men’s fashion – Sahdev Hooda

Men in skirts?

June 18, 2017June 24, 2017 SahdevHoodaLeave a comment

Men is skirts.

I think this statement holds a lot in it. Something after so much discussion and history, still has not seen acceptance in everyday style as much. I use the word style more specifically because if ever a man wears a skirt and shows up, it is considered a statement, without a miss. Be it a hollywood star showing up in a kilt on red carpet or a star kid showing up in a fashion campaign (Jaden smith), carrying off a skirt, it is always talked about. Why are we men so scared of wearing a skirt? That question has very obvious answers and I would not waste my word on that over here. However, when a guy gathers the balls to sport a skirt in a public appearance, it is certainly an empowering sight. Even more so when the person wearing it feels no compromise on his masculinity or identity. And why the heck not. Men have worn drapes as much as women did, till the western tailoring took over the idea of everyday dressing world wide. Check out the historical costumes of different cultures and you will know what I mean.

This look here is all Anuj Bhutani. Needless to say he is definitely one of the most tasteful designers around. The extreme minimalistic elegance that these pieces had really intrigued me and I wanted to explore the style. The very first time I tried the combination, I fell in love. It brought back the same feeling of grace I had felt when I had worn one of the tibetan men’s full length kimono. I know it sounds funny but I partly did feel like Samurai Jack and that got me even more into it. I got the feeling of an old world charm that could seem like a fantasy land. Where legends lived and world was full of mysteries.

Moving back to the current reality, it still feels amazing to just be in it. I would usually deny myself the opportunity to dress like this more often as I would attach so much definition to it. Right from gender, sexuality, age, social appropriation and a general sense of being judged unwell. This post for me is also a part of challenging myself and my creativity. Questioning my own idea of self image and growth. It has been an empowering experience. It is a sort of beginning of a journey where I come out of my shell and explore my creativity more fearlessly. This post has some of my favourite images till now. I love them for their pure beauty and elegance, floating free from the usual and mundane.

Starting from calmness and opening out to be its own kind of creature.

Clothes by Anuj Bhutani.

Concept, styling and photography by me.

Sahdev Hooda.

Where the kites fly.

May 8, 2017May 8, 2017 SahdevHoodaLeave a comment

My fascination with the sky has been like a love affair. After I moved to Bangalore, weekends and early evenings come together on the terrace, sitting and staring at the blue, endless sky and look at the kites flying above you. Majestic looking, their glide only adds to my fascination.

Just how I love the blue sky, I also love design. And Urvashi Kaur. I think she is filled with great passion for her craft and her energy is infectious. I always want to know what her new range is like. There is a certain romanticism in the choice of weaves, textures, colours and cuts she puts together. Yet, such absolutely practical pieces that you fall in love. I picked 3 pieces from her label Urvashi Kaur (shirt and jacket) and Kapda by Urvashi Kaur (T-shirt) to shoot. The pants are my own. The shirt and jacket “touch and feel” amazing. One could live in them. I remember trying the jacket at her stall at Lakme Fashion Week for the first time and refusing to get out of it,

These are only among the several other things that I love from her range. Out of the three, the t-shirt is the one that took me to the sky. The dye effect reminded of a black eagle. Rest all was a chain reaction from there. I hope I could marry the romance I feel for the sky and great clothes together here.

Shirts and Jacket by Urvashi Kaur and Kapda by Urvashi Kaur.

Concept, Styling and Photography by me.

Sahdev Hooda

Colour takes over.

April 30, 2017May 4, 2017 SahdevHoodaLeave a comment

SS17 is here and I have been blue about not being able to blog. Yes, I terribly miss doing my shoots. Planning the next set of images. I am still doing similar things but not for the blog. Well changing your city and moving to a “never been there before” one takes its time and I am settling in well with the Bangalore weather. That is indeed the best part about the garden city. Evenings are so very pleasant.

I have been only doing the thinking bit and trying to figure out the best way to kick back into doing my blogposts again. I had put up a post on Facebook some time back about looking out for Photographers to work with which has not lead to any collaborations yet. I decided to do all the work myself, including photography.

This got me to work with compositions. I have never really done these for my blog. So clicking self and doing some product composition are both “first ever” here.

This Tommy shirt colour got my attention some time back. I have been consciously trying to move towards a minimalistic bend towards my life and impulsive shopping is certainly not a part that can be managed with that. However, this colour got the good old devil out and now I have it.

I didn’t really need it.

Then why did I pick it up?

The colour?

Yes, the colour.

The colour broke the monotony of blues and olives that I have been overdoing for a while. Since the shirt didn’t come with a name for the colour, I think it sits closest to a ‘Qatar Red’. I like the name. So a colour can inspire someone to own it. That thought brought in the element of 4 tonal colours, listed like they would in a colour book. Put together like a gradient, it represented my thought of the richness in colour only, without detail. I personally love prints. Specially printed shirts. This however is a story of colours and its tonality.

The denims are from U.S. Polo, watch from Chaps and the retro sneakers are from KOOVS. This colour palette is a great theme to play with for summers. I generally don’t wear pink. With this look though, I would totally wear pink sneakers. If in canvas, even better. Hah! That is wishful thinking and getting ahead of myself.

Going back to my minimalistic thoughts, hope you like the images.

Concept, Styling and Photography by me.

Sahdev Hooda

Suit it Indian

September 8, 2016September 8, 2016 SahdevHoodaLeave a comment

May life be filled with more travel plans and friends getting married at exotic locations.

I wore this look by NoughtOne (by Abhishek Paatni) for one of my dear friend’s wedding. The ‘bandhgala’ to me, is always appropriate for all indian occasions. I think it has been quite a while since I last wore a suit with a tie. Not the biggest fan of ties.

Made famous and followed by his name, the ‘Nehru Jacket’ is a style which I feel has a clear indian feeling attached to it. I recently blogged about a ‘bandhgala’ suit from another indian designer and I realise that they are spontaneously becoming a part of my personal style. This suit has a more modern edge with its crisp fabric and contemporary styling and details. One could even wear it with a mandarin collared shirt. I paired it with a bright blue shirt of mine. It was a perfect highlight for the light beige of the suit.

My friends poked fun at the look by calling it the look of Ladakh as the terrain is mostly rocky, hence beige and the blue of the sky is as clear and saturated as the shirt. I didn’t have much to argue about that and I laughed along with them.

I was once told at a French designer boutique that true luxury is reflected from the inside. Be it the finesse of the jacket lining or the way you maintained your drawers. Abhishek always scores well on that. I haven’t seen his office drawers but I am talking about his designs here. He always has a thought behind how he finishes the clothes he makes. Perfect highlights and impeccably finished insides. This is where a true gentleman would put his money.

Shot in ‘Neh’ valley near Leh.

Photographed by Malvika Jain.

Softer lands.

September 3, 2016September 3, 2016 SahdevHoodaLeave a comment

Something that Anuj Bhutani can never go wrong with is his colours. I have been an admirer of his work from the first time I went through his work. His refined sense of colour and fabric has always made see a great aesthetic value in his clothes.

I was going to Leh and Anuj can not be a miss. The moment I spoke to him about my plans of shooting in Leh, he knew what was it that he would like me to shoot. It started off with this beautiful jacket. I loved the volume of it and the quirky tie ups on the waist and the hem. The fluid cotton on the body of this jacket feels great to ear and the tonal embroidery on the lower left panel is absolutely beautiful. Subtle is the word when it come to this label. We matched it with a plain cotton kurta and ankle length pants from the same genius. His fits are always impeccable and it is a complete delight to be wearing Anuj Bhutani.

This look was shot in a beautiful small village called “Nimmu”, very close to Leh .

Photographed by Malvika Jain.

Grunge that suits

August 27, 2016August 27, 2016 SahdevHoodaLeave a comment

This is the first coming together of my blog and the Label Suket Dhir. I am glad to personally know even the person Suket Dhir. He was my senior at college. Seeing Suket win the Woolmark prize was a complete delight. The collection looked brilliant and all the looks photographed beautifully well. That is not always easy with handloom fabrics. I have been trying to participate in the idea of promoting indian, hand-woven fabrics and this grungy suit from Suket Dhir is a great way to begin the process.

Not only does he research and know his slubby, textured fabrics well, he also sees a great amount of beauty in the craft that our country weaves. This easy cut suit is a great example of that. The perfect blue on the weave is detailed with wooden buttons and a paisley print silk lining. The pants are the most comfortable pair of formal pants I have ever worn. The volume and the cut of it does have a slight sense of nostalgia as I remember the members of my previous generations wearing loose boxy pyjamas along with their kurtas and ease with the breeze. I am really in love with this outfit. This is a must have for winters. The ensemble does have the perfect balance of everything that you look for in designer wear.

I look forward to another post soon with Suket where I would love to talk more about his design journey and how the his sensibility evolved from the fibre level of thinking and making.

Also, excuse me for putting a little extra photographs on this post. But this is only for the complete viewing pleasure as I loved the location we shot at. We shot this look at this lovely place before Rohtang called Sarchu. We stayed in a cottage on the banks of the river ‘Baaga’. Delightful is the word.

Photographed by Rahul Lal.

Rock and Feathers

August 22, 2016August 22, 2016 SahdevHooda2 Comments

If life is a journey then it all happens when you are on the way.

Shot on one of the most scenic roads I have ever experienced in my life, this all Huemn look is one of my all time favourites from the brand. The sleeves are everything in this look. The white chevron stripe breaking the feathers embellishment into the all black of the whole look has an outlandish impact. I knew it deserved a certain backdrop when I picked up the look but what in particular that was, i didn’t. While driving through the rocky terrain that leads to Leh, mesmerised and humbled by the beauty and enormity of nature around, this look effortlessly found its aesthetic relationship with the colors and textures and some unclear emotion of it.

We stopped at different spots which we thought were right, driving at the height of 5000m or more.The last set of pictures was actually shot at 5500m approx.

This strong and impactful look got its place in places I had never seen before.

Photographed by Rahul Lal.

Special thanks to Rigzin Negi. My partner in crime since 2004.

Red Summer

June 21, 2016June 22, 2016 SahdevHoodaLeave a comment

Delhi summers have been burning this year. Not that any other year they are not. The occasional showers from the sky have been kind and cool and so is this outfit by 0.0. I have been blogging a lot about 0.0/Noughtone by Abhishek Paatni and I can not get enough of the swag he makes. Also, the true gentleman(him) made it to the Gen Next category for Lakme Fashion Week. The menswear collection he has designed is a bomb and is going to kick some serious ass. Look out for that.

This look is perfect for the weather we have been steaming ourselves with. The red vest has a cool detail on the shoulder strap and the military stripes on the side give it a street cool look. The dropped crotch scuba shorts are quite comfortable and have great ease for movement.

I paired this look with my Pharrell Williams Polka dotted Stansmith by Adidas Originals. I generally love colour co-ordinated looks where a colour from my outfit spills out to my accessories or shoes. A perfect way to finish a look off.

Generally, the combination of shorts and summer vest is more hippie cool but the little details on this look(which make all the difference) give it a futuristic edge and yes I love the red on this vest. No wonder thats all the highlight.

Photographs by Anuja Khokani.

Navy Sport

June 17, 2016 SahdevHooda1 Comment

An unlined summer jacket, made out of sports mesh and impeccably finished from inside. Cool, comfortable shorts made out of the same mesh. Both by 0.0.

Added my navy coloured classic Polo by Superdry which has a perfect highlight of the neon green collar tape for this monotonous look. I obviously had to throw my white hi-tops from Puma for this look. You know, the looks which get my sneakers out are my favourite ones. This pair has been ignored for a while but i am always loyal to my hi-tops. There a few more that i still haven’t blogged about. They probably will follow soon, in one of the future posts.

I really do like the zipper detail on the side of the jacket. My style is mostly about the little details which make the difference in a garment or a look. City cool or street cool, which ever way you say, I am loving the fitness vibe everyone is picking up. I definitely am and it is seeping into my style preferences as well.

The idea is, jump around, break a leg or may be not.

Photographs by Anuja Khokhani.

What I Wore #5

May 31, 2016May 31, 2016 SahdevHoodaLeave a comment

This is the longest break I have given to a blogpost since I started. I have been working a lot on some other projects as well and guys trust me, I needed this blogpost to uplift my spirit a little more. Colours do put me in a good mood.

Coming back all vibrant, this look is all about the beautiful, mustard coloured jacket by 0.0. I paired it with my HnM black satin chinos and my Bhane white shirt. The peak collar detail on the jacket is quite suited for a dinner. However, the vibrant mustard that Abhishek picked for this style works well even in a semi-formal day situation. I think he really has something going with the colours he picks for formal jacket/suits. Formal, beyond normal.

Black and white is a classic that I repeat a lot and to throw a good coloured jacket is great even when you are carrying it on your arm. Great for a day to evening look which almost happens everyday at fashion week.

I am a sucker for tiny, quirky details and the Bhane shirt is quite cool with the collar styling and the little chambray edge on the end of the front placket. Just the perfect twist one needs on a white shirt. Total win.

The sunglasses are by Prada and the watch by Tissot.

Photographed by Mrinalini Singh.

Hairy arm below by me.

	SahdevHooda on Rock and Feathers
	benjaminsaccaggi on Rock and Feathers
	Anonymous on Monsoon Green.
	GAS – International… on Navy Sport
	SahdevHooda on Fashion Week Dressing #3