In an industry dominated by weddings and what brides want, it’s a pleasant surprise to hear that 80% of Atsu Sekhose’s clothes are sold in markets in the Middle-East, where a merging of the classic and some embellishment sell well. He doesn’t have a standalone brick-and-mortar store and launched his online portal only earlier this year. After 10 years of being in the business, the designer, now in his 30s, doesn’t show the slightest hint of ‘prosperity’, because running and cycling are his go-to stress-busters.
That’s the sort of body he likes to dress too: fit women who are healthy and toned, he says, candidly, not succumbing to the pressure of being politically correct. It feeds into his identity as a designer: classic silhouettes with a modern twist. “I take inspiration from my roots and people associate that with me, so I always keep my essence,” he says, as he returns to his green tea on a table in Civil House, the Khan Market store that curates collections and acts as a pop-up space for special shows, is hosting his 10-year-celebrations.
In the evening, models walk through the party, displaying his autumn-winter 2017 cocktail-dress collection. The waist is in focus this year all around the world, and belted garments, both pastel and winter-shimmer do the rounds amidst sangria and qineoa cake.
He’s come some way, he says. “I started off as a hard-core ready-to-wear designer, and I never wanted to do anything else. When you’re young, you are stuck up and will say, ‘I will never do this or that.’ Then you realise you need to cater to the needs of buyers and clients. So if a customer comes to me and says ‘I want to wear an Atsu for my wedding,’ I’m not going to refuse her.”
His designs are often easy to spot: they’ll have tassels or a red-black-white colour story or colour blocking, all elements from shawls in his home state, Nagaland. But he’ll also do a lot of mixed textures and structured, fitted clothes. He is often inspired by places his travels take him to, like the origami-inspired dress after his return from Japan. Everyone from Sonam Kapoor to Freida Pinto has worn his clothes around the world.
Favourite pieces
On display are his favourite pieces from a decade of work: a deep-hued raw silk chrome ankle-grazer with a black bodice and embellishment, or a black number with an embroidered hornbill. “We sat at his Surajkund studio and pulled out some iconic clothes from suitcases to have them displayed,” says Suwbha Chopra, the founder of Civil House, who co-curated the show with Sekhose. Clients will sometimes request for repeats with a tweak and he’s ready for those re-order now. He lifts the hem of a cocktail dress, all black sequinned. Holding it down is a weave of flowers in red and green, the same sort as you’ll find on a mekhla. “This takes over two months to make, so a lot of what we do is small capsules,” he says. It’s not all North-East India though.
Atsu Sekhose with Suwbha Chopra, founder of Civil House
With a mum who read Vogue much before it launched in India, college at NIFT, growing into a professional at Tarun Tahiliani’s, it’s almost logical he’d start his own label. “There have been ups and downs,” he says, especially since he is a Western-wear designer in a sari-ed eco-system. “He has always stuck to his guns and has never given into the pressure of commercialisation,” says Edward Lalrempuia, currently fashion director at Harper’s Bazaar, who picked out Sekhose’s clothes for an editorial shoot for Elle magazine, back when the label was launched in 2007. “He’s always classic, always beautifully finished, and always focussed on what he likes.” On his part, Sekhose says he has learnt from his stylists. “They help you see another point of view, and sometimes take a garment in another direction,” he says.
While 10 years may not be a long period in international terms, it is a landmark in India. “What I love about his work is how he interprets femininity so well. In our country, to have a purely Western aesthetic is remarkable. He has a great understanding of the masters – Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and the tools of the trade: shape, proportioning and silhouette,” says Amit Aggarwal, a designer who was a year junior to Sekhose in college, towards the late 1990s and early 2000s. “I think he’s probably the first Indian designer to introduce a bow that actually worked!”
