Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna’s Equinox All Set To Create The Perfect ‘Couture’ Balance at ICW 2023 – News18

India Couture Week 2023: Known for striking the perfect balance between their craft and ethereal designs, fashion designer duo Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna once again are all set to create magic with their collection Equinox.

In conversation with News18, fashion designer duo Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna talk about the inspiration behind the collection, Equinox, working with new colours and finding the perfect balance to ensure couture can be worn multiple times.

Excerpts from the interview:

After a successful show last season, what’s new this year and what should we look forward to at India Couture Week 2023?

In our previous collection, we’ve been inspired greatly by architectural lines but this collection is inspired by the celestial geometry of Autumn Equinox. This collection is much more feminine, ethereal, playful, and delicate as compared to our earlier collections.

We’ve played a lot with skin tones and lighter tones whereas we are known for sharp tones and metallics. This season you’ll see a new range of colours which we bring in that we’ve never worked with before. Another interesting thing to look out for is the jewellery that we have used. It’s from Badalia Diamond’s latest collection called Celestial – a range of exquisitely hand-crafted jewellery for the modern bride and groom.

Your designs have some great stories to share, what is the story behind Equinox?

When we started working on our collection, we initially started discussing balance, time and occasions (day and night) one could wear our garments. We want our pieces to have a good balance so that one can wear them multiple times and not just once.

The idea is to create couture pieces that are a perfect balance of being couture enough and at the same can be worn on other occasions. During this discussion, we came up with Equinox. It’s a phenomenon where the sun lines up with the earth to make day and night equal halves. The concept just went with our thought process. This collection marries faith and fable, with architecture and craft to birth a collection that is equally balanced.

How would you define this collection’s silhouettes and colour shade? Have you approached a different style this season?

RGRK are known for their metallics, silvers and golds. This season we’ve experimented with a lot of colours from the shades of the sea to the dusk. We are very excited about our colours as we introduce electric blues and coppers. Copper is a colour which is a new wedding colour. Apart from silvers and gold, copper and lilacs will be the new colours of the season, which we forecast for the season.

Apart from the signature RGRK looks, you would see corset-inspired tops, micro blouses and gowns with thigh-high risqué slits. We have worked with lace for the first time which has been developed in-house by us.

Your couture designs are loved and adorned by celebrities from across the country, how does that make you feel?

Well, I think it’s a special moment when you see people wearing your garments and loving them. For us, it is the personal messages that we receive after they’ve worn that they loved wearing it, and that makes us feel special. You know, it’s not out there but these personal messages make us feel so proud and top of the world.

In the world of couture, there’s always an element of surprise that you bring to the runway. What’s the driving force behind your impeccable design sensibilities?

I think the element of surprise is creating new looks, reinventing yourself, reinventing how you see the presentations, the set design the whole work for this one 15-minute runway is a special moment for every designer and we look forward to doing it every six months. We think the element of surprise is always our garments and our showstoppers, who we work with and I think this year again, we are excited to showcase on the 29th of July.