Pranay Jaitly and Shounak Amonkar Made A Classic Couture Debut; Say, “Working with Abu

From watching an Abu Sandeep show for the first time in 2015 to styling the designer duo’s show, which also marked their couture show debut, Pranay Jaitly and Shounak Amonkar who are founders of the fashion consultancy, Who Wore What When, styled their way into everyone’s hearts at Indian Couture Week 2024 in New Delhi.

Calling it ‘Completing a full circle’, Pranay shares with News18 the experience of working with Abu Sandeep, styling 120 garments for the show, styling Wamiqa Gabbi and Taha Shah Badussha’s showstopper looks and the changes he would like to see in the fashion industry.

Tell us about the experience styling Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla’s show for India Couture Week 2024?

It feels like we completed a full circle. The first ever show we saw when we came back from Milan in 2015 was a Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla show, which also happened in Delhi. Cut to now, we styled our first ever couture show ASAL and Mard by Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, so the experience will always stay with us. It was lovely, we had 120 garments on the ramp, two celebrities and a pool of delightful models and the OGs were there. The energy was fabulous.

How was it working with Abu Sandeep?

Working with Abu Sandeep has always been a delight. They are such wonderful people, and are always open to ideas. The best part is that they personally take out time to sit and chat and have multiple discussions and meetings till we all agree on something such as what we think will do justice to the collection we are shooting or the pieces that we are working with. And that’s what we absolutely enjoy about them.

If you had to define the collection and how it resonated with your styling aesthetic, how would you describe it?

Rani aur Raj Kumar, the ASAL and MARD collection by Abu Sandeep, actually also defines what clothing is to us. It is like how we like to see clothes, heritage, embroidery, and colours. It’s so true to our Indian heritage and bridal wear. The bright colours, the textile drapes, the contrast of the embroidery. It is beautiful right? It somewhere aligns with our styling aesthetics because we tend to always go back to the classics and add a little bit of today and that’s exactly what this collection also was.

Styling for a couture show has its share of challenges till the last model walks on the runway, any moments from the show that were nerve wracking?

The fact that this was our first ever couture show, that was nerve wracking. We were being ambitious and wanted to have multiple hair changes on the ramp and we did succeed to do that in the limited time period we had. The good part was that we had over 80 models walking because of which the repeat models were fewer and that really helped us with styling each one properly before they walked down the runway.

The last section was hectic for us, that is when the bridal lehengas were shown on the runway and all of the models had a change and the second change of their bridal [looks] had dupattas, veils and drapes. So to make sure everything is in place and no drape moves and no pin opens, or dupatta falls was very important for us. I am glad it all worked out well.

It was quite an elaborate show featuring intricate designs and jewellery. Which were your favourite pieces from the collection you loved styling?

There were multiple pieces I enjoyed styling. A lot of those pieces were special to me. The white trail lehenga with the pearl blouse that Wamiq Gabbi opened the show with was special to me. We along with Abu and Sandeep sir came up with the idea of the pearl cap as a hoodie which was an accessory on Wamiqa.

We didn’t want her to be accessorised with jewellery. This pearl hoodie turned out to be something that complemented the look very well. The last look on the runway worn by Carol Gracias was an impactful look. She carried it extremely gracefully. Taha’s [Shah Badussha] entry featuring the multiple birds on his kurta was something we really enjoyed.

Apart from the clothes, it’s also the choreography, music and styling that brings it all together, how different is the experience off the runway?

Working behind the runway and having to put everything else together on the day of the show is definitely different. We were involved in the entire process from shooting of the campaign to hearing the music [composed by Akshay Raheja and IP Singh], once it was ready. Sandeep sir was kind enough for us to be involved in it, for us to help make the spotify album layout. From us to being a part of rehearsals. Abu was kind enough to take our input. It is teamwork that honestly puts everything together. We are so glad that we got to work with such brilliant people and they really knew what they were doing.

Styling as an industry has evolved over the years, the changes you have seen in fashion and the changes would you like to see in the future?

Styling as an industry has definitely evolved over the years. We are very new to it, we are not even a decade old but we are fortunate to have done everything that we have. To meet the kind of people that we have. What I think has changed is the presence of styling and the work that is curated on social media.

I think what I would like to see as a change is the accessibility of the brands to talented actors. Over the years, we have faced this issue with a lot of our clients where they have been refused to be dressed in by a few designers because they aren’t the mainstream cinema actors.