Unlike his predecessors, the millennial Indian groom is not one to happily hand over the wedding shopping reins to his future wife. Sartorially enlightened, he too has a vision for his ideal wedding-day wardrobe. Indian weddings have long had the reputation of being a big, grand affair. Everything from the venue, menu, and especially, the impeccable choices, are expected to be opulent and grand. But of late, there’s been an apparent shift from this idea- grooms today are gravitating towards a more minimal, younger and shall we dare say modern approach for their ensembles. They are moving away from that quintessential bulky attire in favour of gossamer options—it’s all about less is more. To make this idea come to life, Kunal Rawal has unveiled his assemblage for the Wedding Season this year. The Wedding Edit consists of 155 looks that range from deep-rooted traditional to modern luxury. Catering to every aesthetic, the wide range of pieces highlights the versatility of the brand, demonstrates the adaptability of the product, and showcases the functionality of the pieces. Booti Kurtas, festive sweatshirts, Jacket style Kurtas and contemporary Shirt Jackets or Shackets take centre stage in the creations by Kunal Rawal’s eponymous label. The collection includes tonal pieces adorned with 3D textures, a variety of threadwork and metallic highlights fusing a streak of grunge with traditional silhouettes. The assortment is embellished with combination embroideries, double back detailing, that have been paired with a broad spectrum of colours— Olive, Rust, elements of Grey, deep dark Wines, military tones and Pastels and black paired together. In terms of fabrics, the garments in the collection are brought to life with the richness of velvet and almost suede - introduced in the designer’s distinctive style. Through this conclave, Kunal Rawal has successfully weaved stories of a groom rooted in tradition but moving in tandem with the current times. It highlights the pillars of the label—variety, versatility and luxury. The garments feature body cheat patterns, keeping the looks tonal as the men today prefer a cleaner and a tone-on-tone look that enhances his personality.
The launch of the Wedding Edit finally celebrates the man, presenting him with optionality and access that he hasn’t seen before in the ethnic landscape. Whether it is the complexity of the embroidery, intricacy of the shape, uniqueness of the cut, or distinctiveness of the print, the wedding edit shows that the Kunal Rawal brand is all-encompassing - fulfilling the range of your needs for your distant friend’s modern pre-wedding cocktail party to your own traditional royal wedding.
About Kunal Rawal Label: Kunal Rawal Label is a luxury Indian contemporary brand that has become popular for its non-conformist and multi-functional approach toward design; the brand speaks volumes for its cultivated imperfection and unconventional aesthetic while being deeply rooted in its Indian culture. Armed with knowledge of construction, silhouette and textiles he opened his first store Dstress a youthful mens contemporary wear label. Parallel to Dstress, Kunal forayed into costume designing for several prominent personalities in the Hindi film industry. A natural ’next step’ in his journey was to create an ethnic-evening wear collection for the modern Indian man. With Kunal Rawal Label he taps into the need for collections that offer versatility and varied silhouettes by constantly exploring and reinterpreting the basic foundation of garment structure. With signature design elements like knotting techniques, tonal palates and clever play on textures, Kunal Rawal designs are understated and sophisticated. The brand’s embroidery techniques such as French knots, appliquéing, pleating, metallic work, to name a few, have garnered recognition within Indian fashion circuit and beyond. Experimental design aesthetic combined with the designer’s expansive knowledge of Indian market has resulted in strong brand positioning for Kunal Rawal Label. The brand caters to progressive Indian men by offering immense variety across seasons, geographies and occasions. The product categories range from sherwanis, jackets, bundi sets, kurta sets, bandhgalas, waist coats in numerous colour ways and design variations per collection. Multi-utility of every Kunal Rawal garment sets the brand apart from its peers; every piece can be adapted to one’s style aesthetic to express individuality. Kunal Rawal showcases his collections at Lakme Fashion Week ever since he showcased in the first batch of Gen Next designers. Celebrities like Anil Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Siddharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan, Prateik Babbar and more have closed the show for Kunal Rawal. The brand has not only been worn by most Alisters in India but also the likes of artist Pharrell Williams, comedian Hasan Minhaj, designer Michael Russo, Edouard Guerrand Hermès of Hermès, Senior VP at Apple Eddy Cue, BOF Founder Imran Ahmed and many more.
