‘Actors respond to my clothes because they feel personal, not performative’

Eleven years into your label, you’ve finally opened your first store. Why did you feel you need a physical space of your own now?

It felt like the right moment to go beyond the product. There has been a growing clarity around the brand’s core – what we stand for, how we think, the kind of world we are building. With this clarity came the confidence to expand the story. I wanted to create an environment that could hold the emotions, ideas, and sensibilities behind the work, rather than relying only on the product to communicate them. Creating our own space allowed us to speak in our own voice.

Architecturally, we started with Vastu Shastra. I am an ardent believer in the science of space, energy, and alignment. I have personally witnessed the transition that occurred once we built our headquarters. That experience made me deeply conscious of how orientation, openness, and a seamless flow of energy can influence not just productivity, but emotional balance and creative clarity.

The brand has always played between polarities – past and future, refined and raw, structure and softness – and architecture became a way to hold those ideas together. Opening the store in Delhi, at The Corridors in Chattarpur, felt natural since it is closer to the headquarters. The space spans 2,000 square feet, which gives us enough room to build an experience without it feeling overwhelming. It brings together raw marble and seamless micro-concrete with softened transitions. Lighting is flushed and calibrated for accurate colour perception, while sound and fragrance are integrated subtly to shape how the space feels over time. More than functioning as a conventional retail store, the space offers a context for the brand’s offerings.

Karan Johar is among your biggest fans, he buys out your runway collection nearly every season. It is an enviable space to be as he is such a fashion snob, his taste impeccable and avant.

Karan has a very evolved eye and an instinctive understanding of fashion, so that kind of appreciation is meaningful. Over time, my team and I have developed a clear understanding of his preferences, and certain pattern blocks have been developed specifically to his measurements and preferred fit, which we consistently use when creating new pieces for him. Karan has always paid for his pieces and never sourced them, which was not so common when we started out.

At the same time, I try not to let validation influence the direction of what we do. The focus always remains on the language we are building.

You are one of the unique designers that movie stars in India actually shop at, not just borrow clothes from. Anushka Sharma was spotted in your early days with a green shirt with giant smileys from you, and now Alia Bhatt is another.

 Actors tend to respond to the clothes because they feel personal rather than performative. The visibility was undeniable, but it signals continuity rather than a moment. In the early days, Sonam Kapoor wore one of our skirts just two days after our debut show. Over time, Anushka Sharma became one of our key clients, and Alia Bhatt has also worn the brand consistently across years. What matters most to me is that they choose to shop for the clothes.

You lived in Italy and studied at Instituto Marangoni in Milan. You are also a regular at Milan Fashion Week now. I find so much in common between Italy’s and India’s fashion language – both countries are so passionate about clothing traditions, especially handmade local stuff. What similarities do you see, or differences?

Living in Italy gave me a deep respect for how seriously clothing is treated as craft and cultural expression. In that sense, Italy and India are very similar. Both have a strong relationship with making, material knowledge, and traditions that are passed down rather than reinvented every season. There is pride in workmanship and an emotional connection to clothing that goes beyond trends.

Italians often value restraint and refinement, while Indian fashion is far more layered and vibrant, with multiple histories and influences existing simultaneously. That contrast has shaped the brand. The minimal aesthetic I acquired during my time in Milan and the vibrancy of Indian craft and culture I grew up in now form two clear polarities within the brand.

I need to ask you this: showing at Milan Fashion Week can cost around Rs 1 crore each season. Do you find that it works for you as a business?

It is a certainly considered decision rather than a short-term commercial one. The cost can sometimes be much higher. From an immediate perspective, it is not always easy to justify, but the impact tends to unfold over time. The majority of our revenue comes in after the show, as it is followed by our sales campaign in Paris and it opens up opportunities that would not exist otherwise. Milan allows the brand to be part of a wider global conversation around fashion, culture, and design. That visibility and context are difficult to replicate elsewhere. For me, it works as part of a larger strategy focused on long-term relevance rather than a single-season return.

You have been dabbling in accessories for a while now, especially beautiful high-quality leather pieces. Now your store sees special spaces dedicated to leather pieces and some baubles too. Is the market for leather made by Indian brands growing significantly?

Accessories were always part of how we imagined the brand – they began as elements that completed the looks on the runway. We noticed a genuine interest in these pieces as standalone objects, which led us to consciously develop them as a separate category about three years ago.

The market for leather goods in India is growing, but it is still at a stage where hype matters far more than long-term commitment. We have continued to build leather accessories because we see them as an extension of how people live with their clothes. I was also fortunate to have access to the technical side of leather from the very beginning. My extended family has been involved in leather exports for legacy international brands, which meant that the understanding of material, construction, and quality was already in place. In the store, dedicating specific spaces to leather pieces and smaller crafted accessories show how integral these categories have become to the brand’s ecosystem.

Your clothes are ready-to-wear pieces but have couture elements in them. And I find that your clothes are really unisex, in that they borrow from either gender.

I design ready-to-wear but I approach it with the same level of care and attention that is usually associated with couture. Every piece carries a degree of handwork, the most meaningful form of value addition. Sometimes that handwork is subtle and restrained, and at other times it is deliberately ornate. I’ve always wanted to take Indian craft out of the heritage-heavy framework and present it in a way that feels relevant to a global audience. That meant allowing craft to exist across a spectrum, from quiet detailing to more heavily-worked pieces.

When it comes to gender, we don’t design with rigid boundaries in mind. Since launching menswear, the language has naturally become more fluid. Silhouettes, details, and proportions move easily across wardrobes, allowing the clothes to be worn instinctively rather than in categories.

How is Dhruv Kapoor 2.0 different? Can you have a more mass version of ready-to-wear?

Kapoor2.0 currently sits at the entry point of our brand universe. It operates at a democratic price point, and my intent was to shift our focus from heavy craft and complexity of the main line and introduce everyday silhouettes and a higher repeat value. Our core intent was to build something more scalable in terms of production over artisanal intensity and something that feels current while being rooted in the same philosophy. Kapoor2.0 is not a cheaper version of Dhruv Kapoor – it thrives in its own universe – learning and adapting from the parent brand. For example, 2.0 still explores handcraft (being one of our core values), but on its own terms keeping the ultimate retail price point in mind and without looking like machine work.

In my opinion, it is definitely possible to do a more mass version of RTW as long as it is accessible in terms of price, without diluting purpose and core values.

I want to ask you about your logo. You have taken your very common north-Indian surname and turned it into a fashion icon. How was it created?

The Devanagari logo was started as part of a seasonal release during the Covid, when attention had shifted towards sweatshirts and athleisure. At the time, I assumed it would resonate with a very limited audience – a few people from Bollywood or those who shared the same surname. But what followed surprised me. We had clients returning older pieces to have the logo tab added, because they felt that without it, the product looked incomplete and was often mistaken for a replica. We went ahead to copyright the logo. Every letter, every invitation, and every brand communication carried it consistently. Over time, that repetition built a strong sense of recall and a clear marker of the brand’s identity.

What are you reading at the moment?

I am currently shuffling between ‘The Convoluted Universe’ series by Dolores Cannon and ‘The Bhagavad Gita’ by Paramahansa Yogananda. The latter is something I have been reading for the last two years. It is slow, and it continues to offer a new perspective each time I read it.