Fashion is promoting faithlessness: Sabyasachi

In a candid chat designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee opens up on the state of fashion industry in the country

October 18, 2015 09:40 pm | Updated 09:40 pm IST

Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Sabyasachi Mukherjee

“I don’t need a PR person. I can spread the word better than any professional.” That was Sabyasachi Mukherjee in 2005 reacting after FDCI refused to give him a solo show in the India Fashion Week. He has spread the word. As one of the leading ambassadors of Indian heritage, today Sabyasachi is a brand that the world can’t ignore. But some things haven’t changed. He continues to draw analogies from everyday life to decipher fashion for the layman and the discerning, doesn’t get dictated by the market and of course loves his beard. In fact, this time it is threatening to assume Tagore-like proportions. “Just being easy! Not Tagore for sure. That is an easy way to slot a Bengali. I just kept growing it and when it became long I realised I can live with it,” says Sabya as we sit for a chat to mark the new season of Band Baajaa Bride on NDTV Good Times.

Has your muse changed in the last decade?

The muse hasn’t really changed. The market has. The muse is still the intelligent woman. The muse is still the woman who makes her own choices. You don’t change your muse, the muse evolves with you. It is the same person, a woman who likes art and craft. May be she expresses herself differently now.

And fashion?

I think, social media has created havoc in people’s lives. They are far more connected to the world than they were at one point of time and I think there is an information overload and because of information overload people’s minds have grown faster than they would have organically, which is also one of the reasons that people’s tastes for clothing have changed. People have far more global influences in their wardrobes. It is not about the regional and national influence any more. A Kolkatan might not know what an artisan in Orissa Odisha has to offer but through Internet she could be partying in San Francisco.

Does it affect you?

Confusion gives rise to clarity. If the market is confused in the short run, in the long run clarity will hit in. There is a theory of business – when the oceans are choppy and there is a storm, it is important for you not to navigate the ship. A lot of people succumb to a quick change in the market by getting confused themselves. It is very important to hold still. The market can get confused at many levels but one thing that the biggest winds of change can’t change is tradition and I stick to tradition.

Banaras is making news and your latest campaign is about the art work that the city is known for. Is fashion meeting politics here ?

I have been working with the weavers of Banaras for the last eight years. I have met Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well. What he is resonating now is something I have said all along. Be proud of your national heritage because it makes you a unique person in the global hemisphere. If you deviate too far away from your roots, you will only be a wannabe. That’s why Madison Garden. Arrogance. Why should I come to you space.

For me it is an organic relationship. Anything done with an agenda is not going to last long. Banaras has been at the centre of textile industry. This time the history and political will are both aligned which is one of the reasons that it is going to be successful.

But there is talk of handloom industry under threat of power loom competitors. Ritu Kumar has raised her voice…

In a democracy I think there is a marketplace for everybody. If somebody wants to wear cloth made in a power loom so be it and if somebody wants to experience handloom so be it.

And if one is promoted at the cost of the other….

It will never be the case because there will always be luxury seekers. Our Prime Minister said something relevant. Powerloom is Diwan-e-aam and handloom is Diwan-e-Khas. That is the way it is going to be.

Designers are telling traditional craftsmen to change their motifs to suit the market trends…

I don’t believe in it. You have something which is unique to your country. If India does stars and stripes with handlooms why would people come to India? When we have very beautiful Mughal minakari meenakari and paisley, we should stick to them. I don’t think reinveting the wheel for the sake of reinventing the wheel doesn’t make any sense. Right now the focus of the world is on India’s heritage. Why reinvent it, preserve!

In the last few years it seems Indian fashion industry has spread itself thin.

I call it fatigue. Do you want to be in a relationship where the partner is not faithful? Change is wonderful when it is necessary but change without context is like a rebel without a cause. Today, people are looking for stability You want a job that lasts for 10 years with a good pay but fashion is offering something exactly the opposite. It wants you to be a new person everyday. Fashion is promoting faithlessness when we are seeking fidelity. This is the conflict that is happening. My brand has been able to navigate into a situation where we don’t care what people say about us. We do what we want to.

The trends have become more fickle than ever before…

It is like not letting the baby go. It is like infanticide. Before the trend even picks up you kill it with another trend. So nothing really happens. On a personal level I have stopped shopping. I stick to my basics of white shirts and blue jeans, khaki trousers. I don’t wish to get out of my house everyday looking like a new person.

Fashion websites are adding to the chaos…

Our consumer market has not grown in the way the number of designers have emerged on the scene. It has become a doggy dog world. On fashion websites these days if you find something cheap, you can always find something cheaper. It leads to dilution of brand. Brand building is like cooking a dum biryani. Your ingredients have to be right and you have to wait for the right time to take off the lid. If it is premature, it will be undercooked and taste terrible.

Has the FDCI opened doors to too many designers?

Not just FDCI, everybody has opened the floodgates. It is like surfing channels. It has become the problem of plenty. You are part of many without being part of any. The end result is the customer doesn’t know what to pick anymore and when it happens he says, ‘Mera jo hai wohi sahi hai.’ Everybody has to pay the price of greed. If you can’t correct that, businesses will have huge turnovers but no profits, no bottom lines.

So how do you cope?

As I said, by staying still. This is the correct business move. I am back to basics. This is not the time for innovation. This is the time for conservation.

Between the lines

On talking about depression

I was 16. I was very unhappy with the education system in India. My parents wanted to make me a doctor or engineer. I didn’t have an outlet to tell them that I want to do something creative. So I got depressed. What is often missed is that I got out of the phase because I was sick of being depressed. It was as simple as that. When Deepika (Padukone) called me to talk about it, I laughed because it should not be a taboo anymore. It can happen to anybody who is overworking or under working. It can now happen to a kid who has so many options to choose from! I don’t know why it is becoming like what tuberculosis used to be at one point of time. We are trying to romanticise depression.

Life after Rani and Vidya…

I am still waiting and watching. When I started I was working with actresses who were for 10-12 years in the industry. It suited my design appeal. Among the young lot most of them are still children but among them I am very fond of Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone and Kalki Koechlin because of the choices that they have made.

On world fashion

It has to slow down. Some big brands are paying the price of greed. If you want to produce everything in China and then put a tag of limited edition or call everything that is made in 10 minutes as luxury, there will be a time when people will say, enough!

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