Modi wore Majorda boy Troy’s designer outfits in the USA

JOYCE DIAS

PANJIM: You didn’t see him at Madison Square Garden. You didn’t see him at Central Park and you didn’t see him during Prime Minister Modi’s meetings with other leaders, or at the United Nations or during his summit meetings with President Barrack Obama. But you did see the Prime Minister’s sartorial elegance, during his whirlwind rapid-fire tour of the USA. The high-profile designer who single-handedly pulled this off is Mumbai-based designer of Goan origin, Troy Costa, from Majorda.

The best in every industry is his client -- Hrithik Roshan, Mukesh Ambani, Leander Paes and the list goes on. It is the elegance in terms of quality, design, technique and finish in his haute couture – which is also his forte – that reached the ears of the PM. But Troy didn’t have it easy. His father aspired for him to be a chartered accountant, but his inclination towards making clothes resulted in him leaving home at 17 to pursue his dream. After working and learning from pattern makers and tailors, he began his journey in Bollywood to save money to study design. “I couldn’t graduate due to insufficient funds, but decided to come back and make the best product,” he says.

As passionate as he is about clothing, he passionately testifies to his love for his homeland, Goa. “I think of Italian designers who train tailors and masters from within their village and are able to set up 200-member factories. I wish I could do the same in Goa and train tailors and master pattern makers in my hometown.”

Troy confesses to liking change and doing new things, and this attitude is reflected in his clothing. “I dress up formally, but currently I wear printed shirts, fitted slim pants, coloured socks, and horn-rimmed glasses,” he says letting on that his mother greatly inspired him to do what he is doing and that God has been the reason for his success. “I am a spiritual person… try to pray as often as I can,” he says.

Troy’s day comprises of 15 hours of work. That does not leave time for hobbies, but there is no tinge of lamentation in his voice. “I love what I do,” he says, adding, “When I was young, a senior client told me this, ‘Experience is measured in time. Thus, with 16 hours of work, you will have double the experience of a person who works 8 hours in the same time span’.”

Equipped with steady determination and love for what he does, Troy is on the way to showing at the Paris Fashion Week next year.

But designing for the Prime Minister will always be the cherry on the cake and a source of pride that the clothes that the Prime Minister wore were ‘maketh’ by a Goan man.