BAZAAR

very designerneeds a story. What is my story? Who am I?”For Naeem Khan, it’s a question best answered byhis creations. By one dress in particular, actually:A strapless cream-coloured gown in a silhouetteinspired by Marilyn Monroe, with sterling silverappliqués reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s poppies,embellished using a technique he learned fromhis grandfather. Michelle Obama immortalisedthe dress when she wore it to the Indian StateDinner at the White House in 2009, but it’sspecial even without the former First Lady’sendorsement. Without force or conflict, it bringstogether the legacy of embroidery Khan inheritedand the decadence he experienced when hemoved to New York City in the 1970s.Khan grew up with fashion—his grandfatherstarted an embroidery and fabric-makingbusiness in Bombay in the 1930s, and his fathercarried it forward, even designing for royalfamilies in India. His earliest memories, in fact,include playing with yards of fabric and woodenspools. “My Indianness comes from the chaos,the colour, the embroidery, when there is noinhibition of mixing colours. Everyone in theworld studies colour, but here it comes naturally.What I know in fashion is from India,” he says.It’s evident in his pieces, in their unapologeticvibrancy—the Doha dress from his Spring 2017bridal range, shaped like a dome and inspired by``````his mother’s saris; the dresses from Fall 2012,with hand-painted circles and dots, from thebody art of Indian sadhus; the Kashmiri textilegown for Michelle Obama in 2016.Decades ago, though, India couldn’t offer himan education, not in this field, nascent and niche.He set out, instead, for Fashion Institute ofTechnology in New York City—only to neverattend a single class. “It was my lucky day.My father asked me to go with him to a meetingwith this amazing designer who was interested incollaborating with our company. I grew upplaying in the workshops, so I started chattingabout what our family did, and he said you won’tgo to school, you’ll come and work for me,” saysKhan, when we speak after his session at the IndiaToday Conclave in Mumbai earlier this year.He is referring to Roy Halston, the legendarydesigner who mentored him for eight years,a relationship that extended beyond the studio,where he saw firsthand every fitting and beganto understand the function and construction``````Michelle Obama and President Obamaat the Indian State Dinner, 2009BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/GETTY IMAGES ➤