Catwalk to couch

“Our customer base has always gone for the traditional, and the new collection brings a contemporary feel to fashion and home interiors,” says designer Rajesh Pratap Singh, creative director of Satya Paul, which added the lifestyle portfolio to its bouquet of upscale brands in 2022.

Satya Paul got a rehaul when Singh joined the brand as its creative director in 2020. His signature, traditional and minimalistic style now finds place in Satya Paul Home. “The idea to create an exceptional textile-centric brand was a natural progression and completes the vocabulary of the brand Satya Paul,” adds Singh.

A few years earlier, veteran fashion designer Ritu Kumar, known for rediscovering and restoring Indian textiles for over 50 years through her eponymous label, too, diversified into home decor with Ritu Kumar Home. A contemporary take on traditional Indian textiles, architecture and motifs, Ritu Kumar Home features a range of bed linen, wallpapers, tableware and home decor. The collection is season based-Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter-and comprises a versatile selection of pieces deeply rooted in Indian craftsmanship. “Ritu Kumar Home defines comfortable luxury for homes that like to tell their own story. With a vintage lens, it evokes the nostalgia of long summer days and decadent winter nights. Each collection is a homage to an indigenous art form,” says Amrish Kumar, CEO and creative director, Ritu Kumar.

Similarly, MyTrident, the flagship brand of the Trident Group known for its luxurious and premium home décor collections, recently joined hands with fashion designer duo Shivan & Narresh for a capsule collection of premium bedding and bath towel essentials.

Fashion designers and labels are known to create clothing, including sarees, dresses, suits, pants, and skirts, and accessories like shoes and handbags, for consumers. However, they are now transcending from the ramp to your living room with myriad collections in the home and lifestyle space. The idea is to allow fashion enthusiasts to wear their clothes as well as enjoy their legacy in the form of home decor and furnishings.

The trend gained momentum during the pandemic when more people spent time at home. In mid-2021, Fabindia launched its first home & lifestyle concept store in Delhi. The 1,900-sq-ft store in Khan Market offers products ranging from living and dining spaces to bath, lounge and home office set-ups.

Global trend

Fashion has influenced home interiors and vice versa-they work interchangeably, as fashion brands are now considered ‘lifestyle’ concepts. As more brands venture into the home space, there’s more to understand how an all-season collection works best for decor. It is long lasting, involves some investment and gives a sense of comfort to the living space. “We have seen major luxury houses such as Fendi, Missoni, Hermes, Loewe and Gucci playing within the home interior space for a while to capitalise on building the full lifestyle aesthetic their clientele thrives on. However, now more fashion brands trickle into the home interiors market as consumer values have changed during the pandemic, with consumers placing higher valuations on home goods than apparel,” says Jaye Anna Mize, VP, creative, home and lifestyle, Fashion Snoops, a New York-based trend forecasting and consumer insight agency. “Since 2020, consumers’ lives have revolved more around the home, also paired with the fact that the largest demographic-millennials-are now in their ‘nesting’ phase of getting married, having kids, and buying homes, the uptick of homeware is a natural progression,” adds Mize.

High-end international designers like Jason Wu, Rachel Zoe and Christopher Kane have launched their home lines or collaborated on capsule collections with established home brands. So have Nicole Miller, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren spilling over into the lifestyle sector for quite some time now.

Calvin Klein Home has minimalist aesthetic in the form of furniture, decorative accents and bedding. Kate Spade Saturday, the more casual lifestyle brand launched by Kate Spade New York, offers an affordable home collection including flatware to portable speakers. Belgian-based fashion label Maison Martin Margiela entered the home space with wallpaper in signature motifs like trompe l’oeil and shades of white.

Similarly, British menswear designer Paul Smith has also collaborated with other brands to offer home decor items. Donna Karan’s runway collections, too, serve as inspiration for bed and bath collections, which are infused with the elegant simplicity. Fashion designer Ralph Lauren ventured into home decorating products such as furniture, bedding, drapes, towels, rugs, china, silverware, and potpourri. His brand became an innovator in aspirational lifestyle and impacted the way people dressed and lived throughout the world. In fact, Woody Hochswender, editor of Esquire magazine, once said, “Ralph is a great interpreter of American traditions and he shapes these traditions in an ongoing way.”

A brand new story

Fashion brands, too, have been foraying into home and lifestyle from time to time. Swedish multinational fast-fashion brand H&M has H&M Home, the home and lifestyle category, with its fashion-forward decor and accessories collection, merging modern design and quality in affordable prices. The collection has living, dining and kitchen, bed and bathroom items. “We have seen consumer’s interest in interiors and design and our customers often asked for interior products in line with the H&M business concept of fashion and quality at best price,” says Yanira Ramirez, country sales manager, H&M India. Most people have become conscious of how environmentally friendly or ‘green’ their purchases are and shopping locally or buying responsibly sourced items. “Homeowners have naturally channeled their energies into livening up their sanctuary, causing a surge in the interest and investment in homeware and interior. Home is an important concept at H&M, and India is an interesting and promising market that holds a lot of potential,” adds Ramirez.

Decor spaces also have longevity of investment. Just as the fast-fashion industry spurred a movement in the opposite direction toward sustainable and ethical clothing manufacturing, the home industry is also making high-quality pieces more attainable for the conscious consumer. “Consumers are making smarter choices and making purchases that don’t have environmental effects. The home has become the new headquarters, facilitating everything from work-from-home to intimate gatherings now. As a result, consumers are bringing the concept of luxury into the post-pandemic home, upgrading their domestic space with sophisticated home decor elements,” adds designer Ritu Kumar.

“While we address a loyal customer base, those making homes for the first time and investing in upgraded aesthetics look for a much evolved product, something that adds life to the mundane,” says Singh of Satya Paul, adding, “A print or fine piece of artwork is not limited to the garment and can be an extension to the whole brand universe. So we have used the design and vocabulary of the brand which is essentially colours and bold prints to blend beautifully with home design. Home and fashion are very closely interlinked.”