Shantnu and Nikhil Mehra’s prêt label is all grown up

On a sunny morning in New Delhi, Nikhil Mehra descends to the ground floor of their family home in New Friends Colony with Julio, his light-brown cocker spaniel, in tow. The crew is setting up equipment to shoot a video for The Nod. He walks over to the monitor and muses, “Let’s take everything upstairs, the light is much better.” And up we go. His older brother and the brains behind the business, Shantnu Mehra, arrives while Nikhil is giving us a tour of the first floor.

It’s been five years since the duo launched S&N, a ready-to-wear label that has shed its reputation as just a ‘diffusion’ line of Shantnu & Nikhil, the duo’s eponymous couture label that they launched in 2000, and become a thing of its own: a playbook for a category they like to call ‘prestige prêt’. For the brothers, working together is a balance of instinct and structure. Nikhil, a Fashion Design graduate, leads with design and emotion; Shantnu, the MBA holder, anchors it with business clarity.

When they launched S&N in 2020, the idea was to democratise their very specific brand of couture, which, for the uninitiated, is all about combining stormy India-inspired drapes with sharp, structured tailoring, and a smattering of crest-heavy symbolism. “It started with accessibility. Now, it’s about emotional resonance,” explains Shantnu. “We weren’t offering less—we were doing more, with intent.” It’s prêt that feels personal and accessible but not basic, serious but never stiff.

Five years on, the label has come into its own. If S&N were a person, it would be in its fearless twenties—ambitious, instinctive, and emotionally fluent, they say. The type who enters a room dressed in a sharply cut bandhgala layered over a shirt and tie (yes, a tie) but somehow pulls it off.

That evolution is most visible in ‘Piazza Nova’, S&N’s first full-scale runway show that took place at FDCI/Lakmé Fashion Week this March in Mumbai and is the brand’s most grownup collection to date. It has all the brand’s signatures—tailoring, texture, attitude—but polished with a new international clarity. Inspired by what the designers saw at Pitti Uomo in Florence, Italy, there were crisp houndstooth-print shirts styled with Windsor knots and foulards, wide-lapel waistcoats, and draped trousers that weightlessly skim the floor. It’s about quiet confidence, luxury without the gold-leaf obviousness.

During the final fitting, in the middle of show prep, the brothers recall a model walking out in a bandhgala worn over a shirt and tie. “That moment was a revelation. It was everything we envisioned—a bold reinterpretation that felt instinctively modern,” says Nikhil. The excitement is palpable even in the retelling. “We knew at that moment: this is the future of Indian menswear.”

It’s a big declaration, but the brothers back it up with pieces that make their point: fluid kurtas that look sculpted from air, statuesque suits, and leather accessories that feel ceremonial but not costume-y. The S&N consumer isn’t just looking for a well-made jacket. They want one that says something before they do.

But for a brand known for its sharp tailoring, S&N still knows when to loosen its tie. In 2023, they launched SNCC (Shantnu Nikhil Cricket Club), a varsity-inspired sub-label rooted in cricket nostalgia and leisurewear. Think crested polos, bomber jackets, tailored joggers—pieces that have prep-school energy but still feel fresh in the Indian context. “Cricket is India’s greatest unifier,” explains Shantnu between takes. “With SNCC, we took that emotion and reframed it through fashion.” The result is sporty, yes, but also deeply referential—a nod to India’s love for cricket wrapped in collegiate cool. While the brothers aren’t glued to every match, they live the lifestyle that SNCC evokes. They’re both regulars on the golf course and tennis court; Nikhil works out twice a day and even pauses mid-shoot to offer advice on posture correction. SNCC isn’t really about cricket—it’s about the energy around it and the way you carry yourself on and off the field.

The sixth year of S&N looks even more expansive. SNCC will soon be a standalone brand, complete with dedicated stores and its own design language. “We see SNCC as its own movement,” Shantnu says, likening the shift to how Ralph Lauren carved out separate worlds for Polo and Purple Label. It’s not just a spin-off; it’s the next frontier.

Together, Shantnu and Nikhil have built something rare: a label that isn’t chasing trends but building codes—visual signatures that travel across seasons, silhouettes, and now, increasingly, product verticals. If one thing’s clear, it’s that they’re not interested in dressing people for a single event. They want to design for the entire life around it—the airport arrival, the afterparty exit, and the unbothered brunch the next morning.

And what do they want people to feel when they wear S&N? “Seen, empowered, and unapologetically themselves,” says Nikhil. Not bad for a label that, five years ago, was still proving it wasn’t just the main line’s cool younger sibling.