How Delhi’s Mayyur Girotra turned Dunki camel bags into couture

Discover how Mayyur Girotra transforms historic textiles into luxury couture, blending tradition with modern design in The Collectables.

At his sprawling Chattarpur farmhouse party, glittering with beautiful people, Mayyur Girotra welcomes us in a lungi. 

The Delhi-based self-taught designer, who exults in lush Indian maximalism, takes the same gleeful approach to his home, clothes and parties. His designs are a boisterous melee of indigenous weaves, heritage textile techniques and unapologetically bold motifs. Which is why there is a wave of interest in his recently launched MG homes, where he translates his design aesthetic into interiors.  And in his line, The Collectables, that features about 45 museum-worthy finds restored and reworked into jackets, saris and waistcoats. 

In the garden, strung with fresh jasmine garlands, a mehfil is in progress. As the strains of the powerful Sufi qawwali — ‘Mera piya ghar aaya’ — fill the house, Mayyur walks us through rooms so riotous with art they might feel like a gallery — if they weren’t also alive with his quirky sense of humour. 

On the day The Collectables launched, the Imam of Jama Masjid along with the designer hosted iftar, where guests wore Mayyur Girotra  | Photo Credit: Gayatri Nair

So amid the Husains, Vaikuntams and a century-old, wall-length French filet textile, there are Hansel-and-Gretel-style dried roots framing a chandelier, a powder room where birds sport dashing patola scarves, a washbasin by Bangladeshi artist Mahabubur Rahman made with scissors, and a series of dog sculptures. “I have names for all of them,” he says, patting one. “She is Laila.” His actual dog, a Shih Tzu named Soho, saunters confidently between visitors’ ankles. She does not look amused. 

He beckons us closer to see the work on the lungi, which has had a signature Mayyur Girotra glow up. Now a sharply tailored waistcoat, the blue and grey checks, familiar to anyone who has loitered beside a chai stall, come from three handloom lungis from Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Gujarat. They are layered with Suzani-inspired running stitches, followed by dori work and kora zardozi.