Model: Bidita. Pictures by Pabitra Das

Fifty three garments. Fifty four inspirations. Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s Lakme Fashion Week collection is supersaturated, but in a nice way. “I’m very proud of this collection. I thought The Snail was my best but Sanctuary is more mature,” said Sabya in between putting finishing touches to his fall-winter 2008-09 collection, and simultaneously thinking about the summer of ’09 for New York Fashion Week later this year. Chirpy, crowded, chaotic, eclectic and noisy, Sabya’s Sanctuary has a bit of everything and more. “It all started with migratory birds and became bigger and bigger. Now it’s a full Sanctuary,” he explains.

“Remember the film Frida, when the entire family turned up in finery for the family photo and Salma Hayek wore a man’s suit? That inspired me. You know how a just-washed vest hangs on a clothesline and the dripping water stretches its shape? That inspired my sequinned sweater dress…” Sabya says animatedly, clearly super excited about his Sanctuary, coming alive in his sprawling workshop.

Each of the elements in the long list of inspirations (54 is just a ballpark figure) finds a prominent place in his collection. “It’s lavish,” he stresses. The supersaturated Mexican colour palette forms his colour story. Diving suits inspire a cool body-con line of sari blouses and long jackets, an applique jacket resembles Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Jackie Kennedy’s 1950s look adds to the silhouettes. The Amish community’s understated style is reflected on some dresses and spray painting on the “chicken (scalloped really mini) skirts” remind you of Jackson Pollock’s artwork, Deepti Naval saris have left a mark on him and of course, the swinging 70s can be seen in the “matchy” yellow checked pantsuit. Lingerie from the 1950s has inspired sexy quilted dresses and you can also spot bondage in zips and body-con silhouettes in between frumpy granny blouses. There is a bit of Russia. And there is also a bit of Guatemala. It’s all handcrafted and even most of the lining is hand-painted. It is really his “maddest collection till date”! But there is an underlining proud India feel and 80 per cent of his collection is made from khadi. But even Sabya doesn’t know whether Sanctuary is ethnicity going modern or modernity going ethnic.

Other important silhouettes apart from his chicken skirts are bomber jackets, slinky dresses, some old-fashioned tennis skirts and silver lame pants. He is also going to show saris worn with body-con blouses. “Earlier I was confused about whether I should show saris but when I heard Suzy Menkes (fashion editor of International Herald Tribune) is coming to LFW, I was convinced. There will be six to eight saris in my show. In fact, I have decided to show at least one sari in every show.”

The look of his show is saturated too. His models will wear ombre leggings. “Everything is coloured,” he stresses. “There will be roses in the hair, clean face with mascara and a drop bindi. Patent peep toes with leather piping with handpainted walnut heels and uber chic bags and belts made by me will complete the look. I’m not sure about the lips yet.”

The garments also have names. Meet Potol Pants! (they resemble a potol). Or Galaxy Sweater (the spray sequins resemble the Milky Way).

After three hours of style talk, we left him alone. Sabya played a song on full blast and catwalked to it to see if the pace and beat will be okay for the show. The floor space in between two of his block printing tables formed the perfect ramp.