collections, Bhaane2020, is part of the big reveal.
The new season is more of a self-awareness project about where Bhaane wants to be as a brand—and about answering questions of what modernity means to it. Now that we are all set to usher in a new decade, the creative team has come up with its own Vision 2020, which is, “in essence, a bit older, wiser but still retains the humility", as Shah describes it. The mood board, inspired by the 1990s, draws on pop culture references such as university sweatshirts, memorabilia, tickets, museum maps, Nivea cream tins, or what teens in that period would wear while slinking off to a party late at night.
The underlying ethos reflects Shah’s personal fascination with thrift stores. “I love looking at old clothes which have been altered, opened up. There is always a thrift store reference in whatever I do, be it at Shift or at Bhaane. It has become my go-to spot. What was ridiculous back then makes so much sense now," he elaborates. Not a fan of new, shiny things, Shah feels old things that have been taken care of have so much more character. “It doesn’t mean I like battered things. Take, for instance, an old shirt, which is almost like a washed-out talent. It has had its heyday, has lived its life. I feel that it is getting a second lease of life if I bring it back again," he adds.
For the new collection, Shah has looked at older brands such as Godrej, which were about educating consumers and building a sense of trust. He delved into their archives to dig out parchments and old ads. “2019 happened to mark 100 years of their soap business. So, we collaborated with them, borrowed iconic graphic elements and applied them on to our clothing," he says.
One wonders how easy it was to transition from Shift to Bhaane. Shah says his long association with the founder, Anand Ahuja, and his actor-wife, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, made it seamless. “Sonam and I have known each other for a long time. Instead of discussing whether we should do hyper-feminine clothes or not, we talked more about a long-term plan," he says. It helped that they were all on the same page when it came to brand ethos—Shah, for one, was clear that he wouldn’t be able to make party wear or mega street style. He wanted to create designs that would fit in with people’s lives. “We didn’t want to be a big brand which makes a lot of noise. Which is why we felt that changing identity and branding was crucial at this juncture. But infrastructure was something we wanted to slowly grow into," he says.
In the past, one has seen designers such as Karl Lagerfeld work extensively with labels such as Fendi and Chanel while retaining a unique individual voice. How does Shah, who has worked with labels like Burberry, Chloe and now Bhaaane, maintain his distinctive style? “Having a unique voice is how you energize a brand—be it through the services, the stories or tonality. The product keeps on rotating, but you have to see what you and the brand stand for. In the case of Bhaane, it is about creating a community around the effort and forging collaborations," he adds.
So, expect to see creative individuals—writers, designers, artists—coming together. The website will soon have a journal section that will function as a place of cultural observation, with photo-essays and documentation of subcultures. As Shah goes on to articulate his ideas, one can’t help but ask if there is ever a tussle between Shah the brandmaker-businessman and Shah the designer. “It is always a tussle," he laughs. “I am a terrible businessman. I think I am an average designer but I am a tastemaker. I do have clarity. In my head I know how to make it cool. I am fairly a purist. I know what I don’t want and that makes a sharp edit already."
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
