Vijay Deverakonda to Tarun Tahiliani: The New Era of Indian Menswear | Groom Fashion

There was something quietly revelatory about Vijay Deverakonda’s pre-wedding celebrations that took place earlier this year. In the photos from his Pradhnaam and Mehendi ceremonies, the mood was steeped in intimacy, tradition and sheer beauty — and perhaps it was his wardrobe that offered a more telling glimpse into the changing codes of Indian occasion dressing. Here was a groom embracing the visual language of tradition without surrendering his contemporary sensibility. Deverakonda’s ensemble felt ceremonial. Surely it did without ever being overly prescribed. A printed silk veshti met a green-striped kurta, its plunging neckline introducing a discreet note of modernity. Over it came an embroidered jacket alive with peacocks, elephants and parrots, while a kamarbandh drew the look together at the waist. The actor was neither retreating into heritage nor attempting to echo Western minimalism. His choice occupied the space in between — and did so with confidence. That space is becoming increasingly important. Indian menswear is undergoing a particularly fascinating transformation, with designers dismantling the old distinctions between traditional and contemporary, formal and relaxed, masculine and ornamental. The familiar vocabulary of the kurta-pyjama, bandhgala, bundi and conventional shirt-and-trouser pairing is being rewritten through unexpected proportions, expressive surfaces, intricate craftsmanship and a newfound appetite for experimentation. Today, dressing up is less about adhering to a prescribed silhouette and more about constructing a point of view. Across resort, occasion and everyday wardrobes, designers are introducing a more nuanced visual language. Coordinated separates flaunt  tactile dimension through frayed threads; diamond motifs lend graphic sophistication to co-ordinated sets; relaxed polka-dot shirts bring ease to resort dressing, while oversized blue stripes and abstract graphics transform the humble button-down into something that is sure to leave an impact.  Floral tape-work embroidery, pintucks, layered appliqué and intricate surface treatments further blur the distinction between casualwear and occasion dressing. The modern Indian man, it seems, is no longer dressing within a box. He is building his own. Here’s spotlighting the designers leading from the front: 

Tarini Anand

At Tarini Anand, colour, craft and proportion are used to challenge some of menswear’s most persistent conventions. Ornamentation is no longer treated as something inherently feminine; instead, embroidery, embellishment and jewellery-like detailing become integral to the silhouette. The designer’s visual language frequently looks backwards in order to move forwards. Peacock imagery inspired by sixteenth-century Indian miniature paintings is translated into contemporary hand embroidery, including intricate kantha interpretations that lend historic references a distinctly modern sensibility. Elsewhere, wooden beads and French knots punctuate collars, while mother-of-pearl fish-shaped buttons transform a shirt fastening into a tiny moment of whimsy. Arch-inspired beadwork tracing a hem evokes the carved entrances and repeating architectural motifs of the Ajanta caves. These are not nostalgic references. They are fragments of history reassembled for a new wardrobe. And therein lies Anand’s appeal: craftsmanship becomes storytelling, while traditionally decorative elements are allowed to occupy menswear with complete confidence.

Countrymade

Countrymade approaches menswear with a distinctly more rebellious sensibility, favouring clothes that appear to have lived a life before arriving on the rack. Its language is tactile, weathered and deliberately imperfect. Naturalistic prints, lightning-inspired graphics, layered heat-map appliques and eroded hand embroidery lend shirts and overshirts an almost archaeological quality. Tonal embroidery recalls the remnants of shredded camouflage, while kantha finds a new home on denim. Traditional plaid is disrupted through frayed embroidery. Oxidised metal surfaces, burnt-effect prints and corroded, tar-like textures introduce a rawness that feels particularly relevant to the new menswear conversation. The appeal lies precisely in the tension: painstaking Indian craftsmanship meets distressed surfaces; heritage technique meets industrial decay. Countrymade’s clothes suggest that refinement need not always look polished.

Harrago 

Then comes Harrago, whose vacation vocabulary brings another kind of freedom to the conversation. Big floral motifs, sheep embroidery, kantha, crochet vests and lace-appliquéd shirts create a wardrobe that feels sun-drenched, playful and unapologetically decorative. There is a certain softness running through the silhouettes — a gentle, almost feminine undercurrent that challenges the traditional rigidity of menswear without ever becoming contrived.

Dhruv Vaish

Dhruv Vaish approaches contemporary menswear through disruption. Traditional silhouettes are given asymmetrical overlays; denim shackets are paired with shorts; familiar kurta sets are reconstructed as hybrids. The effect is subtle but significant. Symmetry, long considered a foundational principle of men’s dressing, is no longer sacrosanct. Layers can fall at different lengths. Familiar garments can merge into something new. A traditional silhouette can retain its identity while acquiring an entirely different attitude. Vaish’s work captures an increasingly important idea: contemporary menswear does not necessarily need to reinvent every garment. Sometimes, shifting the proportion is enough to change the entire conversation.

Amit Aggarwal 

When it comes to structure, few architect it quite like Amit Aggarwal. Known for transforming fabric into almost architectural forms, the designer has brought that same sculptural vocabulary into his menswear, challenging the idea that occasion dressing must necessarily be soft, symmetrical or restrained. His waistcoats, for instance, are less conventional tailoring pieces and more studies in form. A metallic sunray waistcoat appears almost engineered around the body, its surface catching the light while its sharp construction creates a striking sense of volume. In another piece, three-dimensional pleated applique bands travel across the front in interlocking, criss-cross formations, giving the garment the quality of wearable sculpture.

That language extends across his kurtas, bandhgalas and elongated jackets.  Menswear is making its message clear — the era of predictable occasion wear for men is over.

Shantanu & Nikhil

For years, Shantanu and Nikhil have occupied the vanguard of India’s contemporary menswear movement, creating a vocabulary that is as much about attitude as it is about clothing. Their strength lies in layering — not merely in the literal sense, but in the way disparate references are brought together with precision. A bandhgala thrown over a cowl-neck kurta can feel simultaneously ceremonial and directional. A pink twill-silk co-ordinated set introduces colour without compromising on sophistication, while a houndstooth silk-twill kurta set, finished with a neatly placed silk neckerchief, demonstrates how a single accessory can alter the entire rhythm of a regular ethnic ensemble. Sweatshirts, shackets and outer layers enter the conversation too, often punctuated by restrained embroidery, graphic motifs or unexpected textures. The duo create a wardrobe that simply refuses to decide whether it belongs entirely to the world of Western dressing or Indian ceremony. Instead, Shantanu and Nikhil allow the two to coexist — and, increasingly, to converse.

Tarun Tahiliani

To discuss the evolution of Indian menswear without Tarun Tahiliani would be to overlook one of its most persistent forces of reinvention. Tahiliani’s mastery of traditional occasionwear is well established, but his contribution to contemporary menswear lies in his refusal to treat heritage as a fixed proposition. His bandhgalas, sherwanis and kurta ensembles are continually softened, elongated, draped and reconfigured. Consider a classic bandhgala transformed with tonal Resham embroidery, abstract linear artwork and pearl highlights, worn with a signature draped shirt and flared trousers. Or a mirror-work sherwani layered over a fluid kurta, its cowl-like waterfall drape falling from the neckline and continuing into an asymmetrical hem below the knee. The references may be deeply Indian, but the proportions undoubtedly belong to the present. Tahiliani understands that modernity does not require abandoning tradition. Sometimes, it simply requires allowing tradition to move with time and make an impact while doing so. 

Anamika Khanna

Dismantling fashion’s established boundaries is Anamika Khanna’s forte. Her menswear occupies a space where fluidity, transparency, embroidery and asymmetry become tools of expression rather than departures from convention. Clean white silhouettes are interrupted by eruptions of print and embroidery, creating a deliberate contrast between restraint and excess. A tribal-embroidered achkan may be layered over a sheer tissue kurta while a sequinned sherwani finds unexpected companionship in a sheer nude organza kurta and high-waisted palazzo trousers. Elsewhere, asymmetrically draped kurtas meet bundis and fluid trousers, creating silhouettes that are festive and still so remarkably light on their feet. Khanna’s approach makes a compelling case for a menswear wardrobe liberated from rigid definitions of what a man should wear — and how it should fall on the body.

The future is fluid… 

What is unfolding across Indian menswear is more than a seasonal shift in silhouette. It is a change in attitude. The new Indian occasion wardrobe is increasingly expressive, layered and personal. It can be embroidered without being ornate, traditional without being conservative, relaxed without losing polish. It can borrow from resort dressing, couture, streetwear, craft and Western tailoring, then bring those influences together in a single look. Perhaps that is why the contemporary groom has become such an interesting fashion figure. Weddings, once governed by a fairly predictable hierarchy of sherwanis, bandhgalas and kurta sets, are now becoming personal style laboratories. Indian menswear is not heading away from its heritage, but deeper into it — through experimentation and a willingness to ask what happens when the rules are no longer treated as rules. The future of menswear is not about choosing between tradition and modernity. It is about making them look inseparable.

Pictures courtesy: Instagram page of Ayushmann Khurrana and websites of respective designers