The Sultan of Chic

54 / PLATINUM / OCTOBER 2013 55 / PLATINUM / OCTOBER 2013

Celebrity designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee is weaving his magic over a clutch of prestigious projects

BY SHREYA SHUKLA

HEN SABYASACHI MUKHERJEE TELLS YOU “THE BU- siness has boomed”, this is what he means: his bridal business is bursting at its seams and he’s location spotting in SoHo, New York, for his seventh flagship store. Also, he plans to launch a jewellery line next year and he’ll eventually stick a finger into the hospitality pie.

“I’m struggling to hold the reins of the business because it has exploded. We’ve been accounting almost a 35 to 40 per cent growth every year,” he says. And will he soon be heading a Rs 100-crore fashion empire? “We’re getting there this year. It might be slightly below or up by a crore or two, but we’re definitely going to hit the figure,” says the 39-year-old designer.

It has been a long journey — but a very rapid one — for the middle-class Bengali boy from Kakinara, a town near Calcutta that most people would need to Google. Today he’s one of the most celebrated designers of the Indian fashion industry and even has a global footprint. In terms of sheer size, he’s far ahead of the pack.

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COUTURE KING(CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE) SABYASACHI’S NEWEST FLAGSHIP STORE IN HYDERABAD FLAUNTS THE SIGNATURE VINTAGE CHARM OF HIS OTHER STORES; THE DESIGNER SHOWCASED LIMITED EDITION CREATIONS LIKE SHOES, MINIATURE INDIAN HANDBAGS AND COATS AT THE INSPIRED BY INDIA EXHIBITION AT SOTHEBY’S, LONDON, LAST YEAR

traditional Indian weaves from khadi to kanjeevarams, and methods like the aari tari embroidery. He focused on this form of em-broidery in his LFW collection and Opium, his show at the PCJ Delhi Couture Week 2013. Deconstructed, tara are hand-cut golden, silver and copper sequins while aari is the stitch used to put them on the fabric.

The idea of reviving and weaving it into haute couture was born when the designer spotted a Greek woman in Colaba dressed in a black cotton dress with an old aari tari stole draped across her shoulders — looking like a mirage in the sultry Mumbai heat. It was incorporated into a collection meant to recre-ate royal glamour.

Sabyasachi’s rise has been little short of meteoric. He has won international recogni-tion and has taken part at three of the globe’s leading fashion weeks — New York, London and Milan. Last year he was picked to be part of an exhibition at Sotheby’s, London, and even designed the interiors of a new suite in London’s luxury hotel 51 Buckingham Gate, Taj Suites and Residences. This August, he presented the grand finale of Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/ Festive 2013.

And then there’s Bollywood. He styled the protagonists of two of the biggest hits last year: Vidya Balan as the pregnant woman in search of her missing husband in Kahaani, and Sridevi in her comeback machine English Vinglish. Earlier he picked up the National Award for best costume with the first film project he undertook, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black back in 2005. Besides that he has names like Raavan, Guzaarish, Paa and No One Killed Jessica in his kitty. Offscreen, the designer’s client list includes the cream of B-town as well as international stars like Oprah Winfrey, who sported a sari by him at a dinner hosted by Jaipur’s royals at the City Palace last year. Clearly, he’s the man of the moment.

So what’s the secret of his success? “One of the reasons this brand has done so well

over the years is because we’ve stopped being overtly fashionable. We don’t toe the line of fashion,” says Sabyasachi.

He has championed Indian textiles and craft and turned himself into the go-to brand for anyone looking for an Indian classic. It’s the cornerstone of his empire. “The Indian customer is not a big fan of fad,” he says. It’s his classics that have become the brand’s forté.

He talks about the anarkalis that the brand has been churning out for a decade but which are still its bestseller. “The short and long kurtas have come and gone but the anarkali is here to stay, the saris are here to stay and the lehenaga sari is becoming one of our classics.”

Sabyasachi is also known for revisiting

The Indian classic has been Sabyasachi’s forté, with saris and anarkalis being consistent bestsellers

“Our statement for winter festive 2013 — Absolute Royal — is about modern royalty and Sabyasachi was the best fit for the theme. His signature collections have time and again recreated the magic of the royal wardrobes and with him as our grand finale designer we were confident that the LFW WF 2013 finale would be a unique experience,” says Purnima Lamba, Head of Innovation, Lakmé.

But he also uses fabrics like velvet from China and tulle from France. “One shouldn’t be parochial about handicrafts. I also deal with textiles from Africa, Mexico and Cam-bodia, and we try to bring these elements into our collections,” says the designer.

Sabyasachi has his signature style

aesthetic. His models sashay down the ramp sporting saris with geek glasses or shades, and he made the full sleeve blouse, if not covering up, fashionable. This year, he introduced the quilted lehengas, women’s bandhgalas and the sari teemed with striped tee-shirts. Though he confesses that numbers like the calf-length chotu sari, that fell by the wayside, were creat-ed to “grab eyeballs”, he expects the women’s bandhgala to become the new classic.

“Loyalty to a brand is rare in fashion but a Sabya client is a loyalist. I’ve seen an entire collection sold in less than a day at the Delhi Couture Week held at the Grand Hotel two years ago,” says Sunil Sethi, president, Fashion Design Council of India. Price points matter as

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well. “Sabyasachi has understood the business of fashion very well. He appeals to the well-heeled as well as the mid-level customer, and a lot of sales have come through in the under-3 lakh ensemble bracket,” says Sethi.

But the designer still pins the “furious pace” at which his brand has grown in the past couple of years to the market. “India is going through its own phase of reinvention with Indians discovering the art of being Indian all over again,” he says. And he makes no bones about his marketing acumen.

“More than someone who loves heritage,

I’m also a shrewd marketeer. I wouldn’t have been marketing heritage if I didn’t under-stand that Indians wanted to discover it all over again,” he says smiling.

Which is also why he’s about to start his jew-ellery line that’ll consist of restoration pieces and cultural jewellery from different parts of the country. Think gotta pusalu (which trans-lates into a bunch of pearls) from Hyderabad, the Bengali mantasha and the Maharashtrian nath — some of which will be real antiques.

The one talked-about deal that hasn’t happened is the tie-up with L Capital (a

private equity fund sponsored by the LVMH Group and Groupe Arnault). “I don’t think my company is ready for private equity. We’re doing so well that it isn’t the right time for me to dilute my stake,” says the designer. But he does plan to start a prêt line by 2015, as well as a home line.

COUTURE KINGTHE BESPOKE INTERIORS OF THE CINEMA SUITE OF 51 BUCK-INGHAM GATE, TAJ SUITES & RESIDENCES, LONDON, DESIGNED BY SABYASACHI LAST YEAR AND ARE INSPIRED BY FILMS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

COUTURE KING(FROM FAR LEFT) MODELS SCORCH THE RAMP IN INTRICATELY EMBROIDERED SABYASACHI CREATIONS AT THE LAKMÉ FASHION WEEK WINTER/FESTIVE 2013 GRAND FINALE; THE ANDROGYNOUS WOMEN’S BANDHGALA WAS A NEW ENTRANT IN THE DESIGNER’S COLLECTION THIS YEAR(BELOW) AARI TARI EMBROIDERY WAS THE FOCUS OF THE OPIUM COLLECTION SHOWCASED AT THE PCJ DELHI COUTURE WEEK 2013

As for his other upcoming project, the New York store, he plans it to have a mix of both Indian and Western clothes, perhaps even with saris and trenchcoats hanging side by side. “It’s going to be a very arrogant Indian store that invites everybody, black or white, Indian or Western. If you’re opening a store in SoHo, you’re basically opening your door to the whole world,” says Sabyasachi. He has famously described his collections as having ‘an International styling with an Indian soul’, and uses a lot of Indian fabrics even in Western silhouettes.

“What sets Sabyasachi apart for me is his ability to combine a very Indian aesthetic with a contemporary twist. It never feels ‘ethnic’ but more unique and highly original,” says Janice Blackburn, curator of the Inspired by India exhibition in Sotheby’s.

The experience at Sotheby’s was an eye-opener for Sabyasachi. He had put up limited edition shawls, miniature Indian handbags, shoes, coats and saris, some priced above 2,000 GBP (Rs 2 lakh approx.). Most of these were picked up within the first two hours, and not a single customer was of Asian origin.

“When you buy something by Sabya you are acquiring a modern heirloom, whether it’s a wedding sari, shawl or embroidered bag,” says Blackburn.

It isn’t all rose-tinted though. The designer and Vidya Balan were lambasted for the looks the actress sported at the Cannes red carpet this year, right from the grandma pearls to the covered head look to the nose ring. Bashing Sabya season reigned, with the looks he created being greeted with adjec-

Sabyasachi has revived the aari tari method of embroidery for his royalty-inspired collection this year

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tives ranging from ‘matronly’ to ‘aunty’. He’s candid about the fact that you’ve touched a raw nerve the moment you mention it. But he rationalises it, saying they were ahead of their time and will be applauded by society historians five years down the line.

Sabyasachi also ventured into interiors last year when he designed the interiors of the new Cinema Suite of 51 Buckingham Gate, Taj Suites & Residences, London. Inspired by films from around the globe, the 1,832sq ft space has vintage furniture and the signature Sabya too-much-to-take-in-at-one-glance look. “The Cin-ema Suite is an expression of world cinema in a very glamorous setting and Sabyasachi being a fashion designer of international calibre, with a rich repertoire of classic yet contemporary works, was a fitting choice,” says the luxury hotel’s general manager Digvijay Singh.

For a man who started his eponymous la-bel in 1999 with two-and-a-half workers (one worked part-time), he now says he employs 1,700 in his Calcutta factory, and indirectly, about 47,000 people throughout the country. This includes people who weave, embroider,

COUTURE KING(FROM FAR LEFT) PINK ISN’T TABOO IN THE MALE WARDROBE FOR SABYASACHI WHOSE LFW COLLECTION INCLUDED THIS PRINT-ON-PINK BANDHGALA WITH MATCHING CHURIDAR AND SHOES; THE ACE DESIGNER TAKES A BOW DURING THE LFW GRAND FINALE(BELOW) SABYASACHI GIVES FINISHING TOUCHES TO ONE OF VIDYA BALAN’S CANNES RED CARPET LOOKS

print and dye for him. The major turning point in his life was

getting through the entrance exam of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Calcutta. It meant he didn’t have to become a doctor or engineer like his parents wanted. “I was a wild child, I gave my parents hell,” he says. It took him four years to pass Class XI because he kept running away from school, even to Goa once. He sold his books to buy the admission form for NIFT because his parents refused to pay for it. “Then I got through NIFT and became sane again,” he says with a smile.

Today, his father handles the finances of his business while his “Iron Lady” sister Payal looks after the restructuring and reorganising of the company. And the designer works from 9am to

The designer is planning to start a jewellery line next

year with a focus on real antiques and

traditional designs

10pm on an average, sometimes even more.“Attention to detail is what Sabya is all about.

I’ve seen him work non-stop from nine at night till four in the morning just on a show’s set; the clothes are of course a 24x7 job,” says Sethi. However, he also believes that the designer has risen above daily production hassles to concen-trate on design and strategic marketing.

Described as a risk-taker by his sister, his biggest gamble in the recent past was doing the show Band Baajaa Bride with Sabyasachi for NDTV Good Times. “I wanted to bring Indian-ness back to the Indian wedding and realised it would be best done through a TV show,” he says.

He’s even penned the script for a film with Farhan Akhtar in mind and started the Sabyasachi Art Foundation last year to sup-

port struggling artists.Despite the jam-packed schedule, he per-

sonally meets clients during bridal or festive promotions held every season in his Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad flagship stores. That spells about 35 bridal appoint-ments in each city, spread over three days.

A haute couture business that’s “exploded”, prêt, jewellery and home lines on the menu, an art foundation, television programme and now a film script — Sabyasachi shows no signs of slowing down.

Where does he see himself ten years from now? “Dressing up a lot of India and a bit of the world. And ten years from now, a lot of people will say that covering your head is the way to be,” says the game-changer with a smile. P

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The Sultan of Chic

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