Fashion has Become Less of Fashion and More About the Influencers: Narendra Kumar | Exclusive

Fashion designer Narendra Kumar’s three decades of telling stories through fashion, has seen the designer win hearts globally. From styling Priyanka Chopra Jonas in Fashion to showcasing his fashion film 2 + 2 = 5 at the Berlin Fashion Film Festival in 2022, Nari’s, as he is fondly known as, design sensibilities have been an extension of his creative personality.

In an exclusive interview with News18, fashion designer Narendra Kumar talks about fashion through the social media lens, telling stories through his creations and launching Tamiska, a premium designer wear brand for the woman of today.

Excerpts from the interview:

You come with three decades of iconic styles and designs, how have you managed to keep it real all these years?

While the clothes were always relevant to times we lived in , it was the stories that were built around each of them, arrived at by listening to what was happening around me at all times, connecting the dots and bringing them to life. The stories are what coloured them while the clothes remained real. Moreover I never dwelt over the past, it was what was ahead of that really what I was excited about.

You once said ‘your clothes are always my superstars’, tell us more about your new designer wear brand Tamiska? And what’s the story behind the name?

I have always looked at my fashion as a way to transfer my energy onto others who bought into my vision. Tamiska is about taking this vision to a larger consumer and addressing the evolving and upwardly mobile women who look at style not just for a special occasion but from day to night whether it’s behind a camera or on the dance floor through a story of colour told with prints. Tamiska is a sieve through which I will hopefully filter my vision of a colourful world full of energy. It also happens to be an acronym for some of my favourite people who share this vision.

Known for your androgynous silhouettes and vibrant prints, where do you draw your inspiration from?

Clothing for me has first and foremost been about dressing the mind and then the body. My unified vision of the body is all about the curve and how one can gracefully caress or exaggerate it. Inspiration comes from how and what is changing in the environment, dance, music, books, protest or even a love letter.

Storytelling has played an integral part of your design journey. Be it your fashion shows or fashion films, you have always narrated a tale in style. What drives youto create something unique each time?

A fashion show or film is meant to transport one into another space of time. Clothes mean nothing without a story, living someone’s or creating one’s own. No collection or film begins without a story as it adds value, gives it a direction, from colour to silhouette and finally provides the engagement. We are lucky to be living in a fast evolving world and inspiration is everywhere around us, if we are willing to look.

What do you feel about fashion weeks post Covid?

Fashion has become less of fashion and more about the influencers. While they, as in influencers, make it more democratic, there is very little depth to the story they tell about the collection, its inspiration, the designers evolution or even the vision. It is not so great for the wonderfully talented young designers with no one really there to qualify their work. Design has more meaning to the designer, I believe, than like and share.

Today, everyone sees fashion through social media. Is there anything you miss from the good old days, you would like to bring back in 2023?

Fashion is about evolution and change and I accept it wholeheartedly and the fact that there are multiple aspects of this all at once makes it exciting. More options to tell your own stories. What I would really like to see is the spirit of anticipation one had for a fashion week. Fashion for the sake of fashion and not for likes.

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