There are only two degrees of separation between Sir Vivian Richards and me. It’s my first thought when I meet his daughter Masaba Gupta over lunch. “My dad named me Masaba. It means princess in Swahili,” says the designer. And princess she is...of prints.
Known for bringing quirky prints like telephone booths, cameras and cows on to couture clothing, she says that prints appeal to her more than loud embellishments. “When I made my debut in 2009, everybody was designing bridal wear. I decided to do something edgy. So I tried palm prints.”
Initially, she was more worried about it not doing well than it doing well. “I was retailing out of multi-designer outlets and they actually returned my saris with these prints. They were displayed next to saris with rich embellishments and Indian consumers would rather pick those than these printed ones. So I decided to start my own store and sell it my way,” she adds. Masaba now has stores in Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata.
The popularity of her prints has ensured that there’s a thriving market of rip-off Masaba patterns. Little street stalls and online stores to boutiques have something with a ‘Masaba print’. “It’s hilarious because the cows look like dogs,” she laughs and adds, “I actually love it. I sound crazy, yes, but I love it because I used to dream of being copied.”
Masaba was in Chennai to display her collection at a fashion show organised by Satya Paul in association with E-club, a city-based club for women. Titled Icarus, this is her Autumn Winter 2014 collection for Satya Paul, the label whose fashion director she became two years ago. Her collection includes saris, ankle-grazing dresses with slits and crop tops; all bearing her quintessential prints. This time the young designer has used prints of hands with safety pins, scissors, knitting needles and a ball of wool. There are also motifs of water flowing from a tap and into a plant. Masaba was in a white skirt with a slit in front and a large motif of a hand with a safety pin strategically placed across the slit.
The saris, extremely interesting, were in shades of black, white, burgundy, lilac, pink, nude and mint with metallic hues used for colour blocking. Stylish polo neck blouses, some in contrasting shades, complimented the drapes.
She used silk, crepe, jersey and georgette. And some of the silhouettes are flattering for those with perfect figures but could be unforgiving otherwise.
Her unconventional sense of style could well have been inherited from her actor-mother, Neena Gupta. “Yes, my mom would never just buy a garment and wear it. She would always do her own mix and match. Now she just comes to my workshop and gets clothes done for herself. And if she doesn’t like any of my designs, I just discard them,” laughs the 25-year-old.
Her mother may have influenced her design aesthetics, but for everything else, it is her dad.
As an eight-year-old, she enrolled herself for tennis classes. She made it to the state-level but quit because she “lacked the mental strength to be a player”. “I wanted to become a tennis player because my father is a sportsperson and I thought it would be cool for me to be one too. But if I lost a game, I would end up breaking racquets. Dad told me ‘That’s the first thing you don’t do. You don’t disrespect something you want to make a career out of’.”
According to her, she’s 90 per cent her father. “Our common traits include our temper. We are each other’s biggest strengths. He is protective of me. He asks people if I am dating someone but has never brought it up with me directly. And if I tell him I am not seeing anyone he gets worried and asks, “But you will see somebody at some point, right?”
Masaba has just got back from the Caribbean after a fun holiday with her father; refreshed and all set to create a new line and more prints. She recalls her childhood vacations with Richards; a lot of time was spent dozing in commentary rooms of various stadiums.
Even now, despite her tight schedule, she manages to meet him every few months. “He’s not always in Antigua, he travels. So we meet midway maybe in London or somewhere.”
