For his grand finale line at the winter/festive 2013 edition of the Lakme Fashion Week, Sabyasachi Mukherjee had promised an absolutely royal line — with a “wicked twist”. “Not Miss Havisham, more modern princess” was how Sabya chose to describe his collection, and that’s exactly what he delivered, with 57 stunning couture creations showcased in his dazzling Tuesday night show. Scheduled to start at 10 pm, the doors of the main auditorium at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai finally opened post-11, and with a mad scramble for seats and standing space, the proceedings finally started nearly half an hour later. But there were no complaints once the first strains of Rachel Varghese belting out Nina Simone’s classic Feeling Good filled the room. Lavish chandeliers, red velvet covered seats for the audience, ornate side tables at the head of the ramp on which tall vases held clusters of roses and strings of fairy lights all over the ceiling created a mood that was magical — and a perfect setting for the vintage line Sabya was to unveil. For all the critics who said the designer — among the most celebrated to emerge in the last decade — was “too staid” or unable to look beyond the past (especially in light of his styling of Vidya Balan for Cannes), his Absolute Royal line was the definitive rejoinder. Sabya eschewed a celebrity showstopper even though it was expected that either Kareena Kapoor (the face of Lakme) or model Jyotsna Chakravorty (who’s been on all the promotional material for Sabya’s Absolute Royal collection) would walk the ramp for him, instead, sticking to old favourites like Indrani Dasgupta, Noyonika Chatt-erjee and Nethra Raghuraman apart from veteran models like Candice Pinto, Sucheta Sharma and Alesia Raut. In an interview with this publication, Sabya had said, “The clothes have a strong cultural reference from India, from royalty, but they are also modern in their elements. So there’s vintage embroidery, baroq-ue embroidery, strong textiles, saris alongside miniskirts, sportswear jackets and skinny trousers alongside gararas. Culturally alive, but socially relevant for the modern day women.” This translated into pastel satin saris with pearl encrusted borders and lace across the pleats were worn with striped blouses, quilted peplum waistcoats teamed with saris, lace gowns that were a throwback to the Jazz Age, long, fitted sherwanis and bandhgalas for men, short brocade skirts worn with long jackets and odhnis — all of which made an appearance on the ramp. The feel was very Maharani Gayatri Devi-meets-Daisy Buchanan and Sabya made liberal use of his signature embroidered velvet fabric to add accents to many of his creations. At the end, as his models paraded key pieces from the collection one last time, the designer quietly walked out onto the ramp, acknowledged the applause and walked back. Nothing needed to be said — Sabyasachi Mukherjee had made his point. And how.
