The Tailor's son
The son of a tailor, the apprentice of a master has the busiest stall at Fashion Week.
Aseem Kapoor grew up in Gurgaon, when it was still a village on the outskirts of Delhi.
With little to occupy Kapoor's time and mind, he spent lazy afternoons at his father’s small tailoring shop. His father didn’t have formal training, but apprenticed under a tailor in Delhi in the 1970s. Building from the little he’d picked up at the job, he established himself as the first menswear tailor in Gurgaon. In that small setup, where he cut patterns and a tailor did the stitching, coats and jackets were crafted for a society that was slowly awakening to a modern aesthetic.
The impact this had on Kapoor was immense. As a young boy, he visited the place often. Cycling back from school, he dropped by his father’s shop, observing the work and learning from it.
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In school, Kapoor was immediately drawn to art. “I was more of a loner, so I used to keep sitting, sketching, and that's how I used to pass my time,” he recalls. Life in Gurgaon was slow at the time, and Kapoor found inspiration for his sketches in nature. Often he’d also imagine the world outside of Gurgaon and sketch architecture. Not only was art an escape but it was also a source of revenue. When a computer arrived in his final year at school, Kapoor drew comics and his classmates bought them from him.
“That’s how I made my first pocket money,” he says.
A chance meeting with seniors from his school who returned as alumni and their stories from design schools such as NIFT and NID, pushed Kapoor towards entertaining the possibility of an education in a creative field.
This was also one of the first instances in which he could imagine himself building upon the work done by his father.
“I saw my father in a tailoring space and began to imagine a textile and fashion space,” he says. Uncertain about the future he was resolute that he’d be an artist or designer, and that’s how he ended up in NIFT studying menswear. In his final project titled Wandering Tribes Gather No Dust, Kapoor paid homage to nomads and their patina of colours, which went on to win best menswear that year. After working at Tarun Tahiliani for fifteen years, he launched his own label.
Aseem Kapoor’s tagline is direct in its message: Think Global, Act Tribal. This has also allowed him to pursue his own aesthetic. When he imagines a collection, his starting point is not a look but inspiration sought from a book or a period in art. Often his research has little to do with textile, but emerges from socioeconomics or art. It’s upon that foundation that Kapoor imagines the textile, structure and shape.
“It’s always a combination of multiple things that inspire a collection,” he says.
With his next collection due soon, Kapoor feels a sense of freedom. Something as simple as a white shirt can have a designer’s aesthetic. “All I have to do is be honest to myself,” he says.
Alia Allana
Alia Allana is the chief reporter of Object.
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