Top Notch | Shantnu and Nikhil Mehra: 'We were always very ‘anti-trend’, didn’t want to do what others were doing'

WHEN brothers Shantanu and Nikhil Mehra sat down together in Los Angeles – after they had both finished their respective education in Business and Fashion respectively – they jointly decided they would return to India because the market in their home country “needed them”. Little did they know how precinct their words would be.

They returned to an Indian fashion industry that was just taking shape. Bridal designers were thriving, but the idea of a fashion designer was just someone who made clothes for private clients. Fashion weeks would soon be born, giving a cohesion and direction to Indian design. “Things were quite colourful in the Indian fashion scene, and we were quite dense,” Nikhil, the younger of the two at 48 and their company’s creative head says. “We were always very ‘anti-trend’, we didn’t want to do what others were doing. We brought in a European colour palette, in decadent rubies and rich emeralds, and we focused on modern silhouettes not Indian wear.”

For the brothers, where one came from design and the other from business, was a boon to their first label ‘Shantanu and Nikhil’. “We looked at that as our strength. We had an entrepreneurial spirit, and wanted to do something out of the box,” Shantanu, 50, agrees. (He has begun to spell his name as ‘Shantnu’ for numerological reasons, he adds.)

The Mehra men were among the young rebels of Indian fashion at the time. When everyone made lehengas and embroidered saris, the Shantanu & Nikhil label introduced to us a more sartorial journey, clothes that a young and contemporary was wearing. “It was tough six-seven years at the start,” Nikhil explains. “We were making clothes for the 24- to 30-year-olds. At the time, their parents were still making decisions for them.” But the brothers were successful in introducing western wear in Indian fashion labels, especially the concept of cocktail wear.

It was no surprise then that as early as 2019, the Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited picked up a 51 percent stake in the label as a strategic partnership. The Mehra brothers were the first Indian fashion designers to be invested in by a corporate group. “We were very lucky, as they give us a supply-chain facilitation, which every designer brands struggles with. This is a great way to back creativity with scale, and it’s given us wings to fly,” Nikhil says.
Their growth in just three years (two of which were largely under the pandemic cloud) is palpable. They have gone from five flagship couture stores, to 16 stores today and 10 more opening in less than a year. They were able to launch a more accessible, bridge-to-luxury label called ‘S&N’, and they were able to achieve a direct-to-consumer connect via a strong digital presence.

They have also launched their own version of bridalwear, in a uniquely titled line called ‘Capella’, or as Shantnu spells out “the brightest star in the galaxy, much like a bride on her wedding day”.

This week also sees them launch a fabulous new concept, the Shantnu and Nikhil Cricket Club. It’s a lux sportswear line that’s an homage to India’s love for cricket. “Sports have always been part of our childhood– both of us were Delhi state-level swimmers, and both of us were cricket captains at our school,” Nikhil says. “We dressed cricketers in 2004. Irfan Pathan was just 18-19 then. Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Kaif, we dressed them all. In fact Zaheer just called me today to say he thinks SNCC is just ‘insane’,” Nikhil smiles. “We were surprised a design house didn’t have a cricket line already. Cricket is India’s most favourite sport and our preferred party conversation too,” he laughs.

Shantnu adds that SNCC was part of their plan to reach out to more people. “We feel all global Indians should wear at least one outfit from us, and couture cannot do that,” he avers. “We don’t want to reach the bottom of the pyramid but rather that sweet spot where more people have access to stylish things. We are offering a watered down version of our two main buckets: party and contemporary India.”

The SNCC line is a preppy, varsity-style aesthetic. “A spiffy luxe, with a range of accessories around it. It also gives us our third bucket, which is lifestyle,” Shantnu says.

Twenty-two years later, Shantanu and Nikhil Mehra have built a small fleet of labels celebrating their own design language. Their women are romantic and fierce, their men are slightly softer. “There’s always a balance in the play of fabric for us, like woven and knitted together. There is always a drape somewhere that defines the flow of the human body. It’s a little less Disneyland, a lot more Saoirse from GoT,” the two laugh.

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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