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What spurs Sabya?

Heritage collections Royal families inspire Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Well-thumbed volumes of Khalid Hosseini’s Kite Runner would find a place among the collection of avid readers. The poignant tale of an Afghan lad has also inspired fashion. At the New York Fashion Week later this year, Sabyas achi Mukherjee’s Spring/Summer collection will have references to Hosseini’s work. “My collection is going to be political and perhaps controversial though it isn’t intended to be that way. There’s a lot of iconography, inspired from Afghanistan and Kazhakistan,” says Sabyasachi. He stunned the international audience last year with a western collection. This time he wants to stay loyal to Indian sensibilities.

“It doesn’t mean I’ll showcase saris and salwars. Individual pieces can be interestingly teamed up, like a patiala with a ganji.” Ask him if an Indian line would cut ice with the global crowd and he says, “Global buyers don’t come to India to buy kimonos and tailored jackets. They come here for clothes with Indian sensibilities.”

Indian clothes, particularly those that represent royal families, have always inspired Sabyasachi. “Reigning royalty inspires me. There’s an aspiration factor in Indian marriages. The poor aspire to be rich and the rich want a touch of blue blood because that’s something money can’t buyThe upper crust likes my clothes because I draw from royal sensibilities,” he says.

This understanding of customer psyche has helped him. “A designer is as good as his last collection. Clothes can be fantastic but they need to sell.” One of the constant in his collections is the kalidar kurta. He explai ns, “This comes from my love for Awadh. I’ve forever fantasised about Rekha in Umrao Jaan. The Lucknowi kurtas, the culture and their adaabs appeal to me. The kalidar kurt as are demure and yet sophisticated. I don’t like overtly sexy clothes. Women should cover up to leave enough to imagination.”

He doesn’t believe in seasonal trends either because “Indian women’s hips and busts don’t change with trends. Fashion is for people with no intelligence. You can’t blindly adapt fashion trends. My mother is too intelligent to buy my clothes. She says I’m a con artist and she wouldn’t pay for such expensive clothes,” he laughs. Sabyasachi believes in personalised fashion. “Wear what looks good on you. If someone thinks what you are wearing is dated, to hell with them.”

Years after he was called the fashion whiz kid, Sabyasachi gave films a shot. His clothes for Black were much appreciated and today he’s Rani Mukherjee’s trusted designer. Having just finished Rani’s next film Laaga Chunari Mein Daag directed by Pradeep Sarkar, he says, “Rani is a good friend. Being Bengalis, there’s that fellow feeling.”

He adds that directors give him creative liberty and “I don’t do movies for bread and butter. So I call the shots.”

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