4 New Menswear Designers from India!

Fashion for Indian men is mostly related to women. Confused? Well it means that the men think fashion (unrelated term) is not for them at all. Here we are not discussing about festive or occasion wear or even seasonal ramp wear rather some basic day to day wear. More perplexing, right? Mostly sticking to formals in shades of black, white, greys and blue, I really think its high time that the men starts to explore a bit. And lets not forget that there are few who need help while shopping their regular wear.  ah! Now thats another post I assume!

With brand like FabIndia, Khadi Bhandar opening up lots of possibilities in colors, mix and match specially in traditional wear segment, the western side too heating up thanks to brands like UCB, Zara, Forever21 and many invading the Indian market. The choices are many for sure.

While browsing and looking for a change I bumped into many up coming menswear brands/designers catering to casual, semi-casual and Indian look for the experimenting men.

Over to these Fantastic Four!

1. Antar Agni by Ujjwal Dubey https://www.facebook.com/antaragnibyujjawaldubey/?fref=ts 
http://www.ujjawaldubey.com

It was love at first sight with his collection. It was also like I have already seen something like this before. In my thoughts. Or dreams. Launched at the LFW 14 in GenNext, Ujjawal Dubey took the space easily as the new talent to watch out for. The collection, which got sold-out, consists of wonderful mix of dhoti intertwined with pant, kurta camouflaging with a shirt with isometrical cuts and style just like a beautiful marriage of two different personalities. His collection is for those who loves experimenting with ease.

He believes in exploring and making garments at their natural best. Khadi Cottons are his most favourites. aimed to create a fashionable balance, Ujjwal plays with natural pastel hues but his blacks dominates the collection.

In their dhoti/arabian style pants

Ujjawal Dubey at LFW 2015

2. The Pot Plant - http://thepotplant.in/mens-wear/ 

Me in one of their cotton shirts.

Their add to detail buttons are just gorgeous

Started by Resham Karmchandani and Sanya Suri, both grads from The Pearl Academy, New Delhi co-founded the brand to realise their dream of making cotton the essential textile. Their love for repurposing materials, handwoven textile and natural fabrics just makes them as a 'must-have' into your wardrobe.

I bumped into them at an event in Mumbai and instantly fell in love with the texture and style and now proudly owns a custom made shirt by them.


3. Tath https://www.facebook.com/tatbydesign/?fref=nf 

A Mumbai based menswear brand launched in December 2013. The proud owner of the brand Prasad Ramamurthy uses traditional Indian techniques to create modern easy breezy collection exclusive for men.

Made again mostly in cottons, Prasad insists on easy cuts and breathable fits. His placement of pockets are on the shirts are very interesting.

He mostly sells through exhibitions or via his FB page.

4. PREETHAM JUKALKER  
https://www.facebook.com/Preetham-Jukalker-355879034582647/?fref=ts

Artist Syed Ali Arif in his creation

Barely three months old, Preetham Jukalker (the brand goes by the same name) has taken the womenswear and menswear by storm. Dedicated strictly to Andhra Ikat, his brand consist of clothes which are easy breezy. 

Hailing from Hyderabad, Preetham was into heavy embellishment kids wear that he used to supply to a store in Mangalore. All this while living in Mumbai for a brief time before he got his calling back home and decided to put up a workshop to shift from glamorous wear to everyday sustainable contemporary wear.

He works closely with the textile and handloom industry allover to bring back the lost glory of cotton to where it belongs!

This brings us to an end, not literally thou, as we are hoping to see many designer gets into making interesting style for men which are easily wearable as well.

Have a sneak peek at what I love to see the men adorn, before signing off:

HAMPI TRAVEL: Virupaksha Temple

THE JOURNEY

Finally we took off to Hampi. I said finally because this godforsaken place is in-between Hyderabad and Bangalore with literally both at same travel distance and despite planning, it was just not working out to travel. And I hate traveling by train is another thesis altogether. But eventually we did from Hyderabad when we went there to celebrate my birthday!

We took the Kachiguda-Hospet express which leaves Kachiguda at 9pm and reaches Hospet at 7am. Its a 20 minutes auto-rickshaw ride to the main town of Hampi from the railway station. We booked ourselves online with Gopi Guest House (Gopi Guest House Janatha Plot, Hampi—583239. Phone: +91 94800 44930) for Rs.2000/- inclusive of breakfast, per night for a double bedroom with attached bathroom.  Although it was not in the itinerary but the guest house had us pick up from the station for no extra charge!

The room was big and comfortable with a 360 degree view of the main Virupaksha Temple complex and the Tungabadhra River. The guest house is located in a tiny village consisting of odd 100 houses catering to tourist for food, shopping and stay. The village apparently was never there in the map and was only got built in 1980 by few people from Hospet to attract and help tourist find place closer to the main temple to eat and sleep. It certainly was a smart move. Anyway after the check-in and wiping off our plates of delicious continental breakfast we headed to explore the main temple complex and its surroundings. 

The ceiling of the main temple complex is painted depicting Vishnu and Shiva stories. The paints are all handmade.

The place is infested with monkey of any shape and size. As long as you don't disturb them, they won't disturb you either

The main entrance from the courtyard

Detailed stone carving on the temple

The main courtyard

Many foreigners flock this temple for darshan

Main entrance into the temple

Backyard of the temple 

A pujari awaiting a devotee 

The beautifully carved pillars are must to observe. They depict life in general mostly of the kingdom. It has many nook and corners to walk and rest around

THE TEMPLE

Most part of Hampi is ruined. This is the only Temple where Pooja is done and this at the heart of Hampi. Dedicated to Shiva, this temple was huge and had many nooks and corners to explore. Once a major kingdom and a major temple palace at present, the main temple consists of a sanctum, three ante chambers, a pillared hall and an open pillared hall. A pillared cloister, entrance gateways, courtyards, smaller shrines and other structures surround the temple.

The nine-tiered eastern gateway, which is the largest at 50 meters, is well-proportioned and incorporates some earlier structures. It has a brick superstructure and a stone base. It gives access to the outer court containing many sub-shrines.

The smaller eastern gateway leads to the inner court with its numerous smaller shrines.

Krishnadevaraya, one of the famous kings of the Vijayanagara Empire was a major patron of this temple. The most ornate of all structures in the temple, the central pillared hall is believed to be his addition to this temple. So is the gateway tower giving access to the inner courtyard of the temple. Inscriptions on a stone plaque installed next to the pillared hall explain his contribution to the temple. It is recorded that Krishna Devaraya commissioned this hall in 1510 AD.

The road leading to this temple is awesome, both sides lined with dilapidated structures which were reminiscent of a shopping area or main road in those glorious days of Hampi.

Make sure you wear comfortable clothes, shoes and most importantly a hat, as there is lot of climbing and walking to be done in the scorching sun.

Lakshmi with her Mahout

LAKSHMI THE TEMPLE ELEPHANT

You cant help but fall in love with her. She is like the lifeline of the temple and attracts the crowd like a magnet. I visited the temple thrice to see her and her master. She is trained to accepts coins from you, hands it over to her mahout and blesses you with her trunk. The performance is simply amazing. She is well behaved with kids and elders and shows how wonderfully she is been trained. Superb.

Small houses serves home made simple south indian thali for lunch. Just ask!

Mango Tree Restaurant

The main section of Mango Tree Restaurant

THE FOOD

After travelling around and looking at all the sights it is always a joy to walk back into the village for some delicious treat. Head straight to the Tibetan Kitchen. Being upstairs and open sided, it was nice to get a breeze and some reprieve from the heat. The staff were all great, there was a varied selection of food options, tasted great and the price was very reasonable. Worth a try is Mango Tree for their local south indian thali for lunch, mango juice and their filter coffee. Get some rest or laze around at Funky Monkey Restaurant over their amazing masala omelette and drinks. All the restaurants gives you a great view of the cheeky monkeys chasing each other over the towns rooftops at any time of the day. Then there is Sagar Restaurant, a small tiffin centre located in the front portion of the house. Ponganalu a special dish prepared in this region, idlies and Mirchi bajjis and their filter coffee is just excellent. home made and run by ladies is a superb setup. They mostly serves in the mornings. Seating is ordinary. cheap and value for money.

REMEMBER the food is cooked and served fresh so please have approximately 40 minutes in hand after you place your order at most of the places.

Don't forget to go east of the temple complex to view one of the most stunning sunset views!

Backside of the Virupaksha Temple overlooking the boulders and ruins of Hampi

A lot of people assemble on these rocks to view one of the most stunning sunsets

Including monkeys!

The evening light makes this place looks surreal...

just magical...

and drenched in gold.

Ah the sunset!