Stepping into Apartment-88 and Shweta Kapur’s new fashion experience

Shweta Kapur’s new collection showcase was a gateway into her inner life. In tandem with the launch of her Fall/Winter 26 collection Biophilia, the fashion designer and founder of the label 431-88 transformed her Delhi home into an intimate display for her newest designs and their inspirations. The concept is christened Apartment-88, a riff on the label’s name, and posited as a travelling retail and experience format.

“It’s a fresh way of experiencing the brand,” Kapur told Open, ahead of the evening when guests stepped into her apartment for a first look. Clothes, swatches and moodboards were showcased in living rooms and dining areas. A fringed red skirt stood next to a dining table while a shimmering ensemble lay on the bed, as if waiting to be worn. Wardrobes were flung open, to showcase clothes from the new collection lined inside. A garment steamer became the display for a sequined clutch bag—one of the label’s most recognizable accessories—while another clutch rested on a couch. If the intention was to make a brand new collection look lived-in and at home in the environment of its wearer, Kapur certainly found success.

The showcase also ties in with Biophilia, a collection rooted in the idea of forging connections with nature and forms of life. The butterfly’s metamorphosis becomes an inspiration for the cocoon-like shapes of trousers and tops, a seahorse glitters on structured sleeveless jacket and a sequined corset top will bring a butterfly’s wings to mind. In a table setting, artfully conceived by the multidisciplinary designer Eeshaan Kashyap for the event, a pair of rambutans is placed in ceramic sculptures of stilettos—echoing a spherical embellishment on one of the garments. Skirts and shirts are draped with a finesse that recalls saris but 431-88 is also a label known for its construction which manifests in the pantsuits and sharply tailored yet roomy separates. Kapur describes the collection as an attempt at expansion and expression, and presents it not only in terms of her clothes but its display and experience. The choice to showcase it at home—possibly the most intimate space one can access—is also a way to forge a connection with those who will see and wear the collection.

The idea of an intimate or an innovative fashion presentation is not new. It is in fact what every label and designer may be seeking at the moment, to stand out in a wildly competitive fashion market. Kapur, whose label is known for its pre-draped saris and a laidback luxe aesthetic, has also dabbled in a variety of formats—from runway shows at fashion weeks to showcasing an art-meets-fashion exhibition at a bonsai nursery (in 2012) to showcase her craft. To those who have followed the label, 431-88 collections have always borne their designer’s personal style and signatures. The difference about Apartment-88, however, is that it also offers a deliberate and specific glimpse of Kapur’s practice and perspective.

Here are garments displayed in proximity to paintings by MF Husain, books and tomes, a hand-blown glass sculpture of Ganesh by Klove Studio and personal care products by Aesop and Rhode. Each work of art, objet d’art and product is curated to reflect a choice and a lifestyle which in turn translates to the aesthetics that have come to define 431-88. Kapur’s lived experience echoes the luxurious confidence of her designs.

Apartment-88 is not a one-time affair but one Kapur hopes to recreate in other spaces and cities. “It’s a new retail experience for us,” she says, that brings the brand to people outside a virtual or even a runway ambience. It is a strategy to bring a sense of home into a store. If Kapur had to choose one word to describe the feeling of coming home, it would be: comfort. This quality is also stitched into her designs and her brand experience. After all, what’s more crucial to great style than comfort?