I am seated next to the OG Anita Lal, under flowering mango trees, as she sings along with the band and is word perfect through Tina Turner’s 1984 hit ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’. Hand-crafted wooden toucans from the Nilgiris flash from the branches, and models navigate the former nursery, its pathways briefly repurposed as a runway. The place is packed but intimate, as some of the country’s leading designers, industrialists, actors, and friends of the family celebrate Nicobar’s 10-year journey under the umbrella of Eicher Goodearth. While Simran Lal shares her mother’s joie de vivre, Nicobar’s trajectory is distinct from that of Anita’s heritage luxury brand, Good Earth: expansion is on the cards for the younger label and the vibe is relaxed. At the party in Tulsi Farms on the outskirts of Delhi, almost every guest arrived wearing or carrying something beloved from an older Nicobar collection (for actor and biker queen Gul Panag it was the classic black knotted Nicobar dress styled with an intricate phulkari stole from 1469 Original).
Husband-wife duo Simran Lal and Raul Rai, founders of Nicobar
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With over 30 retail locations, strong e-commerce, and a revenue of ₹200 crore for FY 2025-26, husband-wife duo Simran Lal and Raul Rai clearly know what they are about. Raul commends their close-knit team and how when they launched the brand in 2016 with a black and white collection, critics scoffed that they “wouldn’t last longer than a Mumbai monsoon”. He recalls his first Rajesh Pratap Singh (RPS) bandhgala after years of renting tuxes in the US in his previous job as an investment banker. Now with their much-anticipated 2026 collaboration with the same Indian designer known for his precise, almost architectural construction, It seems the Nicobar family has truly come full circle. I speak to the couple about the new collection, the shimmer that was unexpected for a brand that usually avoids overtly decorative surfaces, and the RPS lineup.Edited excerpts from the interview:
