Hyderabadis know their fashion: Kunal Anil Tanna
The celeb designer gets candid about his journey into fashion, latest collection and launching a website
The words minimalistic, elegant, subtle, classy, innovative and edgy are synonymous with the label Kunal Anil Tanna. From showcasing at the Lakmé Fashion Week summer/resort 2020 to working with an array of A-list actors such as Varun Dhawan, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Dulquer Salmaan and even superstar Rajinikanth, Kunal has made a mark for himself in men’s fashion.
The designer belongs to a family of textile developers and traders, so fashion has been embedded in him even before he realised what it actually meant and consider it as a career option. After he got a graduate degree in management, he joined National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Mumbai. “I started as a struggling student, as a lot of technical things they taught us about fashion were not things I was well-versed with. Eventually, I kept myself passionate and ended up topping my class in Mumbai and in the all-India level as well for doing menswear,” says Kunal.
“So that was a great boost for my journey, to begin with. After this I started working with eminent designers, I was styling for films, doing mainstream collections and wedding orders. I was groomed academically as well as on the floor. That gave me a good catapult start to begin my career as my own label,” he adds.
His label has since focused on developing new textures and picking new stories from which they inspire and conceptualise their collections. Kunal’s new collection is based on how a person’s state of mind is – idle and ideal. “It’s deriving its inspiration from the absolute contrast between these two states of mind. We are developing an array of textures,” shares Kunal.
Kunal’s forte is menswear; he says that he enjoys working on it the most. “It’s a lot more complicated and complex to do menswear than womenswear. In menswear, there are too many restrictions, and the challenge of playing within the restrictions and creating something new is something that I enjoy doing,” he says. Amalgamating comfort wear within dressy wear is the current fashion trend, he says. “Minimalism is going to be back in a big way too,” he adds.
The designer feels that Hyderabad is a beautiful market and would love to have a store here in the future. “A lot of people say that Delhi is the best market to sell, but I feel Hyderabad is much better than Delhi. People in Hyderabad understand fashion and the worth of it. Fashion is not just about buying an outfit, but wearing it in a certain way and holding to its actual core essence. That’s what I’ve seen people in Hyderabad do,” he shares.
Apart from fashion, life experiences excite Kunal. “I love communicating with different kinds of people. A lot of times, an out-of-the-blue conversation can inspire you in a major way. Travelling and cooking are my other passions,” adds Kunal, who is prepping up to launch his own website in the coming days.
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