Lounge
Rohit Bal, the big showman of Indian fashion
Summary
The designer, one of the pioneers of the fashion industry, refuses to follow trends and chooses to dance to his own tune
Rohit Bal died on 1 November at the age of 63. Mint Lounge is republishing one of his last exclusive interviews, given after his last fashion show on 13 October in Delhi.
When fashion writer Meher Castelino first met designer Rohit Bal in 1989, one of the questions she asked was, “Are you an Indian?" They were meeting on a day that marked many firsts: A young multi-designer store Ensemble was hosting its first fashion show in Mumbai, and Bal, then in his 20s, was presenting a debut collection, featuring light-coloured, ready-to-wear men’s kurtas.
A blonde-haired Bal hesitantly replied, with a twinkle in his green-blue eyes: “I’m an Indian; my clothes celebrate India."
That’s a theme that continued to run through his subsequent creations—whether it was the menswear line that launched his eponymous label towards the end of 1989; the womenswear collection the next year; the Zippo lighters etched with lotus flowers and leaves in 2013; or the last womenswear collection he presented in 2019, just before covid hit.
Even his first post-pandemic show, Kaaynaat: A Bloom In The Universe, which closed the Lakmē Fashion Week x FDCI (Fashion Design Council of India) on 13 October in Delhi, was dipped in Indianness. While the flowing mulmul gowns embellished with matching ivory-coloured embroidery showed his classic work of marrying traditional with contemporary, the prancing deers in structured bandghalas reiterated his love for nature. Rohit Bal was celebrating Rohit Bal, while ’80s and ’90s pop music played in the background. “It’s a love letter to my country’s opulence and diversity," Bal, 63, tells Lounge about his design philosophy. “The fusion of traditional and contemporary elements allows me to create garments that tell a story, bridging the past with the present."
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His work also tells a story of the enduring love for, and influence of, Kashmir, where he grew up in a Kashmiri Pandit household, surrounded by traditional crafts, Chinar trees, lotuses, roses, snow-capped mountains—most of which have found a home in his design vocabulary. Of his allegiance to soft mulmul, a fabric, he says, “embodies simplicity and elegance", he explains that it is “perfect for the Indian climate, and allows designs that are both luxurious and comfortable".
SIMPLE YET DRAMATIC
Bal’s tryst with design started when he joined his elder brother’s export business in Delhi in the 1980s. While cutting, stitching and dyeing clothes for international brands for over five years, Bal realised he wanted to create clothes for “India modern" that have a touch a history (he graduated from Delhi University with a degree in history). At the time, the Indian fashion industry was still finding its footing, and designers were more focused on womenswear than menswear.
Bal then went on to study at Delhi’s National Institute of Fashion Technology. Towards the late 1980s, his friend, the late designer Rohit Khosla, encouraged him to do his first show with Ensemble.
“Those kurtas were beautifully extravagant with a restraint of tailoring; it came from the years he had spent at the (export business) factory," recalls designer Tarun Tahiliani, who co-founded Ensemble and chose to include Bal in the 1989 show. “That’s his USP, offering drama even through a simple outfit."
Over the years, Bal, who’s nurtured designers like Manish Arora, Ashish Soni and Pankaj and Nidhi, has done many experiments—a collection of bustiers and skirts in 1992, a partnership with British Airways in 2015, and a collaboration with Swarovski in 2018 for a jewellery collection that looked vintage. Each was reflective of his approach to design: inherently Indian, but also modern.
Not many designers have as strongly established their house design codes as Bal has. At a time when swimwear brands are designing saris and sari brands are eyeing prêt wear, one could argue that Bal, whom Time magazine called “India’s master of fabric and fantasy" in the 1990s, hasn’t adapted to the changing consumer demands, or expanded globally. But the refusal perhaps reflects his sharp focus on creating clothes that transcend trends for a growing home market.
“There’s a proverb, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. He’s an independent designer who continues to sell globally. Why change things?" says Sunil Sethi, FDCI chief, who calls Bal “the most respected designer of the fashion industry for his creativity."
The magic of Bal, who won the International Fashion Awards in 2001 and 2004, lies in his ability of make the most luxurious clothes without OTT embroidery. Clothes that make you feel sexy without showing any skin. It’s a unique ability has that “redefined our understanding of Indian couture", says Sunanda Khaitan, vice-president of Lakmē, which worked with Bal for the finale show. “His contributions continue to elevate and influence the industry."
Take his signature 16-tiered mulmul kurtas, for instance, that were present in the Kaaynaat show. When models walked the runway wearing the ivory fabric, paired with zardozi-embroidered long velvet jackets slit high on the sides, it seemed they were floating on the ramp.
His placement of flower motifs is an aspect of Bal’s work that Castelino has closely followed over the years. “Many designers use floral motifs. What sets him apart is the placement of the rose or the leaf, the clarity and finesse; it almost looks like they have been painted," says Castelino, whose books include Manstyle (1987) and Fashion Kaleidoscope (1994).
It’s also the comfort his clothes offer that make his creations so popular. Actor Arjun Rampal, who’s walked the ramp for Bal for years, says, “Wearing his clothes makes me feel the best I can feel in clothes."
Agrees photographer-model Sheetal Mallar who, too, has walked for Bal on several occasions, including for Kaaynaat. “When we used to travel for his shows in the ’90s to New York, London or Paris, we would wear traditional outfits (like jalabiyas and anarkalis) on the ramp and the whole room, full of international and Indian buyers, would clap for us," says Mallar. “He’s still making similar kind of garments. It actually shows confidence, to hold on to your past because you know you’re making timeless clothes."
That word, “timeless", came up over and over again when people described his work. The other recurrent term was Bal’s avant-garde attitude of starting his career with menswear. “Men weren’t experimenting at all then. He was actually the first Indian designer to start menswear on such a scale," says Tina Tahiliani Parikh, executive director of Ensemble and Tarun’s sister.
He also experimented with the “freedom fabric", khadi, in the early 2000s long before it became trendy. “He was selling Selfridges (in London) khadi shirts when khadi wasn’t even cool and there were no conversations around sustainability," says Sethi.
His decision to launch a ready-to-wear line, Balance, in 2010s, a time when designers were running towards couture, is also considered forward-looking. “When I launched Balance, it was about making high fashion available to more people," says Bal, who has five stores in Delhi and Mumbai.
LIVING IT UP
The other striking thing about Bal (known within the fraternity as Gudda), who has dressed international celebrities like Uma Thurman and Naomi Campbell, is his showmanship.
Designer Rahul Khanna, one half of the brand Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna, says, “Rohit has always been about making everything grand, whether it is his fashion shows or personal life. His love for music, storytelling, his Kashmiri food… yakhni chicken… he just loves celebrating every moment."
“Rohit loves music and dance," says Aparna Bahl, a show director (she was part of Kaaynaat). “He likes doing things his way; he broke a lot of rules. He was openly gay at a time when society was much more conservative, he created a trend of Kamasutra-inspired blouses, his (male) models wore sindoor and skirts. Once towards the end of the show, models walked into a pool and it looked like floating lotuses; that’s a very different kind of crazy vision."
This “crazy vision" often got him the “bad boy of Indian design" tag. But Aarti Gupta Surendranath, actor-content producer, who’s seen Bal flourish as a designer over the decades, says, “Gudda just always wants to have fun, especially with his work."
Surendranath, who's been a showstopper for some of Bal's shows, believes he is "one of a kind designer. His clothes reflect how invested he's been in creating classics. He has that world-is-my-oyster vibe"."
That vibe was visible this Sunday evening when he danced on the ramp at the end of his showcase. Despite being frail and still recovering from a heart condition as he lip-synced the lyrics “Heal me from all this sorrow", from INXS’ Afterglow, it became clear he will only listen to his own tune.
That’s refreshing in a world of constantly changing trends and too many choices.
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