Sabyasachi Mukherjee: A Versatile Fashion Designer


The youngest member of the National Museum of Indian Cinema's board of directors, Mukherjee is one of the Associate Designer Members of the Fashion Design Council of India. He created the costumes for Bollywood movies, including English Vinglish, Raavan, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, and Guzaarish.

Earlier Years

The Sabyasachi family is the origin of a middle−class Bengali family. His parents left what was then East Pakistan and moved to India around 1947. (now Bangladesh). From Kakinara, West Bengal, comes Sabyasachi. He received his early education at Sri Aurobindo Vidyamandir in Chandannagar, India.

Career

Sabyasachi Mukerjee earned his degree from India's National Institute of Fashion Technology in the summer of 1999. He founded his eponymous business four months later, with just three employees. He received the Femina British Council's Most Outstanding Young Designer of India Award in 2001[5], which sent him to London for an internship with Salisbury−based designer Georgina von Etzdorf. After returning home with new ideas, Sabyasachi began selling at all India's leading retailers.

The press gave Sabyasachi Mukerjee favorable reviews in 2002 when he took part in India Fashion Week. With the "Grand Winner Award" at the Mercedes−Benz New Asia Fashion Week in Singapore in the spring of 2003, he debuted on a worldwide catwalk. He opened the door to a workshop with Jean Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaia in Paris. He used unbleached, hand−woven fabrics with Kantha and other hand embroideries in his collection "Kora" at the Lakme Fashion Week in 2003.

Sabyasachi received praise from critics for his inaugural Spring/Summer collection '07 at New York Fashion Week in 2006, and his brand began to sell internationally. This collection's core values were centered on folklore, glitz, simplicity, modern architecture, and fine details. Paintings by Brueghel, Claude Monet, and other artists from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had a significant influence. He employed muted, dark jewel tones that were accented with delicate texturing and local embroidery.

The artist was the inspiration for the Grand Finale at WIFW Autumn−Winter 2011, where the models walked the ramp wearing rose headbands and wire−rimmed glasses, and he fashioned a calendar in 2012 for which Bollywood actress Neha Dhupia dressed up as well−known painter Frida Kahlo.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee and French luxury footwear and clothing designer Christian Louboutin collaborated on the Autumn−Winter 2015 collection for Amazon India Couture Week (AICW). For the event, 80 pairs of shoes—80 pairs for men and women—were made, and each pair had the signature Sabyasachi embroidery and hand−applied sequins.

Design Philosophy

The "personalized imperfection of the human hand" is the design ethos of Sabyasachi. This designer, who thinks that "clothing should just be an extension of one's brain," has drawn inspiration from the desert, gypsies, prostitutes, antique textiles, and cultural traditions of his hometown of Kolkata throughout his whole career. He makes use of uncommon fabrics, texturing, detailing, a fusion of styles, patchwork, and embellishments in vivid hues. His works conjure up imagery from the prehistoric and medieval periods. He calls his own line of clothing "an international style with an Indian essence."

Measures to bring back

Mukherjee created a business called Save the Saree where he sells hand−woven Indian sarees for Rs 3500 on a non−profit basis, with all proceeds going to the weavers of Murshidabad. Divas from the movie business like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vidya Balan are also very supportive of this project. The Tantubay Samiti in Fulia, Berozghar Mahila Samiti in Bihar, Dastkar in Andhra Pradesh, and Kotpad in Orissa are among the textile groups he has been developing. Rich Indian materials are used by the designer in his collection, which features a lot of Banarasi cloth. He has also worked on bringing back cotton Benarasi sarees from Bagru that were once produced using only pure khadi and vegetable block prints.

Sabyasachi and Bollywood

The costume designer made his cinematic debut by creating the costumes for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's historic film Black, which brought him critical praise and the 2005 National Award for best costume designer for a feature film. Since then, he has created the sets for numerous Bollywood films, including English Vinglish, Raavan, Guzaarish, Paa, No One Killed Jessica, and Baabul.

At their well−publicized wedding on December 11, 2017, Anushka Sharma wore a pale pink lehenga and Virat Kohli wore a raw silk ivory sherwani by Sabyasachi.

At their high−profile nuptials on November 14, 2018, Deepika Padukone wore a red lehenga and Ranveer Singh wore a red raw silk sherwani by Sabyasachi.

For their second wedding, Nick and Priyanka each wore a handmade Sabyasachi ensemble. Chopra wore a glistening, crimson−red lehenga decorated with hand−cut organza flowers, silk floss French knots, and Siam−red crystals. To produce this extraordinarily complex design, 110 embroiderers in Calcutta worked 3,720 hours.

Stores' Locations

Along with a few foreign merchants in California, Atlanta, London, and Dubai, the company has flagship stores in Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.

Award and Honors

It includes −

  • The MTV Lycra style awards gave the Society Achievers award for Best New Indian Designer to the designer from Hindustan.

  • He is the only Indian designer who has been asked to present during Milan Fashion Week 2004, Italy's largest indigenous fashion event.

  • According to Asia Inc., he is one of the top ten most influential Indians in the world.

Conclusion

Sabyasachi creates fine bridal clothing and rigidly structured items. The designer is renowned for occasionally using influences from the outside globe in his clothing, including exotic, native European art like the cloudscapes of French impressionists like Monet and Henry Matisse. He was a pioneer in the use of expensive, opulent Indian textiles in contemporary settings. His original contribution was the application of traditional techniques, such as bandhani, gota work, block printing, hand dyeing, etc., to the creation of contemporary silhouettes. Indian bridal wear is Sabyasachi's specialty.

Updated on: 27-Oct-2022

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