The Rich Have a Responsibility to Support Handloom: Sabyasachi

We caught up with Sabyasachi Mukherjee on his muses (apart from Bollywood!), his drive, and everything in between.

(Sabyasachi is one of the most well known Indian designers of our time. On 23 February, as the designer celebrates his 43rd birthday, we are replugging an earlier interview with him)

With a twinkle in his eyes and a demeanor that instantly puts people at ease, Sabyasachi sits down to chat with me. His small frame packs a huge vision, I quickly gather.

Is shimmer all about sensuality?

It is not just about sensuality. It is about sensuality and dignity. Normally when people think of shimmer, they think of parties and they think of ‘wantingness’ but I think shimmer can be worn in a beautiful dignified way also. For me, I wanted to create something that was a little more disciplined and something that was not yards and yards of glitter and glimmer, but something that had a little bit of structure to it as well. When Lakme gave me the brief about Illuminate, I started thinking of old masters and I started thinking of paintings of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and I used to like how they used to put a very beautiful glow on their faces and that’s what I started thinking of the collection. Their paintings had a lot of smoky greens, dusty pinks, olives, bronze and I said let’s do shimmer with a very underplayed colour palette. Though there would be a lot of glitter and glimmer, if you keep everything in one palette and a little understated, then it becomes all about a beautiful face.

Sabyasachi’s sartorial story would not have been possible had it not been for India’s glorious handloom, which makes up 70 percent of his material. My next question points to the uphill battle that the design and textile industry has been facing with respect to handloom in India.

How would you describe the battle that the industry is facing with respect to handloom?

One needs to educate India more about handloom. Internationally when you show people how a saree is woven, they say its such luxury. I think the biggest problem of handloom is that you don’t have proper education to tell people how precious it really is.

But the middle class can’t afford it? Would you say that the middle class killed the handloom, in a way?

There is not enough handloom to sustain the middle class and the lower middle class of this country. And I think its fine, I think handloom should go back to the top strata of society and then it should trickle down because if you give a weaver a choice to make a 200 rupee saree or a 2000 rupee saree, he will make a little more money making the 2000 rupee saree. In the game of economics, handloom should be pushed up so that it remains among the top strata of society. Handloom should be used for special occasions like weddings and everything so that people can spend more money buying expensive handloom and then it can trickle down to powerloom for the common people.

You think the rich have a responsibility to support handloom?

Yes absolutely.

Your images have a haunting quality. What is your inspiration for the imagery that your clothes exude?

See, I like images that have a slight brooding, pensive and melancholic quality to them. Because if it is all out there and shiny, you will look at it just once or twice, it is like new music, but if its old music you want to keep hearing it again and again and again because there is a lilting melody to it. I think photographs that have a little play of light and shadow have a really haunting quality, and it makes the person want to revisit them again and again.

Apart from Bollywood actresses, who are your muses?

Leela Naidu, Devika Rani, the silent yesteryear actress, and apart from that I like women of character. I like Frida Kahlo, the Mexican artist, Edith Piaf, a French singer, then from Bengal, there was a beautiful singer called Suchitra Mitra, who used to sing the most beautiful Rabindra Sangeet, and then I love Indira Devi from Cooch Behar, Gayatri Devi: These are the kind of people who had beautiful dignity and strength in their faces that keeps haunting me again and again.

I think that for you, there’s not just a love for clothes, you are working for something greater. Perhaps that explains how you are able to come up with dramatic collections every six months.

You know, I think for any artist, any product that you create is an act of self expression and it keeps you happy. I think I do it for personal happiness, if you ask me.