Guided by the quiet power of wabi-sabi, Divyam Mehta breathes new life into forgotten ancestral weaves. In conversation with First Look, the creative force shares how he preserves authenticity – an element that lends his designs their distinctive soul.
Born out of deep reverence for Indian textile traditions, Divyam Mehta’s eponymous label reflects a seamless dialogue between contrasts. His love for design took root early on – from crafting art out of textile waste at his parents’ kidswear factory to his own sensibility over time. “From observing the quiet rhythm of artisans to exploring fabrics, what began as a quiet exploration of craft soon evolved into a distinctive design language that celebrates the beauty of imperfection. The hand-touched finish, the organic texture – that is where the soul of craft truly lives,” he reflects.
Reimagining Indian handlooms through a modern lens, Divyam’s creations carry nuanced narratives – refined yet rooted – designed to move effortlessly beyond festive confines and into the rhythm of everyday life. Drawing inspiration from the emotive and fortuitous nuances of nature gives the label’s assemblage its unique edge. For the brand, imperfection is not a flaw, but a mark of authenticity – a quiet rebellion against mass uniformity, making each garment not just worn but deeply felt.
In a landscape rich with tradition yet yearning for reinvention, the creative force found himself compelled to answer a deeper emotional call, one that would shape his journey as a designer and add a new direction to Indian fashion. “I was looking to fill the gap between overtly ornate fashion and pared-back modern design,” he shares. “The idea was to bring forth a collection that evokes intimacy, comfort, and cultural pride while simultaneously resonating with the modern wearer.”
This fluent conversation between traditional craft and modern design gives the eponymous label’s collections a universality, enabling them to coexist comfortably within Indian and international contexts. Rather than replicating the traditional weaves in their original form, the designer experiments with unexpected applications – Kantha stitches forming abstract patterns instead of florals, or Shibori reimagined in muted tonalities instead of bold indigo. These subtle tweaks ensure that age-old crafts are not just preserved but evolved, imbued with a freshness that speaks to today’s generation without diluting their origins.
Divyam’s latest collection, The Botanist, explores reflection and transformation. “The collection was designed to evoke a sense of slowing down,” he says. “It’s an invitation to notice how a seam can become a line of poetry, or how a tonal shift can alter the atmosphere of an entire piece. It is less about spectacle and more about presence, offering the wearer garments that feel like quiet armour and elemental poetry, made to accompany life lived with intention.”
Speaking about the palette, he elaborates, “The Pre-Fall 2025 collection explores the dichotomies between stillness and movement, heritage and modernity, form and feeling. The garments do not rush to declare themselves but instead unfold with quiet presence. From there, colour and texture became the storytellers: deep reds that pulse like embers, dense blacks that ground, silvers and steels that shift with the light, blues and greys that carry memory and mood”.
Design, at its best, captures emotion – and for Divyam, that emotion is serenity. In a world that often celebrates the bold and the loud, he chooses softness as strength. “Serenity is one word that resonates with my brand the most – the quiet strength of garments that ground their wearer, even in moments of grandeur,” he shares.
“Celebratory dressing, for me, is not about ornamentation; it’s about memory and meaning.”
In today’s fast-paced world of ever-changing trends and disposable fashion, the relevance of handloom is often questioned. But for Divyam, handloom isn’t a relic of the past – it’s a medium for modern expression. “By allowing the weave, the stitch, and the dye to become integral to form – not just surface – my garments shift the narrative from heritage to presence, from past to future,” the designer shares. In a culture of excess, Divyam positions handloom not as an aesthetic compromise but as an intentional choice – one that holds meaning, rarity, and endurance.
“In a world driven by excess, handloom becomes aspirational precisely because it offers rarity, honesty, and endurance.”
In the quiet afterthought of our conversation, we ask Divyam to describe the soul of his label. Reflective, he answers, “The voice of my brand would be quiet yet assured, carrying the rhythm of stillness and movement in equal measure. Its moodboard would hold the tactility of handwoven cloth, the shifting hues of steel, fire, and storm, the abstraction of shadows, and the softness of light. It is a world where restraint feels powerful, where detail speaks louder than declaration, and where clothing becomes a vessel for calm, curiosity, and quiet transformation.”