SABYASACHI MUKHERJEE- The Most Successful Fashion Designer

Sabyasachi has become a brand. Such is his impact that many people know saree by the name Sabyasachi. And rightly so because what he has done for the Indian traditional outfits and unparalleled. His vision, his style of creating clothes and designs is on a whole new level. While revamping the Indian outfits, he made sure that Indian the look and feels doesn’t get faded away. In his designs, you can clearly see the convergence of 3 different eras of Indian fashion. Sabyasachi essentially combines the clothing style of India during the pre-freedom period, the post-freedom period and the present. His vision and fashion sense have taken him to the top of the Indian fashion industry.

THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING GREAT

Hardships are the main reason why Sabyasachi Mukherjee is where he is today. His mother stuck to the noble profession of teaching in a government school and his father was a clerk. His parents wanted him to become an engineer but he wanted to become a fashion designer. His father lost his job and now all the responsibilities rested on the shoulders of the young, 15-year-old Sabyasachi.

NIFT is the best fashion school in India today and back then, it was the only fashion school in India. Sabyasachi was desperate to go to NIFT. But his parents didn’t have the money to pay even for the entrance exam. Desperate times call for desperate measures. He sold his books and from the money, he paid the tuition fees.

After graduating from NIFT in 1999, he starting working in the workshop of his own with a team of 3 people excluding him. Sabyasachi started climbing the upward ladder after winning Femina British Council’s most outstanding young Designer of India award. Following this feat, he was selected for an internship in Salisbury. When he returned, he expanded his workshop and slowly started filling apparel stores in India with his name on the clothes.

DESIGNS INSPIRED BY HIS HOME CITY

Sabyasachi’s early work was mainly inspired by the landscape of his birth city Kolkata. He believed that a designer should design clothes with which they can resonate. Sabyasachi is known for his love for unusual fabrics. His designs mainly comprise of patchwork with embellishments, mixtures of styles, and unorthodox prints as well.

Sabyasachi used “desi” methods for designing clothes. He used gotawork, block printing, bandhani, and hand dyeing. With his stronghold increasing in the retail outlets, he decided to disrupt the bridal fashion industry. Later, Sabyasachi became the name for bridalwear and today, Sabyasachi designed bridalwear is the choice of many Bollywood brides.

THE BOLLYWOOD CONNECTION

Impressed by his designing and understanding of fashion, Sanjay Leela Bhansali appointed him as the costume designer for Black, a masterpiece in Indian cinema. He won the best costume designer award for Black in 2005. Impressed by his work, other directors appointed him as the costume designer for their movies. As a result, he bagged many movies including English Vinglish, Baabul, Raavan, Guzaarish, No One Killed Jessica, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, and Paa.

Vidya Balan was the first Bollywood celebrity who asked Sabyasachi to design her wedding costumes. He designed a total of 18 costumes for the wedding for which he imported silk, especially from Tamil Nadu. In 2017, he designed a lehenga and sherwani for Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli. Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone got married in 2018 and both of them sported outerwear designed by Sabyasachi.  Rani Mukherji, Aishwarya Rai, Shraddha Kapoor, Sushmita Sen and so on form his clientele.

SABYASACHI MAKING HIS PRESENCE FELT IN THE WORLD

With his prominence rising in the India fashion industry, he decided to start his store. The first exclusive Sabyasachi store was set up in Mumbai. Today all metropolitan cities have Sabyasachi stores and there is a total of 40 Sabyasachi stores in the country.

Exclusive stores in Dubai, California, London, and Atlanta have been started by him as a measure of catering to global fashion enthusiasts.

BEING HUMBLE

 Even after achieving so much, Sabyasachi remains a humble and down to earth person. Save the Saree initiative started by Sabyasachi focuses on giving the saree weavers the price that they deserve. The sarees produced by the weavers are sold under his name and are reasonably priced between INR 2000 – 4000. The funds collected directly go to the weaver’s pockets. He is also promotes the use of Khadi.