During my initial phases of falling in love with fashion when I was studying the subject, you know, when Instagram was booming and all, Who Wore What When was a page I’d always stay abreast of. Cut to today, when I discuss the respective career trajectories of Pranay Jaitly and Shounak Amonkar of Who Wore What When fame, I’m overcome with feelings of nostalgia and budding inquisition on their long journeys laced with various challenges. Because well, so is the nature of our industry.
From Vidya Balan’s incessant faith in the two to their heavy focus on adapting to the ever-evolving landscape of trends and understanding of body types, Who Wore What When has been a styling force to be reckoned with, being one of the earliest ones to set the foundation for a systemised ethic of working in a place often dictated by empty favours.
Let’s read what the two have to say about their initial days, skills needed to break into the industry and aspirations for the future.
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ELLE: Tell us about your respective styling journeys, from the beginning.
Pranay Jaitly: Shounak and my styling journey actually began at the same time, when we were both studying in Milan. I was doing my undergrad in fashion design and Shounak, his Masters in accessory design. Styling was a subject for me and I used to run a blog called Diary of a Camera which eventually became Who Wore What When and turned into the company that both of us run. The whole idea at that point with me photographing people in Milan, working with editors, influencers, and nicely dressed individuals was to portray the sense of Milanese style amongst my audience in India. Shounak helped me do the post-production of my photographs and made me understand the colour palette because he studied product design as a graduate student. His experience in graphics and colour knowledge was much more than what I had. That is how we eventually teamed up together and started Who Wore What When.
In India, we reached out to Gaurang Shah who had a store in Delhi right behind my house. We had a meeting with them and they gave us ample room to create what we wanted. So, we selected nine of his pieces, Shounak and I sat together and brainstormed. Keeping that in mind, we did what we felt looked good with Indian heritage and craft, and so Who Wore What When’s first ever styling project in India happened.
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ELLE: Three core skills to make it as a stylist in India.
Pranay Jaitly: To be a stylist in India, we feel the core skills that one requires is an understanding of global trends. It’s very important to know what’s happening around you globally, the fabrics that are working that season, the colour palette, the silhouettes, etc. Having a great relationship with the brands and PRs, the networking that you do with photographers, celebrity managers, and representatives is also very important. Then comes the understanding of body types and taking into consideration the personality of that person.
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ELLE: What was your ‘I made it’ moment that really set things in motion for you two professionally?
Shounak Amonkar: Over the years I feel that there have been a few of these moments, so it’s difficult to pinpoint one. Of course, the first is when we started working with Vidya Balan. She was our first ever celebrity and we’re so grateful to have her with us, she’s been extremely supportive and helpful. When we started styling her, we had no idea about what celebrity styling was, how promotions functioned, what is it that celebrities end up doing with these clothes and so on. Eight years back, when her team reached out to us, it was of course, very exciting for us but we were very very nervous at the same time. She held our hand throughout and guided us along the way.
Another one would be the accomplishments that we’ve received throughout the years where our celebrities have gotten the love internationally, on the red carpets, multiple times. Be it Rasika Duggal at the Cannes Film Festival, Radhika Apte at the International Emmys or Shahana Goswami at the recent Cannes Film Festival.
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ELLE: A Hollywood celebrity you’d love to style and why.
Pranay Jaitly: It’s very important for us to resonate with the person. Hence for us, it’s going to be Beyonce for Shounak and Meryl Streep for me.
ELLE: How would you describe your personal style?
Pranay Jaitly: Shounak’s personal style is very Yojiyama Moto and Comme des Garçons. Very street meets luxury. And for me, it’s going to be everything that’s very classic but with a modern twist. So if I have to give you a brand example, it is what a Valentino or a Dior is doing.
ELLE: Three songs you two have on repeat.
Shounak Amonkar: We’re listening to L’AMOUR DE MA VIE by Billie Eilish and the entire couture week album of Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla by Akshay and IP. And we’re still obsessed with Tu Jhoom from Coke Studio.
