Our queen of prints, Masaba Gupta, 33, hasn’t let the pandemic stop her from growing her brand. Right from her digital debut with the first season of Masaba Masaba on Netflix back in August 2020 to her Fashion Week participation to her most recent collab with Nykd by Nykaa, where she printed milk cartons on sleepwear, Gupta has been busy indeed.
At House of Masaba, nostalgia has been given its due with the palm, the cow and her other popular motifs, but florals are in abundance too. Last month saw a festive line for The Masaba Man, where the campaign had model Robbie Mairh rocking both lavender and a nose ring. “It is not really about breaking the rules. It is about making people comfortable with the idea of doing whatever they want to do, whether they want to wear a nose pin or don’t or wear kajal or don’t. I don’t think there are rules anymore,” says Gupta, who also launched Autumn Winter 2021 collections for Masaba Woman and Masaba Jewels (a gender-neutral line in gold).
More from the designer on her menswear that sees habutai silk, natural crêpe fabrics and inspiration from kashida embroidery:
From 2019 to now, from denim kurtas to golden blooms, how has your menswear changed?
Men have changed in a big way. They have become much more experimental and are owning themselves. They are wearing colours and prints. As our audience and consumers changed, we had to change ourselves also.
Have you made any adjustments to this collection, keeping destination weddings in mind?
We don’t do heavy, hot fabrics. Men are particular about what fabric feels like on their skin. Keeping that in mind, we have used a lot of natural crepes and light silks.
What has been missing in Indian menswear and what can we expect this year?
Men are not fussy dressers. They want simple and straightforward. Brands interpret [this] as boring and that is not the case. So what is missing is something that is simple and straightforward but exciting. That is what we are offering. It is a basic kurta, but it is a lot more exciting with the prints, colours, and our style. It is a huge segment, and it will grow tremendously in 2022. Also, for many years, womenswear has experimented with androgyny, but menswear has not. It was my way of mixing androgyny in menswear. We are a brand that is constantly evolving.
Masaba Man is priced from ₹9,000. houseofmasaba.com
