The city preview of Bridal Sutra found Sabyasachi Mukherjee talking fashion, films and failure

“I am not even an agnostic, I am an atheist,” Sabyasachi Mukherjee smiles, explaining the profusion of black in his Bridal Sutra collection. While it’s not news that Mukherjee had mostly taken the path around the conventional, Bridal Sutra would probably make for quite a quirky wedding experience.

The designer says he’s always had tradition up his street, but it has never acted as a deterrent to innovation. “Tradition and superstition are two different things. In India, they tend to confuse the both. But things are changing,” he adds. So, Bridal Sutra is a controlled explosion of colours familiar and unfamiliar. From blacks, deep greens, midnight blues and rusty reds Mukherjee’s palette graduates to hues of sapphires, rubies, and burnt metals.

While the bride can choose from lehengas with interesting Uzbekistan gara borders, kurtas, kalidars, and sarees with handpainting and brocade work, the groom will be spoilt for choice by intricately embroidered sherwanis, kurtas, and safaas. “My colours are those that would make any Indian woman look beautiful without going over-the-top,” says Mukherjee about the collection on display at 85 Lansdowne.

His affair with things on the other side of the regular and it’s relevance to this city, does make you ask the obvious question. Where does the city figure in the fashion map of the country? “There are a lot of fashion designers from Kolkata now. They are also showcasing in the major fashion weeks in the country,” says Mukherjee. However, quality is yet to match up quantity. “But there are exceptions. Look at Anamika Khanna. She is doing fantastic work and is retailing from Paris...” he rattles off.

... contd.