Designer Raghavendra Rathore usually shies away from Bollywood as his mainstay remains the runway, where he's known for his 'heritage' collections. “They only call me when there's a film which has a royal set up,“ says the Jodhpur-based designer, who has styled Fawad Khan's look in the Sonam Kapoor-starrer Khoobsurat.

For the look of a contemporary royal, Rathore and his team assessed the styles of some 32 members from erstwhile royal families and borrowed cues from them. “The idea was to position his character with contemporary sophistication yet retain a sense of aristocracy,“ explains Rathore.

To blend the two he used short-length jackets and paired bandhgalas with light-coloured cotton shirts. Rathore wanted Fawad's character to not look uptight and to ensure that, he made him keep the top two buttons of his bandhgala open. “Also, when someone suggested we make him wear gloves while driving, we decided against it. I thought that would make him look dated,“ he said.

They also had to carefully contrast his wardrobe with that of Sonam's character, who dons floral prints.“She's loud while this guy is an elegant aristocrat,“ points out the designer who has previously worked on Eklavya and OMG! Oh My God. “We gave Fawad a boarding school prodigy haircut but his watches, kadas and mauli (sacred red thread) were chosen in a way that indicate his privileged and cultured background. Detailed socks paired with rust-coloured shoes and other accessories were sourced to complete the look.“

However, finding the right suspenders was harrowing and they had to be custom-made. “We got them from an old shop in London,“ says Rathore. It was a crucial piece to complete the semiformal look inspired by the British school culture.

After Khoobsurat, Rathore is working on another big-ticket production, which he refuses to name. “Every year I engage in styling or designing Bollywood projects that promote heritage clothing as these become trends and percolate to the masses,“ he asserts.