I wore my purple socks for the interview,” Rahul Khanna jokes as we settle down inside the dwelling room of his sea-dealing with domestic in Mumbai over a cup of espresso. As co-founder and coping with an associate of Trifecta Capital, a venture debt company for rising groups in India, Khanna’s call is noticed a long way extra often in business information stores in preference to style features. Yet, it’s miles the dynamic nature of his career that the mission capitalist considers critical inside the evolution of his polished style.

With manufacturers like Big Basket, Paper Boat, UrbanLadder, and Credit on his agency’s repertoire, Khanna works with start-united states in addition to economic establishments and companies that make investments within the fund. “I like to suppose that the work we do entails a whole lot of creativity—while you’re coping with new business ideas, young entrepreneurs, one has to imagine the possibilities,” he says. “Can I comic story that if I wasn’t doing what I became doing, I’d likely be an architect? The idea of constructing something may be delightful. That element shows via something one does and reflects in one’s approach to existence and their garb.” Khanna may be reticent about his sartorial picks but is constantly impeccably dressed. The first time I met him (two days before the interview) at a style show, he wore a monochromatic modern kurta set. He has a soft spot for Indianwear, he says. On the day of our meeting, his ensemble is more in song along with his normal wardrobe. Dressed in Massimo Dutti separates and his purple socks peeking from internal tan leather shoes, Khanna speaks to us approximately his minimum fashion, the problems of looking for menswear, and his love for jackets, leather, and bags. Edited excerpts:

How is a place of work dress codes evolving in India these days?

There is a bit of a begin-up lifestyle rising in India, and people don’t necessarily want to dress up to paintings. I assume the world of style has gotten a lot of extra flats. There’s also a whole different culture rising in which streetwear is becoming part of workwear. People show up in sneakers to paintings, however, very first-rate shoes. We ought to determine out in which all this is going. But the road has gotten an increasing number of blurred, and the coolest news is, men are experimenting.

What does it imply to be nicely dressed in your line of work?

It’s an interesting query because we stay in the world. There’s a facet of the business that relates to raising capital, managing buyers, and handling their lens to the enterprise. And there’s an aspect of our enterprise-targeted at the start-up community, and these two universes are very one-of-a-kind, and one has to straddle the 2. It would be very awkward if I walked right into a begin-up sporting a suit and a tie; however, if I walked into one in every of our big investor’s offices carrying khakis, they might begin to think two times. One does consider the context—I consider that people get comforted via a certain archetype. When they think about an institutional manager of capital, they anticipate a sure manner. And whilst begin-up desires to interact with you, communicate approximately a brand new business concept over a drink, they need to sense like you can relate to them.

How do you hold the stability in dressing up, and what might we discover on your cloth cabinet?

Most of my time is spent with younger groups, and so more regularly than no longer, it’s a pair of properly-cut trousers and a casual shirt. There changed into a point once I lived in Delhi whilst our cloth cabinet had to have seasons because it’d get quite cold. Moving returned to Bombay, a pleasing pair of cotton trousers and shirt can get via the day and with any luck inside the evenings too, with a jacket. Given how hot and humid it is, something more than cotton receives very hard to hold on to.

I think the wardrobe grows with time. There became a time whilst my cloth cabinet became absolutely checks. My daughter might snort and say I became carrying the same blouse as the day before today. Now there are quite a few blue and white in there. There isn’t an awful lot of vivid coloration. However, socks are an interesting manner to feature color. On event, I put on a pleasant pair of cufflinks.

It’s tough—in terms of off-the-shelf stuff, there are very few brands that cater to excessive-cease, satisfactory-nice, element-targeted well-tailor-made garments. I am in particular glad that Massimo Dutti opened right here—they do a restricted range of things, but their cuts are fantastic, and there’s usually detailing. I just discovered that the Indian market is very mass (marketplace manufacturers) or terrific top class, and in this give up, it’s no longer always very wearable. We had been at a friend’s keep, and there were a bunch of thrilling young designers. But they make clothes that are very difficult to wear on a day-by-day basis. It’s cool to put on one of those shirts on the weekend; however, you know it’s genuinely tough shopping for garments for regular put on. So when you get to a positive age or a classy, you just have to go and get your personal garments tailor-made.

Is there something you have a passion for accumulating?

I wouldn’t say I’m an avid collector. However, I am a sucker for a great jacket. I love ties; however, I don’t usually get the chance to wear them. And I love leather—I think it’s a storehouse of recollections. Santoni (an Italian shoe logo) is a favorite for shoes, and I even have a tan leather bag from Piquadro that I’ve used for a while. I also have a group of luggage. Unfortunately, there are very few accessories guys could have. Although I suppose for plenty of generations, humans carried one bag; the choice of what briefcase to hold is a nice issue to have.

Apart from Massimo Dutti, do you have got other favorite manufacturers and designers?

In Delhi, there are a couple of shops, like Vayu at Bikaner House, and some brands that I really like, like White Champa. Rikki Kher’s Kardo had a few thrilling stuff. Once in some time, I’ve long gone to Bombay Shirt Company and had some shirts made that were first-rate. I am mainly keen on Canali. They have a sportier silhouette—their Kei jacket and fits are unlined and really first-rate for every day.