'It Was Always About The Bride'

'Her story, her life, her aspirations and struggles...'
'Indian weddings are not just about fuschia, pink and dancing. They have many nuances.'

It is a pleasant December afternoon in the City of Joy -- Kolkata. Sabyasachi Mukherjee, a name celebrated as India's most influential and globally recognised designer, has agreed to meet at his atelier in a heritage building on Chowringhee Road near Park Street.

This is his office, and it bears a no-nonsense look. The walls are plain white, and bare.

There is a large wooden platform at the reception, but that's bare, too, with only the brand's logo -- the Royal Bengal Tiger -- to adorn it.

There are none of those opulent chandeliers or large vases that speak of his signature maximalist style.

But then Sabya (as the world knows him) is a "complete minimalist at heart". So he says.

Those who have followed him since Band Baajaa Bride, the NDTV Good Times show that first aired in 2011 and gave the Indian wedding industry a cultural phenomenon called 'the Sabya Bride', might find it hard to believe this. And yet, it is this internal maximalist-minimalist dialogue that has made his eponymous label a nearly Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) brand today.

From the time the show aired, everyone wanted to be a Sabya bride. "The reason is because Band Baajaa Bride was never about the lehenga," says the designer, who is himself casually dressed in no-fuss denims and a blue shirt with a stole around his neck.

"It was always about the bride -- her story, her life, her aspirations and struggles." Band Baajaa Bride, with the brides coming from all walks of life, demystified the fashion industry, which is seen as unapproachable "and extremely classist".

Sabya, who marked 25 years of his label with a mega show in Mumbai on January 25, knows an opportunity when he sees it.

Band Baajaa Bride, for instance, was conceived to feature at least 15 designers. Sabya convinced its makers to let him steer it alone. "I am a very smart man," he smiles.

By the time the show started airing, Sabya, now 50, had already come a long way from his first bridal creation, which was a heritage, patchwork lehenga inspired by the Rajasthani banjaras, and perhaps also by Bhanu Athaiya's iconic lehenga for Sridevi in Lamhe.

The first Sabya bride was a young woman from a Kolkata family that owned a boutique.

His mother (a teacher) and sister helped him dye the lehenga in batik on their terrace. He learned to overdye the embroidery to give it a shade of patina so that the zari became a little dull.

"I was very nervous," he recalls. "It was the most expensive outfit I had made at that time -- it was about Rs 30,000, and I wasn't sure if they would pay me that kind of money. But they loved it."

At his Mehrauli boutique in New Delhi, the simplest of bridal sarees today costs upwards of Rs 350,000.

Sabya is a revivalist, constantly working to shine the spotlight on Indian textiles and techniques -- Banarsi, Kanjivaram, zardozi.

He is like a ferryman between the past and the present. "I didn't create any design disruptions; I preserved them," he says.

"All these things were already ingrained in people's minds. I just reignited the lust."

Back to the future

Today, he is arguably the first designer that comes to mind for bridalwear.

In the last 10 years, he has designed for practically every celebrity wedding in India -- from Bollywood A-listers such as Anushka Sharma, Alia Bhatt, and Deepika Padukone to sportstars like P V Sindhu.

Over the years, "the narrative has changed completely," he says. There is a pushback against oppressive ritualistic requirements, and this shift is reflected in his design language. "For culture to be relevant, it needs to be dynamic," he says.

In his view, it was Bhatt's wedding that really changed things. She married Ranbir Kapoor on the balcony of the home the two shared.

Ditching the lehenga, she wore a hand-dyed ivory organza saree, left her hair untied and wore jewellery from Sabya's heritage line.

"She decided to do a very modern wedding by keeping it small, simple, and quiet," he says.

Earlier, weddings in India were a way of establishing dominance in society; they were about trade alliances, positioning and power, he says. "The younger generation wants nothing of that. They have more clarity."

Today, Sabya says, the bride-to-be comes into his store either alone or with a friend or her fiance. Back in the day, there would be an entourage of 20 family members with her, "and everybody had an opinion, apart from herself".

Now she comes to the store with her research all done and knows exactly what she wants.

He believes that weddings as they are celebrated today will also soon be archaic.

"You have to be the creator and the destroyer, as the Gita says," he explains. "I surround myself with a lot of young people, and when I ask them about their choices, they say 'paliye giye biye korbo', which means 'we will run away and get married'. Or that 'we'll do a court marriage'.

Where does that leave couture? Turns out it remains very much at the centre of this philosophy.

"In the last 20-odd years, people have learnt that more than what you wear, it is the image that matters," he says.

This is where the maximalist meets the minimalist in perfect harmony. In his new wedding language, if the lehenga is heavy, the blouse is simple so that the jewellery sits on it better.

No longer is the value of the lehenga measured by its weight. "The conversation today is, 'The lehenga needs to be light because I need to move around'."

He says for weddings to be truly a mark of one's self-expression, "you will do them in a way that will define your purpose, not your money. That shift is going to completely change the industry".

The Sabya red

Some things, though, might not change -- or need not change. Take the colour red, for example. There is red, and then there is Sabya red.

"There are some things from the past that you take, and some that you discard," he says. "Red is not oppressive; it's a colour that works beautifully because it's warm with undertones of yellow and brown, which makes the Indian skin look great."

The sacred fire, around which a lot of weddings happen, also enhances the red.

"When you see millions of Indians wearing red while getting married, you feel like you're part of a timeless narrative," he says, explaining that it goes beyond fashion.

He says he got lucky with the colour because he kept at it. So much so that today, when brides go looking for lehengas, they are sometimes asked if they want a red or a Sabya red. "Red is not a Sabya colour; it's an India colour," he counters.

His heritage bridal collection 2024 on Instagram carries the tagline: 'Red is not seasonal, it's iconic.'

So, while Indian weddings have been borrowing colours from the West over the past few years, fuschia and red are making a decisive comeback.

"The most satisfying mode of self-expression is embracing who you are and your roots," says Sabya, who is also seeing Indian brides ditching the lehenga for the saree.

The north-Indianisation of the Indian wedding, courtesy Bollywood, is gradually making way for regional, practical, and sustainable choices.

"The wedding industry is going to be defined by both national pride and the power of liberated choice," he says.

A complete package

It is this pride that has fuelled the brand's expansion beyond borders.

Sabya has displayed his jewellery at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan, has stores in Dubai and New York, and among the global celebrities who have donned his creations are Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna.

He credits Band Baajaa Bride for the launch of his jewellery line. It was on that show that he would gift the brides mangalsutra designed by him. "The show made me realise the power of jewellery, and the business it could be."

His jewellery line, which was launched on Instagram in 2017, is now clocking Rs 100 crore to Rs 150 crore (Rs 1 billion to Rs 1.5 billion) in revenue.

"It's not very big, but I intend to make it India's largest jewellery business in the next 10 years -- bigger than Tanishq," he says.

People are not always kind to first-generation jewellers. "But I have ambitions; I'm doing it the right way."

Calling Sabyasachi Mukherjee an institution would not be an exaggeration. But institutions need to be institutionalised.

So, in 2021, he sold 51 per cent stake in label Sabyasachi to the Aditya Birla Group for Rs 398 crore (Rs 3.98 billion). The decision was taken after a random conversation with a young woman at Delhi airport during the Covid years.

"She said to me, 'You cannot die'. That's when I realised that the company does not belong to me." He considers himself its nurturer. "That's why the face of the brand is a tiger, not me."

He is also considering an e-commerce presence. "I want to give Indians good design, a great brand at a price they can afford, and unparalleled quality -- the tripods of a good business."

While jewellery is an important part of the brand, there is another vertical that is growing the fastest: Sabyasachi accessories.

These include Kolkata-inspired bags, belts and eyewear. Accessories will be a Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) business this year, mainly because of NRI buyers.

Building a global brand takes time and commitment. It also takes "courage, identity, and integrity". Plus, it requires turning the brand into an experience that potential buyers can engage with, says Stephen Bogunia, wholesale director and brand strategy at Sabyasachi.

Sabya is now looking to offer a 360-degree experience by foraying into beauty and personal care, including perfumes.

"I have created four perfumes that I'm phenomenally proud of." It will be another year-and-a-half before his perfumes line is rolled out.

There is something else as well on his mind. It is a throwback to yesterday: Band Baajaa Bride, which he wants to revive. Only this time with a bigger budget and with more real, unusual stories.

"While the show is a representation of Indian weddings, it's a very global story." He wants the world to watch it, because "Indian weddings are not just about fuschia, pink and dancing. They have many nuances."

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com