Designed to please

Falguni and Shane Peacock will bring their wild romance to Bangalore tonight — with their clothes, of course.

“It’s our resort wear line,” says Falguni, adding that the collection will be Mediterranean in feel with plenty of kaftans and fun short dresses. “In India now the trend has now moved to Western wear, there is more demand for Western clothes than for saris and salwar kameezes.”

Their palette is full of bright colours, in fresh, flowing and fluid cuts with some embroidery and embellishments.

The show is one of nearly 30 different events the couple is doing in key markets around the world, including Dubai, Delhi, London, Los Angeles and Chennai. “We like to support each market with shows,” says Shane.

The show will also serve to keep their name top of mind for when they open a store in the city — which could happen within the next six months. The pair has four of their shops in Mumbai and Delhi and want to expand further into Delhi as well as Ludhiana, Bangalore and Chennai, says Shane.

‘Ladies’ tailor banega?’

What he doesn’t say right away is that for him, Bangalore is more than just another stop on an international tour of triumphs. In fact, it’s a coming home of sorts – he was born in Benson Town.

As a child aged about eight or nine, young Shane’s first client was his grandmother, whom he designed a Christmas dress for. “Once I made the sketch she wore it and everyone complimented her on it,” he remembers. That was when he knew fashion would be his destiny, although he says he didn’t realise fashion designing could be a job.
That came later, after years spent in Mumbai, and one day he turned around and told his father he wanted to be a designer. His father, of course, asked him whether he was gay, told him being a ladies’ tailor was not the sort of job he should be doing, and that the family had no background in business, so he should “settled down and be an engineer,” Shane says. When his father issued an ultimatum — “my way or the highway” — Shane packed his bags and left home with only Rs. 20 in his pocket. “I’ve not shifted back home since,” says the 35-year-old. He was introduced to Falguni in 1999, when he was looking for someone to hand paint some garments for a new collection.

Falguni, too, always knew she wanted to be in fashion — as a teenager, she was enraptured by movie stars and their styling. The moment she left school, she knew she wanted to get into fashion, but her father was also a naysayer. “I always said to my dad: ‘One day I will become a big designer and show you’. I lost my dad very young, but I know he’s watching. My family is proud. When they see stars wearing our clothes, they really get excited and all the women in the family ask us to make them something for weddings.”

Soul mates

When they finally met, she says, they understood each other right away. “We fell in love and got married,” says Falguni. “We each had separate labels, which didn’t make any sense, so we combined our interests together and a year later, we launched a label.”
The pair started designing together in 2002, but only had their first national Fashion Week launch in 2005.

“We’ve had four good years,” says Shane, adding that their early investment was “practically nothing, only one machine, one cutter…”

Today their clothes sell in international fashion capitals such as London, Dubai, Kuwait, Athens, Mykonos, Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York.

The couple now has three labels, including their signature Falguni and Shane Peacock line, which focuses on dreamy, romantic dresses that are lavishly embroidered in gems and crystals; a kids wear range; and a new label, Spendthrift, which Shane describes as more Gothic in feel, “very rock chick”.

This season, they will launch a Japanese-inspired line that they have yet to think up a name for. The different labels are essential, Shane feels, so as not to confuse the message. “You can’t change your signature style from one season to the next. You can’t do one Gothic line and one Japanese line,” he says.

All the more for the customer to choose from.


Trend watch


* Dark colours and cuts that emphasise the figure are the key elements for women to remember this season, says Falguni Peacock, who is one half of the designer duo Falguni and Shane.
* “Our collection for the season has a lot of darks, deep and solid colours,” she says.
Blacks, dark blues, reds and dark purple are all on their colour palette.
* And prints, which the couple is famous for, continue to be a strong feature, but this season, their designs are “more pixillated”.
* Look for long, flowing silhouettes that are single-shouldered and asymmetric in cut, “inspired by the toga,” as Shane puts it.
* Short, structured dresses are also on their racks, he adds. “People are more health conscious now, so they want clothes that show off their fit, toned bodies.”