Rani & Vidya open Sabyasachi's show

Splendid is the word. And what more do you expect when it’s Sabyasachi Mukherjee we’re talking about.
With a grand opening expected, and the hype being greater, Sabya lived up to both, and successfully. Talk of grandeur, flamboyance, royalty, novelty and exclusivity, Sabya’s collection had it all at the Pearls Infrastructure Delhi Couture Week . And expectedly so, once over, the applause just wouldn’t stop.It was after five years that Sabya had showed up in Delhi for a fashion event, and for the first time ever at the Couture Week, and yet perfection didn’t fail him. “Even though I wanted, I had been too tied up with work and commitments to have participated at the Couture Week earlier. But this time, it seemed a li’l more convenient and so I gave my nod. However, I’ve spent a tough sleepless last month to put this collection together so that I don’t disappoint my buyers,” said Sabya in all modesty.
And how better could it have got with his two loyalist B’wood friends - Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan, having flown down to support the designer. Marking a new trend, Sabya opened his show with the two beauties walking down the ramp with him, doubling the excitement for all, right from the start. Though surprisingly, while Vidya, a true Sabya follower, came dressed in a pretty orange Sabya saree, Rani turned up in a black jumpsuit of another label.
Theme: Inspired from Indian culture, Sabya put together a collection that was steeped in Indian traditions and ethnicity. He called his collection Aparajito, which opened with the national anthem playing in the background, as the audience stood and sang along. He said, “Indian tradition cannot be beaten, its simplicity cannot be beaten and its textiles cannot be beaten. And that’s what my collection stands for, and hence its name Aparajito. Plus, it so often goes unnoticed that my collection is actually a dedication to the Indian weaving industry.”
Collection: With the collection dedicated to the weaving artisans, the show put together an enviable range of Indian attires – right from long extremely kalidaar kurtas, lehengas and sarees, to men spelling royalty in long black jackets paired with black jodhpurs. What doubled the whole feel was the dramatic setting, with the stage done up with antique wall clocks, tin boxes, wooden cupboards, vases and portraits, all to capture the ancient flavour.
Trends to watch out for
Silhouette: Extremely flowy forms for women, and rich jodhpur dressing for men.
Detailing: The collection that stood for Indian culture, saw models sashaying in long kalidar kurtas, multi-coloured robes, parallel style salwars, with some in churidars as well. Models like Noyonika Chatterji, Indrani Das Gupta, Carol Gracias, Nethra Raghuraman looked stunning in Sabya’s exquisite designs reinstating what Indian beauty and grace is all about. Again for the effects, scenes from the film 1947 Earth were made to play in the backdrop.
Embellishments: Indian embroidery and thread work was what most of the designs were about. Block printing was also used to give designs a different feel.
Fabric: Handling a theme like India, it was mostly khadi that was used for the dresses. Pieces in cotton, velvet, chickan, tepchi, katha were also thrown in that only accentuated the designs.
Accessories: Equal emphasis was paid to accessories as to the designs. While in case of women, one could see models walking with potlis hanging on their sides, in covered platform shoes, nose pins on either side, bindi on the forehead with glittery topi on their head, representing the true artisan form of sorts. As for male models, they were seen wearing specs, moustaches and topis too.
Glitzy first row: Rani Mukerji with mom Krishna Mukherjee, Vidya Balan, designers Poonam Bhagat, Ritu Kumar, Anupama Dayal, animal right activist Maneka Gandhi, Swapna Roy and Sabina Chopra made front row indeed the one to watch out for.
Stars talk: While Vidya called herself Sabya’s ‘stalker’ where designs are concerned, and walked the ramp in one of his creations too, Rani Mukerji laughed off the matter on why she turned up wearing a western outfit of another label. “My presence at Sabya’s show to support and cheer him speaks enough of my loyalty towards him. While it’s on different occasions and functions that you should actually check out if I’m wearing a Sabya creation or not. And that would speak of my loyalty yet again,” Rani retorted. As for the jumpsuit she wore for the show, Rani said, “So what if I’m not wearing a Sabya label, this jumpsuit alsoI bought with Sabya while shopping in London with him. And this neckpiece that I’m wearing is the one that he bullied me into buying.”
Meanwhile, Sabyasachi, happily defended his friend saying, “It’s boring to wear Sabyasachi on a Sabyasachi show. I’d be happier if Rani wore my creations at other designers’ shows.” At another instance, Sabya quipped, “Whoever knows me knows me as Rani’s tailor in India. And I don’t think it’s going to change even if I won an Oscar someday.”
For his designs on the ramp and its acceptance abroad, Sabya said, “My designs cater more to the NRI market who look for style, flamboyance with a touch of Indianness.”
When asked if we’d ever see him doing western outfits, he smiled and said, “I think that would only be when it’s need based or when I’m being indulgent.”
Working on Bollywood projects alongside he shared about the few films he has in hand, “I just did Raavan, then now it’s No One Killed Jessica and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish.”
One last question we throw at him - What would a Sabyasachi girl be? “One who’s a firebrand and wears flats to a party,” retorted Sabya.
Rating: 9/10
arunima.srivastava@indiatimes.co.in
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