Poised between youth & old age

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Fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani with models

I met Tarun decades ago in New York when he was studying fashion. Undoubtedly today India’s leading designer, Tarun Tahiliani not only created a couture label at par with the international design fraternity, but a look synonymous with glamour and feminity that the women wear with aplomb.

The man who speaks with utmost passion about fashion is celebrating turning 50. Tarun who has achieved accolades in his field is today creating homes and party spaces lending his touch and diversifying in the world of glamour.
“Today I feel calmer and more in control but also a bit melancholic that my youth is gone. The other night at the premiere of the movie Cocktail I was a bit morose watching the youthful shenanigans. But having said that, I love the clarity I am gaining. So as the old adage goes, ‘If age but could, if youth but would.’ I feel I am perched in the middle of both these phases. I want both sides,” he says.
The man who is known to follow his heart said, “At 50, I want to spend more time following the dream of the person I know much better and more towards a balanced space. Basically, I want to cut all the nonsense out. I love art and travel and would love to build a world class company some day.”
Tarun talked about the importance of sieving through people as one of the points of his wishlist. “More than anything also I would like to know clearly who are the souls that matter to me.”
We were together on a cruise in New Zealand hosted by Louis Vuitton. At that time I got an opportunity to discover the fatherly side of Tarun I would otherwise never have known. To my surprise he appeared to be a strict father. “I should have been stricter,” he laughed with his infectious roaring laughter “or just taught them much more. They (his children) need to follow their dreams but need to be realistic. We had nothing to lose following ours, however they need to give up the notions on life that they are used to, and just go after it. Nothing would make me happier.”
Tarun studied business at Wharton, an Ivy League college and then design at FIT, many years later, following his dream and setting up India’s first multi-brand clothing store in 1987 called Ensemble. I remember doing one of their first catwalk shows.
A person’s character speaks volumes when he holds on to his friends from years. In Tarun’s case, his friends from his Doon School days. Knowing some of his old friends I see Tarun often in a totally different light.
There’s Tarun the designer, Tarun the father and Tarun the family man. But Tarun is intrinsically a person put together by the people he surrounds himself with. “My friends and family are super and are completely important in my life. They make me who I am.”
The designer isn’t without his share of backfired plans and relationships, but absolutely nothing can shake him optimism and zest for only the goodness in life.
Quoting Frank Sinatra, Tarun says, “Regrets I have a few, too few to mention,” adding, “We all have regrets but it’s really a sliding door syndrome of ‘what if’ something had happened another way. Live would have unravelled differently. I ‘could have’ or ‘should have’ done a lot of things, conversely not them at all, but is there any point in dissecting a long-closed chapter today? Regrets are only a waste of time and mental space. For me, the past is over. End of the matter,” he asserts.
Tarun strongly believes the decisions you make and the choices you go with truly make you the person you end up being. It isn’t anyone else’s prerogative.
Philosophically speaking, Tarun explains, “You make your own. Take responsibility for everything, remember that everyone has odds to deal with, and go for it. Do what you love and if you manage to make half the days an adventure, you are going to have a blast in the process. Do what feels authentic and real and the path unfolds in the simplest way possible.” Happy Birthday Tarun!