Ace Designers Shantanu & Nikhil

“I think Sonam Kapoor can carry any style with élan.”

Ace designers Shantanu & Nikhil have introduced a limited-edition pack for Seagram’s Blenders Pride which echoes the designers’ signature bold and unique style that spells out ‘My Craft, My Pride’. Read on…

Could you tell us something about your association with Blenders Pride, especially now since it’s being done digitally because of COVID?

Shantanu: Our relationship with Seagram’s Blenders Pride has been a long one - we’ve been a part of Blenders Pride Fashion Tour ever since its inception. And I think what Blenders Pride has done, they’ve innovated and evolved to create a very strong fashion language. And it was only natural that they would move away from the fashion runway towards creating a product design. And that happened to be a limited-edition pack. So, we’re very excited. So that has been our association with Blenders Pride. Every moment has its own gestational period. And I think for many years, we’ve lived with the beautiful legacy of the runway, the traditional format, which is obviously, as couturiers, an art form that is never going to go out of fashion. But I think what the pandemic has done, it has created these new avenues for communicating your ethos and brand values on a digital platform. I think showing runways on a digital format is almost like being next to it. And I think you can do it the way you want it. It does not have to go through the normal routine. Yes, you miss the energy of the crowd. But I think you’re reaching out to a far wider audience. You’re creating these deep avenues for communicating your product values immediately, almost instantly. So, I think that’s the beauty of digital.

Bollywood has always been as an industry a very important education tool for anything like current fashion.

“I think Aishwarya Rai has done many international brands and brings in the strong cultural influence and represents our country at the global level.”

What is your theme for your pack?

Shantanu: ‘My Craft, My Pride’ is the theme which looks at certain things in a way. And it is sort of a belief that we are creating that when someone comes across our illustration on the bottle pack, they see it as like when they come across the product as well. Working with existing groups and people to figure out their own signature style, I think that’s really the reason that we’ve worked on this.

Nikhil: And as a brand we speak a very strong language of heritage which is not necessarily overburdened with a lot of textile, tools, or services. But that heritage meets spunk. And that heritage comes from a very strong Indian nostalgia and it fuses with our take of modernity which is minimalism. So, there is a sense of patriotic sheath in the way we do this. And there are strong military influences, we get the inspiration from the armed forces. So ‘My Craft, My Pride’ is a very similar aesthetic to what Shantanu just described and it becomes almost an extension of what our brand stands for.

We’ve always seen you both coming out with awesome designs. What can we expect from you for this pack?

Shantanu: The lines that are depicted on or rather the illustration that is created on the pack are coming from the way we look at the movement of the brand. And those are the lines that are then there on the pack. The work signifies the softness, and yet the strong aspect. That’s where it comes from. And then the luxury couture belongs too, on the backdrop of that.

Nikhil: Yeah, there is a sense of masculinity which is associated with whiskey packs. So, we just wanted to bring a bit of fluidity in the way you see those drape like linearity coming in through the fluid texture, the fluid style statement that is coming in.

Since we are Stardust, and you’ve been associated with the film industry for so many years. If you had to choose your showstopper from the current lot of actors, who would it be and why?

Shantanu: Bollywood has always been as an industry a very important education tool for anything like current fashion. I think over a period we have been very technical and versatile in our endeavor to work with the right influencer to work as our storyteller. So, we’re not dictated by who’s walking, but what they’re showing. Because it’s a language of selection at that moment that decides who the showstopper is going to be. I think there are many that bring a certain amount of sartorial language to their own persona. And for any influencer, that is relevant, and brings in a very strong social and emotional connect to the audience, it’s going to work best. So, it may be unfair to say that you’d like to work with a particular person. And anyway, this pandemic is going to change the way the world thinks. I think we will be a lot more humane; we will have a lot more connect with the people. And the people-to-people communication and the people-to-people camaraderie will change, will be more human. I think any brand or any person that resonates with those values, because those are the values which the brand has been needing for a few years. And I think that’s where we are heading. So, there is no particular person we can think of right now. That’s the answer.

Which actor would you love to dress up?

Shantanu: It could be anyone but would love to dress up Johnny Depp.

Who do you think is the most fashionable actress, male or female, in the film industry now?

Shantanu: Everyone is fashionable. There is so much paparazzi. There is so much visibility on how you dress up, that everyone tries to look their best. And I think India is such a sartorial country with such storytelling that I think everyone is a storyteller now. But I still feel that there is…. I don’t know about Bollywood, but if I were to look at Hollywood, it would probably be Gwyneth Paltrow. She brings in a sense of femininity and sense like no one else.

So which Bollywood actor according to you would be fantastic on the international ramps?

Shantanu: I think Aishwarya Rai has done many international brands. As somebody who represents India with a very strong lineage of what India stands for as a country, she brings in the strong cultural influence and represents our country at the global level. So, I think Aishwarya Rai pretty much sums it up for us. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for sure.

Which actor according to you can carry any style with élan?

Shantanu: I think Sonam Kapoor.