‘Fashion is an antithesis oFtimelessness’

Sabyasachi Mukherjee talks about the crafts that he has long-admired and adopted with aplomb, and reveals why three women have remained icons in

this fickle fashion world where life often revolves around fleeting trends.By AsmitA AggArwAl

When Sabyasachi Mukherjee was seven years old, he was mesmerised by

the lissome Zeenat Aman, grooving to  Laila Main Laila, in a white, sequinned, thigh-high-slit gown, in the blockbuster Qurbani. Then came Nazia Hassan with her chart topper Disco Deewane, winning the nation’s heart in a polo-neck paired with dungarees. This was the trigger.

Sabya knew just then that he will do something with clothes.

A N A F FA I R T O R E M E M B E RKolkata’s wonder boy has had a neverending love affair with timeless elegance, reinterpreting the past through embroideries, which he has adopted and adapted. From chikankari, Kashmiri threadwork, zardosi to his all-time favourites—marori work and aarikari—which

have been the foundations of the Indian embroidery spectrum, Sabya has included these myriad crafts rather skillfully into his design repertoire. Sabya explains, “When I design, I look at creating eternal pieces, something that you spend money on, and are able to wear multiple times. However, I must admit that fashion is an antithesis of timelessness. Moreover, now designers have added seasons like

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Timelessness, many think, takes away the sting from trends, but Sabya admits he is not trend-phobic. He imbibes what he likes—like florals, and stays away from things he finds superfluous—like unbridled bling. “Florals have been my constant companions,” he says, “so whether the style pundits say they are in or out, I am going to feature them anyway. If something goes with my design aesthetic, it will be an integral part of my collection.”

T H E I R R E P L A C E A B L E H E R O With each designer facing the task of juggling commerce with reactions and deadlines, Sabya says that he never considers it an Albatross cross. Rather, he is delighted to share that he has been able to support the 890 people working in his burgeoning company, recording a turnover of Rupees 123 crores this year. “It is my responsibility to activate commerce,” he says. “We have adopted many villages and craftsmen, and we need to pay them on time. Commerce may force creativity to lose dynamism, but sometimes you have to strike a balance and I don’t want to stagnate. I want to create a brand that can’t be replaced.”

The pursuit of uniqueness and individuality drives him. “I don’t want to be the Shah Rukh Khan of Bollywood, I would rather be the Aamir Khan of the design industry,” he says. “For instance, all the Bollywood girls look the same—straight hair, bleached tresses and lithe. They can be interchanged and no one will miss any particular one. But someone with character will

retain her elegance, her position and her identity, in this sea of peroxide blondes,” he says with a chuckle.

S A B YA’ S E T E R N A L M U S E S Sabya has always liked women of real substance, those who dare to stand for who they are. And the three women he admires the most in his life and looks at them as his muses, fit this ideology of his, rather well. Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Indian-Hungarian painter Amrita Sher-Gil and French singer Edith Piaf are the three women who epitomize enduring grace for him.

Despite her “orthopaedic garments”, Frida has been an eternal inspiration for Sabya. “The Tehuana dress, which was all about female energy, ornate headgear with Castilian roses, corset bodices—it was a celebration of freedom despite Frida’s disability, which made her one of my muses,” says Sabya. The nymph-like Amrita Sher-Gil is another icon, who, Sabya says, unabashedly celebrated the female form, sexuality and her obsession with the poor, through her deft brushstrokes. But what makes his choices as eclectic as his designs is his love for French singer Edith Piaf, who was abandoned by her biological mother, raised by prostitutes, became blind and recovered miraculously. “What a rise from singing in the nightclubs of Pigalle to becoming a French icon,” he marvels. “These women have lived life on their own terms, shown courage and charted their own course despite the cruellest adversities and that’s what makes them so dear. To me they have withstood the test of time!”

pre-Fall, Fall, Spring/Summer and so on, which were non-existent ten years ago, to make women feel on-trend always and to also encourage buying.”

Elegance, therefore, for Sabya, is not bourgeois or stiff. It can co-exist with the concept of “being cool”, as only then you are really happy in your own skin. “What you wear reflects who you are,” he says. “That’s why I don’t deal with the ego mania that engulfs fashion. I surround myself with people I love and respect, like my family and my sister. We, as designers, are not doctors saving lives,” he smiles. “We are just tailors at the end of the day, so why have an inflated sense of ego?”

S O U L O F T H E M O M E N T Fashion is positioned to seem like it is all about the present, with a short expiry date, and unheard of categories added each year. But, Sabya sticks to two lines a year—Spring and Autumn. “It is unkind to and exhausting for a designer to do so many lines in a year,” he says. “He is bound to lose focus, that’s why the whole idea of timelessness has been turned on its head.”

He believes that people often accuse him of being “boring and non-experimental”, yet he continues his journey with crafts, adding his very own timeless touch, as his idea remains to be able to create a signature and, above all, a brand that

is distinctly recognisable. “If you do something today and then something completely different tomorrow, it is a bit schizophrenic,” he explains. “But in my own style, I add freshness in more ways than one— it could be a new colour, like a red with a bit more of pink, or a green with splashes of firozi… We discover interesting elements along the way, and this, in turn, adds lustre to our innate craft-based ideology.”

Explaining how the Internet and social media have changed the way women shop today, Sabya reveals that casual wear is mostly bought off the Internet, while couture pieces are mostly bought offline, with brides desiring customisation.

“Florals have been my constant companions, so whether the style

pundits say they are in or out, I am going to feature them anyway.”

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