Creativity is like sugar: Raghavendra Rathore

Founder of the Raghavendra Rathore brand and RR FoundationAll my colleagues in the industry tell me that they always knew this is what they wanted to do But my life was very different Before I went to Hampshire College I had hardly seen three English movies While growing up I was allowed one hour of television a day I had absolutely no exposure to the fashion industry I had never drawn doll figuresrdquo reveals Raghavendra Rathore the dapper designer who is showcasing his latest womenswear line in the city today and will launch a new store at the Taj Mahal Palace hotels by end of this monthRaghavendra Rathore is coming up with a new store at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotels this month PicBipin KokateHailing from a royal family of Jodhpur Rajasthan Rathore finished his Intermediate from Mayo College and left for Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts to pursue higher studies in electronics and robotics Life was almost how it was supposed to be although he was the first in the family to make the transatlantic trip for higher studies But a change was around the cornerA posh startAlthough he was born into royalty his father Maharaj Shri Swaroop Singh and mother Rani Usha Singh Rathore made it sure he remained rooted in reality ldquoThey never forced me to take conventional paths There was no ROI return of investment ever discussedrdquo says the 47yearoldAnd the liberal atmosphere of Hampshire College gave his creativity the wings it needed ldquoIt was a uniquely designed course where we were taught how to design a phone but not necessarily the hardware part of it I could sketch very well and my advisors in college encouraged me to focus more on that and eventually I got into product designrdquo says Rathore However his parents wanted their son to be independent and after the first semester he was asked to lsquofigure out his own financersquo Hampshire was one of the most expensive colleges ldquoI couldnrsquot afford it anymore so by the end of the semester I started looking for colleges that would give me financial aidrdquoLearning arts and painting housesMarlboro College in Vermont fitted the bill and he took up a course in fine arts Apart from exploring the works and techniques of the great masters of European Art here he got exposed to various practical sides of designing He would take up odd jobs to earn some extra cash Although related to designing these were as diverse as fixing old engines of broken down cars to painting old housesRaghavendra Rathore at the Palladium Hotel in Lower Parel Pic Bipin KokateldquoThere is an area dotted with old heritage buildings The paint of these wooden houses chip easily and hence they require a fresh coat each year It is a delicate job and art students are usually summoned for it I along with a friend would wear a mask and would hang ourselves from these old wooden houses First we would scrape off the old paint of the whole bulding and then repaint it It is the best painting assignment I have got till daterdquo he reminisces And he not only managed to sustain himself without taking financial help from his parents but also managed to save up enough to buy a car ldquoI bought a fancy Honda Prelude so that I could impress the girls in the campus But I bought it second hand and fixed it myselfrdquo he revealsThe first jobAfter a few years of sampling various aspects of designing he found his true calling and enrolled himself in Parsons School of Design New York City And while in his final year he was offered a job at DKNY ldquoOne day Donna Karan who was an alumnus came to our class and gave us an assignment My story revolved around two European travellers who go to Rajasthan for a trip and one of them falls from the camel I sketched the kind of clothes they would be wearing using a lot of DKNY branding She took the sketches and left Later she came back and picked three of us for an internship from a class of 125 students But while I was chosen as a designer a classmate of mine a Swedish girl was picked to be my assistant It was quite embarrassingrdquo Rathore recallsThis was just the beginning Within a few months he landed himself a job as a senior assistant to the legendary designer Oscar de la RentaBagging the Oscar gloryldquoHis office was in the same building as DKNY and once I met him in the elevator and introduced myself It was a goosebumps moment A few days later I was working at my office when I got to know that his head designer Carolyne Roehm was leavingrdquo He didnrsquot waste time and rushed down and called de la Rentarsquos office from the nearest telephone booth The person who received the call connected him directly to the veteran designerldquoI instantly recognised the voice as that from the elevator a few days back It was Mr De la Renta He asked me the purpose of my call and I somehow mustered enough courage to tell him that I have heard that there is a vacancy in his office and was wondering whether he would be interested in seeing my work He said ldquoSure come right nowrdquo I was in the middle of my dayrsquos work at DKNY and my portfolio was at my apartmentBut I knew it was an opportunity I coundnt let go ofrdquo So he told his senior at DKNY that Oscar de la Renta had asked him to meet him and he was immediately granted the day off ldquoIt was a dream opportunity for every designer at DKNY and they were surprised that the man himself had asked to meet me I had told them the truth but just omitted the part where I had called his office asking if there was a vacancyrdquo he says solemnlyRathore didnrsquot waste any time that day He hopped onto the first train went back to his apartment got his portfolio rushed back to de la Rentarsquos office and got himself a job ldquoUnlike the DKNY office which had hundreds of designers Mr de la Rentarsquos team strength was just four including me On the very first day he told me that we are going to Paris When I got the job I thought I would be assigned some peonrsquos work And here I was going to Paris as his assistant I hurriedly bought the cheapest suit I could find and send it to my mom back home to get it alteredrdquo laughs the designer recalling the initial daysIs that business card realBack in India the news that a fellow Indian straight out of college has landed such a coveted job spread like wildfire Many initially thought he was bluffing ldquoOne day a Delhibased designer who is one of the biggest names in the industry today called me from India and asked whether I really worked with Mr de la Rentarsquos office I casually asked him to come over and see for himself A few days later he and his briefcase actually landed at my office to verify the lsquonewsrsquordquo he laughsHowever this helped Not only did the two designers become thick friends but when Rathore came to India and put together his first show he had his contemporary designers rallying around himThe First ShowldquoI had come to Jodhpur to meet my parents on a short break when I was asked to do a show for the Maharaja of Jodhpur I had no models no dresses nothing But the entire designer community came together and pitched in I had almost fourteen odd designers helping memdasheveryone had flown down to Jodhpur There was Mehr Jesia and Rohit Bal working up till three at night TarunTahiliani helping with the choreography with Lubna Adams and what not Anybody was willing to take up any jobmdashbig or small And each of them was so earnest in their effortrdquo says Rathore remembering the time when competition had not yet smothered the scope for friendshipAnd while todayrsquos newcomers walk a lonely walk on the ramp of this glamorous industry these first men of fashion still remain friends occasionally raising a toast to one anotherrsquos achievements The show was a huge success and Rathore who was supposed to report back to de la Rentarsquos office lsquoin four daysrsquo stayed back to start his own brand Thus his brand Rathore Jodhpur was born and today his eponymous brand across the globe for their iconic bandgala suits and Jodhpur breechesBrand IndiaAccording to him the idea behind his brand is an extension of his personality ldquoI had realised very early in my career that you can have the best designs and talent but if your works do not have a soul yoursquoll not be able to connect to the people And for me lsquosoulrsquo was JodhpurldquoWhen I first came to Bombay I got lost at the Chowpatty Beach There were no mobile phones then and I didnrsquot even have the landline number of my my auntrsquos house where I was staying I never wanted to revisit that lsquolostrsquo feeling Later on the more I travelled away from Jodhpur the more its roots dug deep in merdquo he saysOnce he started his brand he realised the potential of the menswear market and shifted from womenrsquos wear which was then considered a much safer option He wanted to create a product that was not there in the market ldquoIn those days menswear had a lot of razzmatazz and would be replete with heavy embroideries I decided to create a range for people like me who believe in simplicityrdquo And armed with that lsquosimplicityrsquo his brand grew from strength to strength and in 2012 Rathore Jodhpur became the first Indian company to copyright patterns And it was done for their bandgalas and breeches which are today synonymous with the companyldquoWhen I took up the bandgala it was very primitive It looked boxy and had huge armhole We started fixing it and contemporising it And once we were satisfied we got the Jodhpur Bandgala pattern copyrightedrdquo he saysA man of many talentsApart from designing his bespoke clothing line and creating garments for movies like Eklavya and Khoobsurat he has also designed uniforms furniture and chocolates He has recently launched a readytowear brand named The Imperial India Company Ask him about how he manages to do so many things and comes a simple answer ldquoCreativity is like sugar It depends on you whether you want make gulab jamuns or pastriesrdquo he smilesWorking with the weaversHe is also associated with the RR Foundation a humanitarian initiative that offers employment options by promoting rural handicraft ldquoIt works the same way as a news agency Designers working on a collection can call us up and we can source them from the weavers and artisans working in our clusters spread across the countryrdquo says the designer who roots for Indian fabrics but insists it is important to get the right blendThe hermit withinThis royal kid has a heart of a hermit and says that he can pack all his essentials in one single suitcase And when the din of the city gets too much to bear yoursquoll find him at his heritage hotel at Rawla Narlai mdash a quaint town tucked amid lush forest and mountains There are times when he plans a family outing with his wife Kavita and their 11yearold son Amar and eightyearold daughter Devyani ldquoBut rather than a luxury trip I prefer to be close to naturerdquo he signs off