Kanika Goyal: 'A sneaker could be a luxury item'

FRESH off the New York Fashion Week runway, and a new mass label coming up, Kanika Goyal is arguably the best year ever. And to think, the Chandigarh-raised designer got into fashion to escape her conservative small town, and a family that would have chosen an arranged marriage over all this success.

“I love the family values that my family gave me, especially a sense of discipline. But it was all so patriarchal,” Goyal 33, smiles. “I was in third grade when I realised I could draw. Thankfully my mother pushed me into art and craft. That was how I could express myself, because in a joint family of 17 people, no one could really have a voice.”

Growing up in Panchkula, outside Chandigarh, had its challenges. Goyal (her eponymous label has been rechristened KG Label) knew she wanted to leave, and getting into a fashion school would be a great way out. “I started training classes for NIFT, these would basically give us mock tests so you couldn’t get overwhelmed and knew what to expect at the entrance exam,” Goyal laughs. She got into NIFT, New Delhi, not in the fashion program but a general design program. “It was Space and Lifestyle Accessories which was master of none and jack of all. I just took it. New Delhi was as far as my family would let me go. It was either that or an arranged marriage,” she laughs.

Living in the capital city opened up a world of opportunities for her. By the time she graduated, she had applied to Parsons School of Design, the legendary New York fashion college. She got in with a scholarship, and there was no stopping her.

New York changed everything. It changed the under-confident introvert that Goyal was. She finally studied garments, real fashion, including tailoring from 88-year-old Italian professor. “New York surprised me. It was such a melting pot of so many different cultures and continents. I went only to study, to learn and come back and start my own business. But I made great friends, some of whom I even supply to today. Cities really teach you how to look for opportunities.”

Goyal learned at some of the best places to be at. She interned with Bibhu Mohapatra, the most famous Indian designer in New York, who she calls “like family”.

She learned draping at Marchesa. “Their library was filled with Indian books, because they had all this amazing surface experimentation,” Goyal remembers. “They got us to stitch the same garment and present it to them, so we had a lot of freedom to experiment.” Then, at Prada, she learned visual merchandising.

Going back to New York and showing at its prestigious fashion week was a long-held dream. KG Label is among the most international Indian fashion brands. It’s bold and “euphoric”, according to its designer. Menwsear and women’s wear A focus on vivid colour and exaggerated tailoring. Its high-quality suits, knitwear, streetwear inspired dresses, with a dash of India in its handmade stitching and textures. “But lightened up, it’s all fun and easy with a great tone of humour. And we do a lot of typography too, that comes from a personal space because when I went to New York, I just wanted to speak my heart out,” Goyal adds. “It is very youth-centric, it’s an emotion we are selling and people like to catch on that vibe.”

Her NYFW collection, ‘Agrestal Mind’, had oversize jackets, sheers, denims, and amoebic motifs. “Agrestal means something cultivated in a restricted space, and still going crazy. It’s an after-rave kind of mood. It’s crazy emotions, but not hallucinations, more like a conversation with yourself. We like to tap into human psychology, we tried converting emotions into colour, paradoxical materials, proportion play and a gender fluid approach. And there’s denim, I just cannot have enough denim,” she adds, laughing. Goyal’s fashion dips its women’s wear into menswear, and she admits to sharing clothes with her husband, restaurant entrepreneur Ankit Tayal too.

Tailoring in India is a hard sell, no? “Yes, because we are such a tropical country. I worked with wool, neoprenes and polyester and India loves its cottons and linens. Now we have softened our clothing for our market,” Goyal explains. New York is interesting because Goyal says she has a gut feeling about the US market.

“I’ve had connects there. I’ve worked with Bibhu and I know the format. We worked in paris with a sales agency but I always felt the USA had more of my vibe,” she avers. “That said, I am testing different markets.”

Goyal has launched a new vertical cleverly called Kilogram. It’s a more mass label, with price points that go as low as Rs 2,500. “It has the potential of being a unicorn, so I am very excited about it,” the designer says. “I want to create a whole K-Gram universe, and invite people to our universe. It’s a world of neo luxury, a new definition of the word. A sneaker could be a luxury item, we are bending rules and changing connotations.”

Namrata Zakaria is a seasoned writer and editor, and a chronicler of social and cultural trends. Her first book, on late fashion designer Wendell Rodricks’ Moda Goa museum, is due to be published shortly. Zakaria is especially known for her insider’s take on fashion, luxury and social entrepreneurship in India. Her writing is appreciated for shaping opinions, busting myths, making reputations and sometimes breaking the odd career. Zakaria is also involved in putting together philanthropic efforts in the field of economic and environmental sustainability.

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