Designer Sharbari Dutta has been a part of the fashion fraternity for almost two decades now and not for once has she wanted to deviate from designing for men. Hence, it comes as no surprise that dhotis — an integral part of menswear — is also a part of her many collections. With a celebrity clientele consisting of the Who’s Who of the country, the designer talks to After Hrs on what gets men to slip on her dhotis without much fuss.

You have stuck to designing for men ever since you started off. Why so?
Designing for men gives me a sense of contentment and now, my name is synonymous with men’s fashion. It’s quite a challenge to get men into Indian clothes nowadays and even more so, when it’s a very traditional dhoti. They just seem to be so wary of it. But that’s exactly the mindset I wanted to break into.

Dhotis have been regular wear for Indian men from time immemorial but over the years, men snub the idea of being seen in a dhoti. As a designer, was this a hurdle for you?
When I started designing dhotis, I never faced any hurdle because I knew that my designs would lure them to it. Of course, all this took time but I knew that somewhere down the line, you can’t really take away the fascination or awe that any Indian man would have for Indian wear. That led me on. Moreover, women too would occasionally like to see their men in traditional Indian clothes. If the man doesn’t buy a dhoti for himself, a woman will buy it for her man. Either way, the dhoti makes way to his wardrobe.

Have you kept this in mind while designing dhotis, as most of them are very ornate?
When I design a dhoti, the one thing I know for sure is that this is not something a man will wear every day and automatically, that makes a dhoti an occasional wear — occasions that are really very special. So, keeping the designs ornate doesn’t make much of a difference when you’re probably wearing it once or twice a year.

But is convenience something you keep in mind too?
Of course, considering that it’s really going to be impossible for a man to wear the dhoti as it was worn previously and keep the pleats intact too. We have modernised it in as many possible ways to make one feel more comfortable in it.