Tarun Tahiliani is the latest artist who turned his eyes skywards and discovered a muse in the ethereal beauty of the cosmos. The night skies play a starring role in his SS18 collection, Tarakini, starting with the palette, which spans champagne supernova to midnight tones.
Constellation-inspired embellishments speckle floaty chiffons and gossamer silks. Tahiliani says of the collection: “there’s a trend towards lightness in Indian couture, because more brides want to dance, have fun and be free. They don’t want to drag 20 kilos around.” Hear, hear.
Read our full interview with the legendary designer below:
Describe your SS18 bridal collection
Tarakini, our Spring Summer 2018 collection is the embodiment of a spirit that I wanted because I am very tired of seeing women weighed down by overtly heavy clothes. We worked on a very high grade fit and construction to allow for drama without destruction of comfort and like you would look at the universe and the stars, in the lightness as they are floating, that’s where the origins of the name ‘Tarakini’ came in. 
What sort of bride is it for?
For some time, I had been thinking about fashion’s role, especially in evening and bridal wear, and how it has failed the modern Indian bride because the clothes are so heavy, stiff, uncomfortable and never to be looked at or repeated again.
Since our Couture 2017 collection - we set out to create clothes that let women be comfortable and really have fun while still being as glamorous as they felt inside. All keeping in with the global trend of movement and lightness, and true equality for women. Our first Ready-To-Wear collection of the season, ‘Tarakini’, takes inspiration from the constellations and their lightness of non-pattern and abstraction, to render a gossamer feeling of floating elegance. This is the principle of our Spring/Summer 2018 collection.
Which SS18 bridal trends excite you most?
Indian fashion has never been about trends, but I suppose everyone has a whole set of magazines that they refer to and or keep picking up on different trends. But now the world does not work to one trend. Athleticism has changed the way people dress, and so people who are very fit, want to wear nicely tailored shaped clothes. They want to show their bodies, and I don’t mean that in any vulgar way, but just because they workout, they like things that are tailored well to their bodies. There is an anti-fit trend. There are interesting ways and trends to reinvent the sarees and handloom.
However, there is definitely a trend to move towards lightness in Indian clothes, because more and more brides are free and want to dance, and have fun so they don’t want to drag 20 kilos on them. I think in a country like ours, which is multi-lingual, which has so many different economic strata and cultural strata; there is never any one trend. There are always many different things that are going on as different kinds of groups of people are evolving in different states of consciousness & exposure and also their own self-image.
How are brides in India different to British Asian brides?
I think they tend to more or less have a more subtle eye because these brides have grown up primarily in the UK. So when we also consider putting together a collection for an exhibition to take place in London, the biggest challenge is to keep this in mind while we maintain our own sensibilities. I think with the new generation of brides there is very little difference between Indian brides and British Asian brides.
The new generation brides are more open to experimentation with cuts and colours on their D-day. Actually, what I am noticing more is that on D-Day, brides wants to be traditional because now they have many functions before and after namely the cocktails/sangeet/the reception where they are much more experimental, they could even be wearing gowns or fusion silhouettes such as tailored jackets worn over big lehengas or drapes.
For their wedding day particularly, a lot of brides now want to wear red, ivory or gold. These seems to be the classic bridal outfits, unless of course, it is a wedding on a beach or it’s on a particular destination, which then will impact their choice of what to wear or how heavy to go. Typically, if someone decides to get married in Udaipur or Jodhpur, they are going to want to do more colour, they are going to be reflective of Rajasthan versus someone who get married on the beach, who then will opt logically to be in lighter, fresher, aquatic sunset colours and choose fabrics that are appropriate to that.
But definitely, I think, as younger girls more and more are independent of decisions made by the elders in their family, their sartorial choices for their big day are reflective of themselves, and their peer groups, and what they see in advertising or perhaps even the Bollywood actresses, that influence them. Frankly, a fantasy bridal must revolve around the personality of the wearer.
Tarun Tahiliani
• www.TarunTahiliani.com
As seen in Khush Wedding Spring 2018 KW18. Buy this issue here