Kiss and dress up

The fashion industry is an easy mark Out here it often seems that relationships are as frivolous and fleeting as a double air kiss But the business of style is also a collaborative ambition one built on intent and intimacy signalling partnerships and sharing lifestyle and wardrobe In a wink and nod to Valentinersquos Day we get them to decode love through sartorial solidarityArpita Mehta 37 and Kunal Rawal 36Designers behind independent eponymous bridal brandsAM Kunal and I met 12 years ago long before we became designers We were fresh out of fashion school Kunal had returned to Mumbai after studying at London College of Fashion and I had graduated from SNDT We dated on and off until we got serious and married in August 2022I come from a middleclass background and budget was always a constraint Fashion Street at Churchgate and Bandrarsquos Elco Market were my shopping hangouts I would like to think that my personal style has evolved not just in terms of personal but financial choices too What I wear is actually pretty clean and classic Kunal is the risktaker and way more stylish than me He has built an enviable wardrobe of timeless pieces especially the slimfit jackets and shirts which I constantly borrow He now says lsquoStop taking my clothesrsquo We went shopping to two different areas during our recent London trip and came back with clothes in similar styles prints and colours But it is inevitablemdashyou take influences from each other We donrsquot mind it twinning with your partner is cute It is our combined love for fashion that brought us together and I say couples who appreciate and enjoy fashion together stay togetherAlso Read Filmprashan at Raj Mandir CinemaKR As people we are different Irsquod like to think that I am an emotional dresser I choose my clothes according to what I am feeling that morning I love black and grunge and within those two aesthetics I own some supercrazy pieces including jewellery which she borrows all the time Therersquos a joke in the family lsquoThis is Kunal bhaiya ki jewelleryrsquo In fact whenever we shop we pick up two of the same products like sunglasses sneakers jackets oversized blazers My biggest joy is clothes and it can be a lot of fun when you find something you enjoy doing togetherI have learned beauty tricks from her how to do pickmeup undereye concealer and contouring She also lets me borrow her sunglasses and stoles Between us I take an hour longer to get dressed I am not as proper and planned as Arpita 90 per cent of the time she knows what she would wear while I stay undecided between five optionsDavid Abraham 65 and Kevin Nigli 55Partners in life and the brand Abraham amp ThakoreDV I met Kevin 30 years ago when I had interviewed him while I worked at an American buying company After I quit that job to launch the Abraham amp Thakore brand Kevin joined us Our professional relationship evolved into a personal one laterI donrsquot think he has had any influence on my style I was wearing a lot of black before we met I still am I am a little more experimental and take fairly discreet risks Kevin likes consistency and doesnrsquot approve of quick changes in trends His constant grouse is when a particular style he likes gets discontinued by a brand he shops fromWe donrsquot share clothes we are different sizes But Kevin is happy to lounge around the house in my old discarded sweatpants We tend to wear similar colours so our combined colour palette is harmonious In fact it is Rakesh Thakore business partner and I much to our chagrin who find each other dressed almost identically at timesKN My style is classic and boring David is more adventurous and trendled He spends more on clothes He also has a fetish for shoes a la Imelda Marcos Sadly our shoe sizes are very differentDavid has influenced my personal style to an extent I used to wear a lot more colour and was quite unstylish Now itrsquos mostly a neutral palette We have different dressing rooms but on occasion when we end up wearing matching colours he goes back and changesAmrita Khanna 41 and Gursi Singh 38Designer duo behind contemporary label LovebirdsAK We met in 2013 at my vintage store in Hauz Khas Village New Delhi We knew we had to be together right then We decided to collaborate on a small collection to sell at our store and that eventually turned into a longterm partnership We got married in 2015My personal style harks back to my initial exposure to fashion I grew up in Nagaland where my parents would take me to Bhutia market and Irsquod find a huge range of vintage clothing and objects from the rsquo70rsquos and rsquo80s Over the years our tastes in clothes have become seemingly identical probably because we believe in similar design ideas of minimalism proportions and functionality This has also seeped into our brandrsquos visual languageGursi takes longer to get dressed Irsquom more decisive I am always going through his closet looking for an oversized white shirt He borrows my sweatersGS Before I met Amrita I looked at fashion as pop culture and dressing as one of the many facets of selfexpression I switched from wearing sandals to sneakers it is a change for me Irsquod say it is because of a refined understanding of fashion and trends that unfolded after I met AmritaWe share a similar outlook towards dressing we believe in starting with a single element and then building on the look A common piece of clothing you will find in our wardrobes is an oversized white shirt We will style it differently Amritarsquos style will often reflect her initial inspirations from across the globe almost always accented by welltailored trousers My sports inflected everyday look is an extension of an active lifestyleBecause we believe in minimalist basics we end up in coordinated pieces but we are not selfconscious about looking matchymatchyFalguni and Shane PeacockDesigner couple behind the eponymous bridal couture brandFP A common friend introduced us in 19992000 Back then I used to paint and worked as a commercial artist Shane was looking for an artist to work on his handpainted collection I come from a closeknit family Close to 15 of my family members visited Shane to figure out his intentions It was quite a culture shock for him We got married in 2001My style was very different before I met Shane I gravitated towards Indian wear staples like kurtas and salwars and I was a big fan of Chambor plum lipstick and winged eyeliners Bollywood more specifically Madhuri Dixit in Dil To Pagal Hai was my style influence I remember this one time when Shane and I were on a date and he asked lsquoDo you want to try wearing jeansrsquo From then my personal style has evolved into something more refined glam and confident Shane helped me find my style niche I now donrsquot shop without seeking his opinionSP I like classic Western styles with lots of black and white Falgunirsquos size is a bit small to allow us to share clothes but we often twin in matching dark colours or denim And she borrows my bomber jackets