Growing up in a defence background, I learnt that everyone was the same and deserved the same respect and that what differentiated one individual from another was not what you had but what you were. You make your life with discipline and character. Even if you do not have a huge amount of money, you can have style.
Dressing up was not a childhood obsession—I studied at Doon school where we all wore uniforms so dressing was not something I thought about. However, I was always good at drawing and won prizes for my sketches. Interestingly, I would draw wedding processions.
I practically live in black trousers and T-shirt because as designers, we see such beautiful clothes all the time that on a personal level, we tone it down. Most designers dress minimalistic. As a teen, I did go through a phase where I wore bomber jackets and colourful shirts, or white shirt, blue jeans and tan shoes. Loved it then.
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I did not choose to be a designer. Those days there was no design industry, it was only a textile industry. I didn’t want to go to IIT because I couldn’t understand the Law of Multiple Proportions. So I was sent off to Wharton to study business and came back to a job selling oil field equipment. Designing couture happened later.
Sal (wife, Sailaja Murty Tahiliani), who I met in America, introduced me to the world of fashion. When I met her she was a model, and I got introduced to fashion, design and styling glamour.
America taught me the value of labour. I washed dishes. My uncle protested to my father, Admiral R H Tahiliani, who was then Chief of Naval Staff, but my father said he will absolutely do it. It was a great lesson. Today, I can pick up a broom and sweep the floor of my studio if I have to, without a second thought.
Style is not about having 120 pairs of jeans. My muse, Minal Modi, who was very unwell at the time, wanted me make her a beautiful blouse. She has passed since but even at the height of her illness, she wanted to wear a beautiful garment. I was told by her family that Simone Tata chose to be dressed in a Tarun Tahiliani outfit for her funeral. Real style is for oneself whether you are alive or dead. These women were truly the epitome of style—they didn’t not know to live any other way.
I would like to imbibe my father’s humility. My father was a test pilot, which is the highest level a pilot can achieve, but he was the humblest man I knew.
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My flaw is that I want everything done in a certain way. It’s not pretentious; I just cannot help it. It is a difficult thing to put up with for people who live or work with me.
Luxury is what you feel on your skin. It is not a price tag. It is not pretentious. My hand will tell me when it is luxury—I can put my hand into a bag and say its luxury. That’s something Minal always said.
Getting into the fashion designers Hall of Fame is something I never think about. I just do what I love. When you do what you love, tags don’t matter. There is no greater gift life can bestow on you.
On the other side of 60, I have learnt that all the old adages one heard throughout one’s life—a stitch in time saves nine; don’t count your chickens before they hatch; actions speak louder than words—are so true. Grandmothers’ tales are true. I don’t waste any time now. Time feels precious. When it is time to go, I hope I go down practically, in my chair in my office. You cannot get away with anything—things will catch up. What you put into life is what life will give back to you.
I love Delhi, with all its monuments, parks, wide spaces and roads. I feel sad when I see the level of pollution in the city—things could have been managed better.
Designing for Bollywood is not for me. I am neither a costume designer, nor a stylist. It is not what fashion designers do. Here, in our country, it’s all mixed up. I may consider something like what Armani did for Richard Gere in American Gigolo (1980) where he created a legendary fashion moment designing Richard Gere's entire wardrobe, introducing minimalist tailoring to America and defining the sleek, modern look for the decade.
Most design is evolution. Your studio is an R&D lab. We Indians did textiles, muslins, silks. The west taught us stylish cuts and structured drapes. India is a nation in flower and that permeates my process of designing. Creating is the oxygen of life. It’s a process.