Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have allowed it,” Tarun Tahiliani says, describing the lookbook for his spring/summer 2023 menswear campaign that embraces a softer, more sensual side of masculinity rather than the luridly retro idea of the super-buffed archetype. Shot by Hormis Antony Tharakan at a palace on the outskirts of Patiala, the campaign revisits the veteran couturier’s expressions of the kurta, anchkan, sherwani and bandgala. But its beauty lies elsewhere.

Saurabh Maurya, Akshat Bansal and Tarun Tahiliani

There is a sensitivity with which Tahiliani directs the lens on model Prabh Uppal, sometimes framed fleetingly; at other times, poised; his teasing gaze burrowing deep into the viewer. “I was bored of my campaigns; they had a stiffness about them. The younger generation is not driven by normative structures; they are free to think and be,” Tahiliani, 60, explains. Fashion, Tahiliani asserts, has to reflect the mood of the time and place. “India is straddling worlds and many identities and finding a new voice. A designer’s job is to capture the spirit of society when it is in flux and become an agent, arbitrator and provocateur of this shift.” 

For his spring/summer 2023 campaign, couturier Tarun Tahiliani dressed model Prabh Uppal in classic ivory silk kurta paired with pre-draped dhoti and traditional bling