Aman Nath describes himself as a "non-writer author, a non-architect builder, a nonconformist father and an inveterate traveller seeking simplicity”. It’s evident that the Delhi-born Founder-Chairman of Neemrana Hotels doesn’t subscribe to constancy, except for his predilection for heritage pieces. His love affair with it unfolds over many chapters: khadi kurtas, silk pieces, western suits—you name it. Style, for him, “has meant being noticed without being noticed”. “But when the occasion demands, I can wear my firecracker jacket by Manish Arora. It’s perfect for Diwali. When Muzaffar Ali made two exquisite kurtas for me in Kotwara, I guess he wanted me to look like a Nawab—and I don’t think I let him down!”
Esquire India hung out with him at Neemrana’s Tijara Fort-Palace to find out more about Nath the natty tastemaker. The results were... exquisite!
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That was in the pre-designer era. Those days, we went to tailors, so we had to be more explicit in our choice even when we bought fabrics. I didn’t like wearing what everyone else did. Perhaps others followed trends or were in some social race—which I’ve always enjoyed as an in-joke. Mother Teresa didn’t look at the saris of Bengal or the Marwari elite when she chose her blue ribbon-chic! Yet both she and her work stood out. I wore handloom fabrics, which my friends Lekha Poddar and Karuna Goenka used to make for me.
Why do you think that the best names in Indian fashion gift you their work to wear?
I wonder myself, too! Perhaps, in retrospect, I can say that first, they are generous friends. But, beyond that—since I do, in some way, represent the resurrection of India’s lost heritage, at least those designers who work similarly on reviving tradition—people like Muzaffar Ali, Rajesh Pratap Singh, JJ Valaya and even Rahul Mishra, are kind enough to complete that cycle in the history of clothes. Maybe it is better to ask them! (laughs)
Where does your aesthetic inspiration come from? Do you follow trends, or chart your own path?
No one is born with raffinement, in the broader, French sense—but if one has the aptitude, it is most naturally honed and developed as one educates the mind and sharpens the senses. Our eyes are our best teachers, and I had the fortune of a widespread exposure. If you give the same exposure to ten people, each will extract their own aesthetic from the same visual experience.
Versace will pick or add the dazzle, Issey Miyake perhaps the essence? Rejecting excess or bad taste when people try too hard to succeed, isn’t difficult. Simplicity is always a winner against an overkill. I’ve travelled, seen, observed, but never felt the need to copy. Especially not in India, where we are spoilt for weave, material, texture, colour, design, tradition and modernity.
Trends are like fads, now largely related to consumerism as is the lure of show windows which lure you to buy what you don’t need! How can someone else tell you that teal is the colour of the season—or fuchsia?
How does your personal style and aesthetic sensibility reflect in your work with Neemrana Hotels?
I guess it does. It’s only natural. Neemrana is about revival of dead buildings—a revitalisation where thrift helps as much as style. The 15th-century Neemrana Fort-Palace, first of the 27 restorations we’ve done, is very quiet and not an in-the-face place. The idea was to make it to feel as if all those guest rooms had always been there.
Architects and interior designers tend to impose and stamp their style as a signature. Sometimes there is an excess of money, and it shows! Our signature is Rajasthani in Rajasthan, colonial in Coonoor, and Danish in Tranquebar. For me, more than just aesthetics, it was the recycling of waste that prompted me to act. Along with revitalising architectural rubble from the past, simple aesthetics was what the ruin demanded.
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What is your style and how has your dressing changed over the years?
I was flamboyant at 17, but by 23, I’d got to my comfort level with shirts and trousers as much as kurta-pyjama. Over time, my dressing hasn’t changed much, but since many of my designer friends gift their clothes to me, I try and meld it into my style. I’ve enjoyed my slow evolution, I imagine. It’s also about de-escalating, as one adds years.
How do you dress for an average day?
At work, I wear cotton trousers in four-five colours with matching or contrasting shirts. In Jaipur, I once got 10-odd shirt pieces with block printed stripes in all colours. Manish Tibrewal of [Jaipur-based label] Rasa turned them into elegance, with diagonal plackets and other fine details.
The truth is, I do have a valet in the old-fashioned sense, who pulls out my clothes after I broadly describe my day in a few words. Sometimes, he likes to surprise me with a pink pinstriped shirt and steel grey trousers. I wear his humour to please us both! When I have to be on stage, I try not to be dull—red and yellow jackets work, or an amazing drip-polka black-and-
white by Rajesh Pratap Singh.
One outfit you would pick without hesitation?
A striped blue and white shirt with dark blue GAP trousers—which my French nephew Shiv Chopra spoils me with. Though I like the stripes I wear to vary in their width, so as to not become a uniform.
Is there anything in your wardrobe you want to throw away?
I haven’t grown much in size, so I can wear my past. Old clothes become like school friends. If you can afford the space, you’d like to keep them all. They’re particularly useful when people do theme dinners, and you need a Goa shirt with palms or must wear gold/silver to be silly. I can pull out my past and parade it, conscious that we’re re-living our juvenile days.
One item in your wardrobe that has a special meaning or a story behind it?
Most of my clothes carry memories of fabulous family members and creative friends, of travels and impulsive desires. I could hardly single out one.
Anything you would like to add to your wardrobe?
Oh no! I’d rather empty it than dream of more. Dispossession is a great stage to have arrived at.
Anything you would never wear?
I don’t have any definitive nos! I wore a dress suit and bowtie for a prize ceremony because that was the dress code written on the card (but I was the only one!) In Paris, I saw a brand that had stitched its label on the crotch! I would rather have people look in my eyes rather than my fly.
Stylist: Mehak Khanna
Bookings Editor: Varun Shah
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