Amit Aggarwal is trying to crack the math behind fashion

Diving into Amit Aggarwal’s collections can feel a bit like a science lesson. The combinations of materials both industrial and organic include khadi gamchas and polythene bags, raffia and glass fibre, and even, as in his most recent collection The Evening Edit, pollen and polymer strips. His notes spell out themes like Einstein’s theory of relativity (couture 2024), the evolution of sea creatures (spring/summer 2024), pedesis or the random movement of particles in fluid (couture 2022), and the ‘nucleus of our being’ (prêt 2023). The 43-year-old designer does not have a background in science; he attended the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi. Yet he regularly draws inspiration from science to create the beautiful, sculptural garments that have become synonymous with his namesake brand over the last 13 years.

Via meandering conversation that takes place when Aggarwal is on a stopover in Mumbai, we try to arrive at the root of it all: talking through everything from watching his father, an engineer, make blueprints (“he’s 75, but he doesn’t need a calculator to multiply anything”) to how his mother wanted to be a doctor, but since she couldn’t, she hoped her son would fulfil that dream. We talk about how his favourite movies are those that meld science fiction and philosophy (The Arrival, Matrix). 

Much of the discussion with Aggarwal veers towards the philosophical. He mentions that when he was 28 he completed 11 days of Vipassana meditation—the kind where you don’t speak or look at any reading material for the entire duration of your stay. “I did it very meticulously and religiously. It made me realise I don’t need external guidance from a yogi or a swami, I am the one who understands best what needs to be done. That journey is a lot more enriching when done on your own.” The closest that Aggarwal comes to a spiritual moment right now though is probably when he’s sitting in silence, confronted with a piece of paper and drawing with a thick stick of charcoal. The kind that smudges well and leaves its soot all over your fingertips for days. “It’s the only time my brain is at rest. It’s like there is a melody that flows from within my entire body and it just ends on my tips.”

It’s a similar kind of peace when he’s draping cloth on a mannequin, trying to understand the engineering of the clothing itself. “When I’m creating something, I first like to crack the method in my head. In my understanding, everything that has been created can be simplified to an algorithm,” he says. “There is a math to the world and it can be broken down into the simplest things. Such as if the length of a certain thing is x then the breadth needs to be y and the width needs to be z perhaps. You have to find the formula.”

Take his Banarasi collection—the one that’s been worn by everyone including Kareena Kapoor Khan, Anaita Shroff Adajania, Ananya Panday, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Isha Ambani—in which vintage Banarasi saris, many of them sourced from the women of the Rabari community, are transformed into party-ready cocktail gowns.

“How do you use a sari, but not cut it, and yet make sure the border falls in the right place or that the boota is the right way? That’s engineering. Each piece has been pleated literally 25 different ways so the pattern keeps shifting, but you will always know where it’s going to end up.” Despite the math, each piece is handcrafted and it can still take up to 30 days to finish a single, individually made gown, to breathe new life into an old silk and zari sari. Which means that in the end, “even with the engineering, it’s still a gamble.”

This penchant for discarded things isn’t limited to his clothing. When we chat, Aggarwal and his partner, the photographer Ankit Chawla, are in the middle of moving home, which means that he’s busy thinking of the vintage furniture markets that he would like to visit in Paris, or the antiques that he bought on a trip to in Sri Lanka. “I used to collect a lot of sculptures and masks with faces, but this new home is going to be a lot more minimal. I don’t even know if I want anything up on the walls,” he reveals. The preference for minimalism extends to his own wardrobe which largely consists of pieces in grey, black or white. “I usually just wear the muslins that are made in the studio, the prototypes that you get before the final piece,” he explains of the overshirts and asymmetric jackets that he’s frequently spotted in. A sharp right turn during our conversation reveals a more surprising personal purchase, a pair of Adidas Y-3 sneakers that were bought to mark his birthday. “I’m not a sneakerhead but I love my sneakers,” he clarifies. It’s a contrast to the high-octane, glamorous eveningwear designs that make up his label but not so surprising. Many great creatives have famously stuck to a more muted, uniform personal style—think Yohji Yamamoto, Riccardo Tisci, or even Vera Wang all of whom wear black—perhaps to free their minds for other forms of creative expression.

Because ultimately, Aggarwal has a business to grow. Right now the team is over 500 strong, he’s already got three stores between New Delhi and Mumbai, along with presence at boutiques like Ensemble, Ogaan, and Aza. Together with Indian bridalwear the designer also frequently releases a prêt collection that moves quickly on the racks. Which is where something like his just-launched Evening Edit comes into play. With its peplum waist mini dresses, slinky, form-fitting gowns, ruched skirts, and corset-like tops, the line offers up a diffused, wearable take on the memorable India Couture Week 2024 show that garnered him a standing ovation last year. There, the models walked out cocooned in bejewelled sculptures whose organic, amorphous shapes brought to mind the knitted works of textile artist Mrinalini Mukherjee—beautiful pieces that seemed more apt for an art display than out in the wild at a pre- or post-wedding cocktail evening.

The bridal and occasion wear market is crucial to Aggarwal’s business, as it is to most of the Indian couture industry. Yet the runaway appeal of the Banaras collection came as a surprise to the designer. “When I was making it, I thought I had nothing to lose. So it was surprising even for me when people started picking it up for their most important days, like weddings. Because it’s not what comes to mind when you think of Indian couture. I guess ultimately, we’ve all been doing it—taking something old from your mother’s closet and rewearing it. But it’s just not talked about very often. It’s like reincarnation or this concept that time moves in a loop.”

So who would he like to be reincarnated as? “Probably a more evolved version of myself. The form doesn’t matter, it could be an ant. But a more evolved one,” he laughs. For Aggarwal, it would be another full-circle moment to see the actor Rekha in one of his upcycled pieces. “She’s an icon who has a love for textiles, so to see her in a new avatar of the textile would be truly amazing.”