Fashion's lensman: J J Valaya reveals why he's an artist with a camera

Fashion photographer? Photographer fashionista? J J Valaya talks to K S Shekhawat

When, in December 2017, fashion designer J J Valaya took a hiatus, the unkind word on the street was that the 25-year-old brand had run out of steam. “I was bored,” the affable couturier tells me, stirring a sugar-free sweetener into his gajar halwa at the end of our ghar ka khana laid out over an expansive marble table. But it was more than inspiration — or its lack — that troubled him. “I love elaborate clothes for people to get married in; embroideries, textures, the whole shebang excites me,” he tells me, “but let’s face it, I am a