TARUN TAHILIANI – Celebrating the Silver Years

Meher Castelino talks to the design icon about his formative years as a designer, his weakness for drapes and his crazy love for fabrics…

- Meher Castelino

Tarun Tahiliani has always believed in being a pioneer, not a follower. When he launched Ensemble in 1987 as a multi-designer high fashion store, people were skeptical of its success. There had never been anything like this in India, where popular fashion haunts were mostly multi-brand department stores, Mom and Pop run shops or a few solo designer outlets. Despite all the doubt met by people, Ensemble today has become one of the top stores in the country; while Tarun who is celebrating 25 years of its success, has become one of the top couturiers in India.

Tarun’s fashion knowledge at the start of his career was a little inadequate. His business management degree from Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania helped him to run the family’s engineering business. But deep down his artistic urge to draw and paint encouraged him to start Ensemble and even went into fashion designing with his Ahilain label. He has always had a weakness for drapes and loves to play with fabrics. However, his creative experiments often proved a little expensive for the Indian women who were used to shelling out a few hundred rupees for an outfit. Quickly realizing this, Tarun started Angor – The Ensemble Design Studio that would meet the requirements of the thrifty Indian woman’s needs.

Ensemble’s first shows in 1988-89 unveiled Tarun’s diaphanous drapes. But in 1990 it was the slinky sexy look that brought him into the limelight. Styling has always been Tarun’s strong point and so his mandarin style hairdos and exotic headgears along with the garments led to quite a unique ramp show.

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