E-Paper
India, Sabyasachi make their mark in Milan
Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee revels as the fashion spotlight beams on India at the Milan fashion week this year.
Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee is revelling as the fashion spotlight beams on India at the Milan fashion week this year.
"They are celebrating India," a joyous Mukherjee told IANS on phone from Italy. "I am having a brilliant time".
The designer showed a range of delicately stained and printed skirts, dresses and jackets at the event, where this year names like Giorgio Armani and Roberto Cavalli have sent down India-inspired lines.
"They've even shown two shows on prime time TV here, both India inspired - Armani's and mine. I'm very, very happy," said Mukherjee.
The designer showed a variation of his India fashion week collection earlier this year called the Frog Princess. At Milan, he was part of the pret-a-porter segment - his collection priced between $40 and $800 apiece.
Full of distressed embroidery and detailing like tin buttons covered with a layer-flap of woven cloth, the collection is very bohemian chic.
"There were no traditional silhouettes of India - no saris, no sarongs, very international. But I'm terribly inspired by the rich hues of India."
He is not the only one.
Armani models sashayed whites and khakis reminiscent of the colonial Raj complete with jodhpurs and horse riding jackets in the spring/summer 2005 Emporio collection.
There were swishing silks, creating visions of nautch girls of a different era, notes on the collection had the Emporio Armani logo inside a lotus flower and a typeface resembling the Indian Devnagri script.
The 70-year-old designer, who has visited India to source material and sends his gowns for crystals and sequins to be stitched by hand on them is believed to be contemplating on entering the Indian market.
Cavalli brought all the fun and frolic in his showing of the Just Cavalli line, where models emerged from behind faux palms against the backdrop of a neon pink outline of the Taj Mahal.
The silhouette was also suitably sinuously with sarongs and kaftans in Bollywood bright colours.
"Everything here has an Indian touch," said Mukherjee, who has been "flooded" with buyers after the show and is now in the process of tying up with some selected buyers.
"A lot of fashion is about being in the right place at the right time. I do believe I am in the right place, at the right time.
"When I look around me here, India is everywhere. The caps have a turban-ish look to them. Everything is has that India touch."
Mukherjee sort of burst into the scene a couple of years ago after a dazzling collection inspired by gypsies and sex workers of Kolkata's infamous red light district Sonagachi.
Since then Mukherjee has become the darling of India's nascent fashion industry and his outing to Milan is expected to further cement his status.
"The princess, I think, has finally kissed the frog. Hopefully, it's all uphill from here."
