“I find most people badly dressed”: Karan Johar

Mumbai: Going by the number of celebrities spilling out of their luxury cars, you know it is a high-profile event at Mumbai’s Mehboob Studios. They’re all here to attend an exclusive preview of a fashion line designed by one of Bollywood’s favourite people, Karan Johar.

After designing a men’s wear collection with Varun Bahl five years ago, Karan’s back to what he calls his “passion and hobby”.

Only this time, it is a women’s collection called Marquee, for women’s apparel brand Vero Moda.

Seated in his vanity van right before the show starts, he tells us that the collection is “chic, affordable, edgy and has a bit of bling”. He blames the last bit on his Sindhi genes. “I believe what shines is solid,” he says pointing at the sequenced lapel on his black tuxedo.

Lured by the magic of fabric and weaves at a very young age, Karan tells us that fashion was a part of him since he was child. “Children my age used to read all other kinds of material and books, but I used to read about fashion. Since I was 150 kilos when I first stepped in Bollywood, I didn’t have much of a choice when it came to clothing, so I lived vicariously through cinema,” he says. It was his sartorial love interests that later took him to London right before the making of his directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

“It was the first time that someone was flying abroad to get clothes for a Hindi film. Back then when you spoke about fashion, people thought you were demented. My father was appalled by the idea. But I was determined to have colourful clothes in the film, so Manish (Malhotra) and I looked through sports stores to pick up GAP sweatshirts and Polo T-shirts. We could only afford high street brands at that time.”

The director-turned-designer tells us that filmmaking however, remains his first love. “I turn to design as a hobby and a passion. I took a break from it for as long as I did because there was so much more happening in my life. But I almost feel like picking up the phone and telling Shah Rukh that I am ready to design once more. I’ve worked with him as a designer for over 8-10 films and I would love to do it again. If Mr Bachchan called me in the middle of the night and asked me to design for him (I have designed for him in the past), then I would readily take that up as well because I am a big fan of his style and of course the actor that he is. He is one person who can carry of anything with equal panache,” he says. 

How does he describe his personal style? “My personal wardrobe is simple and formal. I wear a lot of blacks and suits. But I do have a take on women’s fashion and that is what my collection is about.” he says adding that women today need to start dressing for nobody but themselves. “Women need to stop dressing for their husbands, boyfriends and other women. I know a lot of women who will wear something hoping that their best friends will notice it. Marquee is for the woman who likes to dress for herself. Only if you feel beautiful from the outside can you feel beautiful from the inside,” he asserts.

Speaking of women who dress for others, who is the one person in the industry he thinks could use a wardrobe makeover? “Farah Khan. I can say this because she is a very dear friend. I keep teasing her about the kurtas she wears.”

In an industry that today lays so much importance on fashion, how common is it to spot fashion a disaster, we ask him. “Oh they’re everywhere. I find most people badly dressed — either the styling is off or what they’re wearing is wrong. They think they can pull a look out of a catalogue and wear it, but no. You’ll spot ten walking fashion disasters when you step out of this van,” he says as he makes his way out to introduce his latest creations.