The name Gul Sohrab falls off the tongue so musically that you would forget there was originally a Rustom and that it was a tragedy. The designs by Gul, Amit Malhotra, and Sohrab, Saurabh Kumar, are evocative of the romance of the brand name. Gender-agnostic and unisex are iterations that convey the technicalities of labelling their work, but don’t encompass it in its entirety. As Saurabh puts it, he does not design clothes to go against the gendered understanding of clothing, but what looks beautiful on the ‘form’. And he divorced form from the gendered body long ago — starting from a home where clothes were swapped comfortably; design and look winning over which section of the supermarket they were bought from. While there are certain forms on which a fit might be more masculine or feminine, all in all, the fluidity of the silhouettes allow unhindered choice.
Gul Sohrab’s ethos takes shape in a set made from two vintage Kanjeevaram sarees — the jacket, with exaggerated shoulders in a boxy fit, and the pants, in a double-pleated baggy fit.
The checked pattern, which dominates most of their pieces, is an extension of this design philosophy — as Saurabh puts it, “I feel checks are gender neutral. As a print, check doesn’t define anything. It’s an overlap. It’s a mixture of everything coming together.” But the radical playfulness comes in when you see that these checks are the Madras print, seen on almost every Indian male, whether in wraps called lungis, or towels called gamchas thrown over the shoulder, and sometimes even in women’s sarees. “The kind of silhouettes that we are giving, redefines those checks in a very modern and contemporary fashion,” Saurabh says.
But they also make this commonly seen print ‘exclusive’, something deeply important to Amit: “For me, luxury is something which has been crafted according to me. I never thought I’d have a brand of my own but I never wanted to wear something which others were wearing.” Here begins the intricate task of crafting each piece as one of a kind. It comes down to which button will go out on every garment and which color of thread will accompany them. And Saurabh, Amit, the masterji, is all the team that runs Gul Sohrab.
Intention informs the function and silhouettes at Gul Sohrab
Another way the duo have discovered of making items bespoke and personal is utilising sentimental fabrics or garments which they have picked up from their travels, much before the brand came to be. As Amit recalls, “I bought a real zari dupatta from Kashmir and we’ve been utilising that for piping. Then a lot of people want to use their grandmothers’ or mothers’ sarees for upcycling but a lot of old textiles are damaged. We draw the line. We don’t function as a tailoring unit. We are a design house.”
(Top) A fixer-upper of a Yao shaman robe from a Vietnamese-Japanese collector, steeped in its vintage appeal.
(Bottom) Designed by Amit, the assortment of jewellery includes gems from their travels — his grandmother’s Hyderabadi pearls, jade from Vietnam, a shell from a Pokhara lake, the ivory dholki pendant with precious stones from Bikaner, an antique French coin from Pondicherry, and a dragon pendant from Vietnam
While Saurabh has always been in the industry, Amit switched from an 18-year-old career in publishing to set up the brand — and that was a big decision. He recalls, “I didn’t want people to think that I’m just doing something for fun and then I had a very beautiful conversation with one of my friends who said ‘You need to own it. Own whatever you’re doing.’” And both of them have surely done that. From spending hours on pieces, to modelling them, their brightly distinct personalities wonderfully seep into the designs. Saurabh is the one who works on all the patterns and everything requiring technical know-how. And Amit takes photos, casts models, and oversees the social media marketing of the brand. And the two of them together manage ironing, packing, dispatching, and washing hundreds of metres of fabric. Rigorous but heartwarming. The soul which one senses in the brand undeniably comes from such personal involvement.
Saurabh’s manifestations of design and creativity
While they are proud of how far the brand has come, two years down the line they envision a dedicated physical space — as of now, both of their houses function as studios. They admit that sometimes they lose clients who want to try things on before buying. But largely their customers trust the designs, and do not find the trust misplaced. In the future they wish to keep challenging themselves. They have intentionally labelled themselves as a design studio and not a clothing brand, granting the freedom to take the Gul Sohrab aesthetic into newer directions.
A lot keeps them going. As creative professionals, life itself is an inspiration to both and the will to create is unending. Saurabh derives his inspiration from nature, experiences, people and observation. He paints, he stitches, he sews. And Amit lives to create. Transitioning from designing book covers to opining on hem lengths. Gul Sohrab’s eclectic, irreverent, playful yet chic designs are not only gender bending but also cosmopolitan. Their clients walk the streets of New York, London, Paris with effortless suave, liberated in the flowing silhouettes and exuding confidence in the bold patterns.
Whichever direction the brand takes can only excite and intrigue.
Words by Ayesha Suhail.
Photographs by Ashish Negi
