12 JANUARY 2023 | MEGHNA YESUDAS
Rhycni makes clothes that are a sensory experience. Caring little for practicality, the duo behind the brand manipulates materials to create pieces of art with ubiquitous strangeness. For dirty looks, the garments are complemented by moody makeup created with Tira Beauty, adding to the discord.

<h1 class="left">Rhycni makes clothes you want to touch. Run your hands gingerly through the fleece, familiarise your palm with its liquidity, or poke a curious finger into a colossal puffer jacket. Even for the distant spectator, its peculiar pieces make a sensory treat. The strangeness of the brand's silhouettes owes their origin to the design duo who run the show, siblings Raveena and Nikita Galani. Focused on creating pieces that stand out to most as somewhat uncomfortable and caring little about practicality, the two have shaped the growth of the esoteric label into its current form.</h1>

<h1 class="right">The brand's name, Rhycni, comes from a similar school of surreality. "We just woke up one day and decided to make a few samples, and it was at that moment we knew it was happening," says Raveena. It was a time of great urgency. The sisters refused to spend the next few weeks contemplating a name, so they agreed to do the next best rational thing—close their eyes and type random letters on a keyboard to settle on the name of their soon-to-be global label. There is no story to be told here of complicated etymology and pronunciation techniques; Rhycni means nothing. It is characteristic of their penchant for getting rid of safety nets and diving headlong into the waters of the experiment.</h1>

<h1 class="right">The materials they're keen on working with are hard to source in India, and with a lack of options, they tend to manipulate the ones they have. Created using organza, fleece, fur, and leather, with a soft spot for technical nylons, Rhycni uses fabric devoid of the apparent flawless flow to construct it into raw and unrestrained forms. "If this is not available at hand, we'll fuse it until the fabric has some shape that we can keep changing or molding, and it will eventually hold."</h1>

<h1 class="left">Complementing the creative liberty taken by the makers of the garments, the moody makeup and wet, textured hair tie add discord to the look. Nothing is cohesive, and nothing makes sense. Pale lips, black kohl smudged out unevenly with fingers, reds and oranges, and deep-toned purple lipsticks tell of deep decay, turned inside out. In the loss of perfect symmetry and evenness, an unlikely cohesion exists.</h1>

<h1 class="left">Their design process is somewhat unnatural. "We usually start with basic silhouettes and keep changing the route constantly until we end up with something completely different from what we started working on. In a way, we don't have a design we must follow. Sometimes, we'll stop midway and declare it finished; sometimes, we'll keep adjusting until we're satisfied. By that point, we end up with a completely different, in fact, a better product than what we had in mind," Raveena tells dirty.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">It is the kind of approach replicated by the makeup artist, Eshwar Log, using products from Tira Beauty, in the goth glam makeup constructed for dirty looks— of smudged purple lips, dishevelled after its initial neat construction, and colour smeared haphazardly on the eyes. With softness in a pop of blush, in pinks and peaches worked into the skin, the appearance oscillates from brooding and bulky to feminine and sexy.</h1>

<h1 class="right">The team at Rhycni consists of only four people at the time: the two siblings and two skilled karigars adept at bringing unreasonable ideas to life. "We want everyone to be able to touch, feel, and try the pieces on before making the decision to buy, so one of our main goals is to be physically present in as many concept stores worldwide as we can." Their hope for an ideal future is to have a dedicated line with no limitations and to make unique art pieces without bowing out to retail pressure. "Thinking about making everything practical almost brings us to a creative stop. There are some pieces that we only do one size for, like an XL, for example, because we know the second we size it down, we'll lose interest in the design."</h1>

<h1 class="right">It is the kind of ubiquitous strangeness they aim, with all sincerity, to carry on in the future.</h1>

<h1 class="full">Beauty Parter: Tira, Clothes by: Rhycni, Photographer: Soujit Das, Stylist: Karishma Diwan, HMU: Eshwar Log, HMU assistant: Nidhi Tulsani, Styling assistant: Sriram Y & Nimrit Kaur, Location: Istituto Marangoni</h1>

<h1 class="full">Rhycni makes clothes you want to touch. Run your hands gingerly through the fleece, familiarise your palm with its liquidity, or poke a curious finger into a colossal puffer jacket. Even for the distant spectator, its peculiar pieces make a sensory treat. The strangeness of the brand's silhouettes owes their origin to the design duo who run the show, siblings Raveena and Nikita Galani. Focused on creating pieces that stand out to most as somewhat uncomfortable and caring little about practicality, the two have shaped the growth of the esoteric label into its current form.</h1>

<h1 class="full">The brand's name, Rhycni, comes from a similar school of surreality. "We just woke up one day and decided to make a few samples, and it was at that moment we knew it was happening," says Raveena. It was a time of great urgency. The sisters refused to spend the next few weeks contemplating a name, so they agreed to do the next best rational thing—close their eyes and type random letters on a keyboard to settle on the name of their soon-to-be global label. There is no story to be told here of complicated etymology and pronunciation techniques; Rhycni means nothing. It is characteristic of their penchant for getting rid of safety nets and diving headlong into the waters of the experiment.</h1>

<h1 class="full">The materials they're keen on working with are hard to source in India, and with a lack of options, they tend to manipulate the ones they have. Created using organza, fleece, fur, and leather, with a soft spot for technical nylons, Rhycni uses fabric devoid of the apparent flawless flow to construct it into raw and unrestrained forms. "If this is not available at hand, we'll fuse it until the fabric has some shape that we can keep changing or molding, and it will eventually hold."</h1>

<h1 class="full">Complementing the creative liberty taken by the makers of the garments, the moody makeup and wet, textured hair tie add discord to the look. Nothing is cohesive, and nothing makes sense. Pale lips, black kohl smudged out unevenly with fingers, reds and oranges, and deep-toned purple lipsticks tell of deep decay, turned inside out. In the loss of perfect symmetry and evenness, an unlikely cohesion exists.</h1>

<h1 class="full">Their design process is somewhat unnatural. "We usually start with basic silhouettes and keep changing the route constantly until we end up with something completely different from what we started working on. In a way, we don't have a design we must follow. Sometimes, we'll stop midway and declare it finished; sometimes, we'll keep adjusting until we're satisfied. By that point, we end up with a completely different, in fact, a better product than what we had in mind," Raveena tells dirty.</h1>

<h1 class="full">It is the kind of approach replicated by the makeup artist, Eshwar Log, using products from Tira Beauty, in the goth glam makeup constructed for dirty looks— of smudged purple lips, dishevelled after its initial neat construction, and colour smeared haphazardly on the eyes. With softness in a pop of blush, in pinks and peaches worked into the skin, the appearance oscillates from brooding and bulky to feminine and sexy.</h1>

<h1 class="full">The team at Rhycni consists of only four people at the time: the two siblings and two skilled karigars adept at bringing unreasonable ideas to life. "We want everyone to be able to touch, feel, and try the pieces on before making the decision to buy, so one of our main goals is to be physically present in as many concept stores worldwide as we can." Their hope for an ideal future is to have a dedicated line with no limitations and to make unique art pieces without bowing out to retail pressure. "Thinking about making everything practical almost brings us to a creative stop. There are some pieces that we only do one size for, like an XL, for example, because we know the second we size it down, we'll lose interest in the design."</h1>

<h1 class="full">It is the kind of ubiquitous strangeness they aim, with all sincerity, to carry on in the future.</h1>

<h1 class="full">Beauty Parter: Tira, Clothes by: Rhycni, Photographer: Soujit Das, Stylist: Karishma Diwan, HMU: Eshwar Log, HMU assistant: Nidhi Tulsani, Styling assistant: Sriram Y & Nimrit Kaur, Location: Istituto Marangoni</h1>