CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF SABYASACHI

The man of the moment, Sabyasachi Mukherjee is inarguably one of India's greatest couturiers. Unabashedly maximal and Indian to the very core, yet global in his outlook and reach. Following the far-reaching success of his 25th anniversary celebrations, Brides Today dissects how the designer subverts the fabric of fashion.

- DUHIN GANJU

The dilapidated walls were back. As were the emerald kharkhari windows, with swathes of crinkled cotton separates wrung and left to dry on jute ropes; the arena marked by dust-laden archways and verandas with scroll-bas reliefs, some 700 guests milling about before taking their velvet-upholstered seats, a strict, anticipatory hush in the air.

Twenty-five years after Sabyasachi Mukherjee launched his eponymous label with a mere investment of Rs 20,000 and a team of three, the designer celebrated his fashion empire in January-end, recreating the old-school charm of Kolkata, frozen in time, and picking up from where he left off. Smelling the waft of incense across the carpeted wooden floors of the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, it was hard not to think: the walls are probably freaking out.

This wasn’t solely a trip down some weird wormhole into a whistle-stop tour of the 50-year-old designer’s iconic looks. It was a masterclass on how to learn from the past and to get most effectively to 2025. How to reevaluate and challenge everything you believed to be true. The history of India, in all its problematic dimensions, is among the most important subjects we grapple with today. Who gets to define it? How do you teach it? How do you talk about it? Designers aren't exempt.

Sabyasachi, who was one of the first designers in India to showcase his collections at Milan Fashion Week, has had an unabashed ability to communicate his heritage through the language of craft and design without the need for overt symbolism. His deep-rooted understanding of Kolkata stems from his formative years, which he attributes to the influence of his grandmothers.