Rohit Bal(1961-2024): Threading Beauty

No one could have been a better ambassador of Kashmir than Rohit Bal. The Srinagar born designer was part of the generation that redefined Indian fashion, taking it out of its homemade handloom phase into a sharper, smarter, easier to wear silhouette, but infused with the country’s rich textile tradition.

A history graduate of St Stephen’s College, trained at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bal was one of the first wave of designers in the country, along with the late Rohit Khosla, Tarun Tahiliani, Suneet Varma, Ritu Beri, and Abu-Sandeep. His first show was in 1989 at the Ensemble store in Mumbai, dedicated entirely to men, with sherwanis, angrakhas and kurtas with subtle surface ornamentation, was a dream collection in shades of ivory. It sold out within 20 minutes of the show to an India hungry for its own design sensibility. It also set the template for menswear designers to this day.

Bal was one of the first designers who interpreted the expanding world to Indians as they stumbled headlong into a liberalised country. Confident of their craft, they created an aesthetic that stood the test of time. A Rohit Bal linen suit, a Rohit Bal sherwani, and a Rohit Bal jacket for women with his beloved Kashmir’s embroidery are still the go-to in every well dressed man and woman’s wardrobe. His last show, in October, had all that and more. Other designers still struggle to create something that stands apart from that format of ornamentation and opulence in fabric and embellishments.

He gave men the confidence to wear an Indian label, and women the comprehension that Kashmir was not merely the place for kani shawls and jamawar jackets, His family owned cinema theatres in Srinagar and also ran a garment export business where Bal first cut his artistic teeth. As he said to a magazine once: “I started work with my brother and in no time textiles, fabrics patterns and designs took over my life. It made me realise that this was my calling.” For eight years, he said, he slogged away, 18 hours a day, and learnt everything there was to learn about a garment: “With our master tailors, button-makers, fabric-cutters, braiders and embroideriers. And maybe I am technically more sound than a lot of designers who spend four years in a design school. I was learning from within and without.”

But as much as his work was about light and love, his personal life was always chaotic and controversial. The noughties fashion scene was one of excess of all kinds and Bal was its head priest. Arguments, fallouts, namecalling was common, as were addictions and indulgences. Bal’s health was affected. He suffered his first heart attack in 2011, and though his professional star was always on the ascendant, it didn’t necessarily translate into a state of grace in his private life.
Yet, much before designers got bought by rich industrialists and became handmaidens to Bollywood stars, there was an artist, one of a handful, who took the best from Indian textile traditions and made the rich look good, and those who wanted to be rich aspire to look better.

He was an integral part of Delhi society, seeing its Page 3 highs and its front page tabloid lows. Better known as Gudda to those who didn’t even know him, with his gold tinted hair, his outsize swagger and his undeniable brilliance, he created a legacy over 35 years. He didn’t always walk a straight line but then which outlier does?

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