While Harry Styles may have left the 2023 Brit Awards with the most accolades, the most talked about moment of the night came courtesy of another Harri, and it didn’t happen on the stage–it was on the red carpet. Sam Smith, the ultra-popular singer behind hits such as “Unholy” and “I’m Not The Only One”, sported the latest body-bending latex showstopper from Indian fashion designer Harri, the biggest moment so far from the rising design 28-year-old talent that is poised to become one of fashion’s biggest influencers in 2023.
It’s safe to say Harri is a name you’re going to continue to hear after multiple looks have gone viral, so we’ve got all you need to know about the enigmatic fashion designer.
Harri: A quick biography
Harri’s full name is Harikrishnan Keezhathil Surendran Pillai, born in Kerala, India and now based in London, UK. He got his Bachelor’s Degree from the National Institute of Fashion Technology India in 2015, working with Suket Dhir, an International Woolmark Prize Winner as a textile designer. In that year, he also did a number of design internships with big international brands such as Converse and Champion Europe Group.
He comes from a small village in Kerala, one where he had no access to fashion or design.
He’s also quite private, with very few photos of himself that he’s posted available online, usually with his face obscured.
Found him smiling on his Twitter, at least.
“I just find it very odd and sometimes funny that I come from a small village in South Kerala with no exposure to fashion,” he told Vogue India last fall. “However, my dad used to do artwork for local commercials, which inspired me to sketch and visualise things from a very young age. In 2012 I enrolled at NIFT Bangalore as I wanted to get as far away as I could from my village. Right after graduation, I started assisting International Woolmark Prize winner Suket Dhir in New Delhi, which opened up many possibilities and learnings. A year later I accidentally got into the London College of Fashion while accompanying my best friend for her interviews. Fast forward, and now I make balloon pants for a living!”
Two years after his work with Dhir, Harri, as he explained joined the London College of Fashion, ultimately launching his first collection during London Fashion Week in February 2020 to rave reviews. Later that same year, he won the PIG (aka the Practical-Intelligent-Genius) Award by designer and artist Henrik Vibskov for ‘outstanding creative talent’.
He lives in London now as an ‘Exceptional Talent’, a scheme put together by the British Fashion Council and Arts Council England.
He also has a footprint in the Middle East, serving as a visiting lecturer in India and the Middle East, according to his LinkedIn.
The style of Harri: Inflatable latex and more
Harri’s inflatable latex style first debuted at his London Fashion Week show in 2020, immediately going viral across Instagram and earning his first major media coverage and offering his first explanation for his trademark style.
Get this: It was inspired by his dog.
““I was aware of how a dog’s’ vision differed compared to humans, but the interesting aspect was the exaggeration of objects viewed from such a low angle, reminding me of fisheye lens images,” he says, a day after the show. “The thought of him seeing me perhaps as a giant figure, or not seeing my head at all. So I decided to visually reimagine the people around me,” he told Vice in 2020.
From there, it became about the ‘extremes of the human form’, he continued.
“I wanted to seek the essence of the human form in a dimension that goes beyond the normal — yet not grotesque,” he told Vice. “It celebrates the extremes of the human form.”
How does Harri make the inflatable trousers?
Let’s let Harri explain this himself.
“My cutting methodology for inflatables was adopted from “morphing”, the traditional method of distorting photographs by assembling fragments of the same subject taken at different perspectives, similar to the approach of artist Jean-Paul Goude. The final 3D forms of trousers were visualised and transformed into mini clay models and then sliced into fragments. These fragments were graded and cut in latex, stuck together in various angles with high contouring to create these anatomically impossible forms,” he told Vice.
“To take this visually forward approach, the panels were arranged in contrasting stripes making the forms even more three-dimensional, creating a set of moving sculptures as well as directing the eye movement of viewers. It took nearly 48 hours to complete a single pair of trousers. Once completed, air is pumped in through a 7mm free flow inflation valve attached to the bottom,” he continued.
One thing is for certain though–this is a creative thing, not a fetish thing.
“I didn’t want to get into the fetish space. The moment you use latex it instantaneously gives a fetish vibe. This was something I wanted to avoid from the beginning and I had to experiment with patterns, colours to break out from the traditional fetish narrative,” says Harri.
In fact, the reason he uses latex and not leather is because of his love of animals.
“Latex is preferable to leather due to the fact that none of the additives is derived from animals. The plant based material can help replace polluting materials such as leather and plastics and is the best of both worlds because it’s both vegan and biodegradable, and it has a much closer fit and a much higher stretch than leather or PVC.” he told Vogue India.
Once again, Harri’s viral Sam Smith look
Harri is quite proud of his Sam Smith look from the 2023 Brit Awards, and with good reason–it’s his most audacious yet, and his most attention-getting. He immediately shared it on his Instagram, joking that it reminded him of the Michelin Man–and perhaps that should even be the name.
“@samsmith wearing custom HARRI for @brits. What would you name this look? #michelinman” wrote Harri on Instagram.
We’ll keep you posted about the designer’s latest and greatest as he releases them, because he’s definitely cemented himself as one to watch in 2023 and beyond.