The Style Dictator

Stylist to many celebrities and personalties, Geeta Khanna in association with her company Hirumchi Styling and Hachette India, has released Style of India, a coffee table book that chronicles the evolution of fashion. She speaks to us on her journey of styling and the making of the book.

- Priyanka Banerjee

What inspired you to come up with a coffee table book on style? Was it easy to research and capture so many eras, genres and stalwarts of fashion and style in one book?

As an idea, Style of India burgeoned due to my stint in New York. People often asked me about Indian fashion–it was restricted to saris, Bollywood or a few popular Indian designers. I realised that abroad people were unaware of how talented and progressive Indian creative professionals are. There was very little information on the body of work that had evolved over thousands of years. It then occurred to me that there is no ‘modern presentation’ of India out there for them to see, when it came to style and fashion—just various snippets. And this was not just about foreigners. In India too, there was no unifying work that brought the various elements together in a single accessible point. Yes, it was challenging to find a ‘method to the madness’–India with its diversity, parallel fashion and culture phenomena. I think it was easier to simply take the historic timeline approach and weave around it, which is what I did.

How long did it take to complete the book? Were there any challenges or any discouragement at any point?

The thought was brewing since 2007, but I started working on the book full time end 2010. I think I had the ‘beginners’ luck initially, and landed a publisher and a sponsor for my first shoot for the book, even before I started working on the manuscript. But things were very rough 2013 onwards, and several things that I had not anticipated started to emerge. I was frustrated enough at a point to simply ‘sell’ off the entire work of three years…but I held back.

What aspects of fashion did you encapsulate in the book that you think are otherwise forgotten or neglected, when we speak on this and its related subjects?