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<h1 class="left">Akshat Bansal, founder of Bloni, is everything one would imagine an unabashed creative individual to be. One at the helm of a gender-agnostic, future-focused fashion house at that. He grins from ear to ear while recounting stories of his childhood and days as a student of fashion, when his insistent curiosity caused the adults around him much trouble in conjuring answers to the constant stream of questions he posed. It is a curiosity that is reflected in his work in building Bloni, with an unwavering commitment to evolving the wearability of clothing. He was always this way, he knows it. He’d walk into esteemed couture houses and ateliers that most students would consider a dream out of reach, armed with a portfolio and a task at hand. He had to get in, there was absolutely no other way. Most of the time, if not all, he did. If you were a peer in his class, you’d most certainly make him to be one of those annoyingly over-achieving kids. If there was even the slightest chance the opportunity would fall into his lap, getting turned away (at best) or ridiculed (at worst) was a risk he was happy to take. A true disciple of textile and craft, he quickly came to be known in his years at fashion school, as an opinionated student thoroughly obsessed with getting it right. In his time in the industry, his work has taken many shapes– from envisioning his earliest collection ‘Monochrome’ on a snow-capped mountain in Manali, to building Bloni as a brand constructing new forms of hybridities by merging futuristic materials and emerging technologies. He tells dirty everything about the journey.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">dirty: When were you first interested in fashion and design?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Akshat: I was always very inclined towards design in general, I won't call it fashion. I was an observant and curious child, and I would ask my mom the weirdest questions about various things. My dad has a store called Rajesh Sari, for 45 years now, which deals with ethnic women's wear. My house back in the day in Hisar, Haryana, had karigars working on the ground floor, so I would go there and play with the beads and the nakshis and the fabrics and the dabka. I think the inclination for fashion first came from the idea that it was accessible. And my curiosity. I would ask my dad, “what is the meaning of the motif in this border?” And he'll be like, “I don’t know, it's just a border!” I was also really interested in architecture, for instance when my dad's house was getting built, I was always working on maps of the house, the placement of the stairs. I found myself finding solutions to things. And that's also what we do at Bloni today.</h1>

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<h1 class="right">dirty: How did you land up in fashion school?</h1>

<h1 class="right">Akshat: When I was in the 6th standard, and my sister was in her 12th, she wanted to study at NIFT, so we went to NIFT Delhi and I tagged along. My sister was asking her questions, and when we bumped into the CC of Fashion Design, Vandana Narang, I told her that I also want to do fashion. She said “You’re too young to decide if you want to become a fashion designer. There are six years for you to come to NIFT.” I insisted that I was interested because it was such an integral part of my household. My dad also had a children’s wear store and he used to get cool clothes for us. I would always wear my sister's clothes because somehow, I never thought of gender since childhood. I would not think about a garment as my sister's or a girl’s garment. I'm sure I was a little effeminate, because I never played cricket but went to the karigars’ unit and played with the beads. People boxed me into the idea that he must be not straight because he's not playing cricket. I didn’t fit in, in the town where I grew up. I would go around and look at every market, every place, everything my dad owned in the store, and it wasn't enough. So I told my mom that, listen, I don't think I can live here. When I was in the 11th standard, I said I am fucking off. Boys then were all talking about sex and girls and I was talking about scraping patterns on a tree because it will look beautiful.</h1>

<h1 class="right">I left the city and I enrolled myself at this school called Hans Raj School in Delhi. My school had fashion design in the 11th and 12th standard, and it helped me understand the first two years of college beforehand. In those two years, I was studying fashion design, I was studying for NIFT entrances, and I was also interning. I started my internships pretty early. I would reach out to multiple people, ready to hear a no. I have always been that person who believes that you have to ask if you need anything, otherwise no one’s going to know you want it. If I hadn’t walked up to the teacher at NIFT, and she hadn’t told me that you have to enrol yourself to a school which teaches fashion, I would’ve never known. Because once you pre-prep yourself when you're going to college, you're not going as a blank slate, right? I got enrolled into NIFT, Delhi and Bombay. I chose to go to NIFT, Bombay, because I feel like the farther you are from family, the more you learn.</h1>

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<h1 class="centre">dirty: What was your experience like in fashion school?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Akshat: In my first year at NIFT, my intention was to get more exposure by interning, not because the college asked me to intern. I know that the more you work in the real industry, the more you will be exposed. So every summer break, every bigger break, smaller break, I would make sure that even if it's a month of an internship, I need to go and intern. And what happened? I was so overworked, I flunked out because I had jaundice, malaria, typhoid on the day of 26/11, before my practicals. I was laying down on the bed, drenched in sweat, wondering what the hell was going on. The next day, I got admitted to Lilavati Hospital. Everyone is in crisis in Bombay and I was in the hospital. I was sent back home for six months after that because NIFT has a rule that if you don't do your practical exams, you have to repeat a year. I had to go back home and take rest for three months because I was supposed to be bedridden. So I did my Foundation year twice. In some way, the experience really helped me to grow into what I am today, because that one year gap gave me two more internships and my basics got much stronger. After that, four years of college passed by very beautifully. At NIFT, I used to go into my classes and teach pattern-making without my teacher being present. My teachers were dependent on me and said “Akshat, you know it, so you teach this. I'm coming back.” I would do an assignment in 20 minutes in a three hour class. I would do it for two more people, and help my peers. The more you practise, the more you get it right.</h1>

<h1 class="left">dirty: Were you one of the kids in fashion school that people knew are just ‘going to make it’?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Akshat: People told me that you're different and you're going to become something. So I was like, whatever, man, whatever. Because my assignments were always out of the box. Like very bizarre. I would dive into the crux of it. For any construction assignment I would think, how do I introduce other things to it? It's construction, yes. But why can't I print my shirt first and then construct it? Illustration classes. You have to make two, I'll make five. The students were all saying why do you have to be extra always? Who are you trying to impress? Hell, I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I said no, grades don't matter. I don't think grades will matter to my portfolio anyway.</h1>

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<h1 class="centre">dirty: What did your design journey look like, after graduation?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Akshat: I completed NIFT and went to work with Tarun Tahiliani. That was also a gig for which I applied out of nowhere, because if you want to apply and get into a main degree design space as the designers there, you need to have at least three years of experience. I just went there and did an interview. They didn't reply for a month. Then one day, this person from the Department of Menswear calls me up and says, join tomorrow. When I entered TT, I was in menswear, but I knew everything that was going on in the womenswear department, couture department, accessory department, and made friends with everybody. You have to be multidisciplinary, right? I always knew that I wanted to go to CSM and Saville Row. That was my agenda. In my head, if I don't do these two things, my fashion school experience is not over. I was freelancing while working for TT, with his permission of course, and gathered money for my CSM degree. I got into CSM, booked my tickets and then went to dad. A lot of drama happened. My father knew I was happy working at TT, so why would I ever want to leave? Tarun Tahiliani is a god to me, he’s a mentor that I will never forget, a gem of a person. He has taught and given me so many opportunities. I would voice everything I felt was wrong, and he would always listen to what I say, even if that meant an entire collection had to get changed. We’d grown very thick, so leaving him was also a decision I was doubtful of. While I was working there, TT used to often tell me you're going to leave me one day, I know it. And I used to say “excuse me, I love you. I'm not leaving.” I do have many opinions of my own and I think people can gauge that about me. So, I ended up leaving for CSM.</h1>

<h1 class="right">dirty: What was your experience working in the fashion scene in London like?</h1>

<h1 class="right">Akshat: When I was studying at Central St. Martin's, I knew I HAD to work at Savile Row, so I barged in and said, “I want to work here.” And they said, “You have to complete the education for six years, and then you become a Savile Row tailor.” I told them I don't have six years of Savile Row training, but I have a NIFT training and I like to stitch clothes, so you can go through my portfolio. They saw a lot of construction in my portfolio and said “okay, join tomorrow.” This happened two months into CSM. I was working 18 hours to make the money. My body was programmed in a way that I would go to CSM, finish my class, run to Savile Row, finish my pattern making, go to the library, complete the assignments, and sleep. I was also working on some things aside from all of this. I had a friend who had an export house, and I became her agent in London. She would send her swatches, and I would go to every atelier possible from McQueen's to Stella McCartney. I always wanted to go inside their offices to get the exposure and see how they do every single thing.</h1>

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<h1 class="centre">dirty: How did your first collection come into being?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Akshat: When I got back to India from London, I started freelancing a bit but I had zero money. I had like 5000 rupees in my account, and I was frustrated, but I was hopeful I’d figure it out. I picked up my bag, told my best friend to come with me, and we took a bus to this place called Hampta Pass in Himachal near Manali . And the moment I get there, the bus stops and a sign reads ‘First ever Igloo stay in Manali’. And I'm like, hmm, interesting. So we made our way through the fucking snow terrain to the Igloos with one guide, and one dog. Picture this, it was just me and my friend sitting in that Igloo, and I looked out suddenly to see that the dog was sitting outside, with his back turned to us, protecting us. And that’s the moment it struck me, my first collection was right in front of me. But I had no brand name. No registration of anything. There's no Bloni anywhere. It was just my collection before my eyes.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">I called my masterji and asked him to get 45 metres of Chanderi. I was desperate to make that one shirt. The chanderi texture looked like snow to me. And the trees there looked like tie dye, all in black and white. The collection was called ‘Monochrome’, inspired by the snow terrain. Tied it up with a normal thread, ran to a dyer, dipped it, and the first shirt was born. I liked it. And then I said, I like the idea, let's just make two or three more of it. So I made two shirts. And a trouser. It was around the time I was starting to be active on social media. A post popped up from Lakme Fashion Week that said ‘Apply Gen X Designers’. And I'm like, that could be interesting. I didn’t tell a single soul, just clicked on the link and filled the form. I didn't have any pictures of old collections like they asked, but I clubbed it with some other work I’d done and submitted it. I was just about to start my atelier at home, so I had my master tailor sitting in my lobby, and I had a bedroom. In a few days, Lakme calls up saying “We're calling from IMG and we saw your presentation. You'll have to work harder for the next season. You are showcasing in two months.” At that point I was wondering, what have I done? Because I don't have money. My parents don't have money.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">IMG told me to send my Instagram handle, Facebook handle and website in 1 hour because they have to launch me the next morning. I didn’t have all of this, but because I was still a kid in the industry, I knew I had to deliver. It took two months to make the collection, and after a series of accidents, happy and otherwise, I finally showcased it.</h1>

<h1 class="left">dirty: How did you settle on the name Bloni for your brand?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Akshat: People told me that you are different and your intentions are different, so you probably will become something. Fun fact, the name Bloni was born in college. I was on a trip to Mahabaleshwar and I was dressed very flamboyantly. My nickname is Loni, by the way, and my sister in law says, you know, Akshat, you are always dressed so well, everybody should be like Loni. Be Loni. Bloni. And I decided that my brand can't be my namesake. Akshat Bansal as a design house or a couture house doesn't make any sense. I didn’t want to have a namesake space because I don't want to sell my name ever, if I have to. I can sell my brand name if I have to, but I don't want to sell my name itself. And I always prophesied Bloni to become a mammoth of a brand. I want to make a legacy.</h1>

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<h1 class="left">Images by: Sampada Ravindra</h1>

<h1 class="left">Videos by: Anish Sarai</h1>

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