A silk bomber jacket seems an unlikely choice of weapon to defend sparrows. Designer Suket Dhir, however, believes in starting conversations by capturing imaginations. At the Taj Connemara, over a cup of strong filter coffee, his eyes sparkle with enthusiasm under his signature bowler hat as he discusses his latest collection, Orchard, showcased at a pop-up in Collage for the first time.
“The pandemic has changed how people approach luxury. It’s changed me,” he says, adding, “I created my best collections through it. It’s also assured me that I am on the right track in my message on sustainability.” A self-professed small-town boy from Banga in Punjab, he says his inspiration was his grandmother. “She would wear a sari for years, and when it was in tatters it would be repurposed. My mother converted old saris to kurtas on the sewing machine. She made many of our clothes...” Their lessons for life, he says, still hold good today: “Buy little, but buy good.”
