It was not a will-he, won’t-he. It was more of a when-will-he. t2 favourite Sabyasachi Mukherjee has touched the big number. A chat with Mr Hundred Crore.

Have you touched Rs 100 crore?

Yes, I have. (Unfazed)

And? Was it surreal?

A few days ago the accounts department told me... but it’s just a number for me.

What are some of your most surreal moments in this 100-crore journey?

When people in South Africa, Pakistan, Lebanon, Antwerp, Australia love my clothes. I haven’t been to many of these places! Another surreal fanboy moment was when Oprah Winfrey came in and cleaned out my entire Mumbai store and paid for everything with her credit card. She also clicked pictures with all my store staff. Another moment was when my store connected me to Rekha and she said to me, ‘You are like my soulmate’!

What do you keep in mind while creating a collection?

I put blinkers on, irrespective of any front row criticism. I design for a woman who aspires to wear Sabyasachi. A woman for whom fashion is not everything.

What’s the Sabyasachi demographic?

It’s democratic!

Do you remember your first ever sell-out collection?

(Smiles) My first big collection was sold by Mrs Padma Jalan at Little Bee on 37/1C Hazra Road. I remember making 20 saris and 20 kurtas and I had gone home to change and when I came back there was a sold tag on everything! I didn’t have money to put together the collection so Mrs Jalan had lent me Rs 50,000. She is whom I would call my fairy godmother. There are two more people who were instrumental in giving me my first window and I can’t thank Purnima Chawla and Sangita Kejriwal from Espee enough. They gave me a much-needed platform. A boy from NIFT cycled all the way to see his clothes on a window. If my outfits had not been sold by Mrs Jalan and if Espee hadn’t put my clothes at the window before Diwali, I don’t think I would have had the confidence to build the brand that I have today. It was a big push for me to strive for excellence.

And over the years, how was the demand from the brand changed?

What people want from my brand is timeless clothing. And that has not changed. I love it most when people tell me that they are happy to wear my clothes for an entire generation and then pass them on to the next three.

Can you break up your market, zone-wise?

Well, Calcutta likes earthier colours. It’s not a big fan of Swarovski and bling. Unfortunately, Calcutta is not a traditionalist anymore. The city is experimenting. I think it’s the insecurity. I wish Calcutta women would go back to dressing like when I first started. I think the older generation dresses better than the younger generation. The most moving price tag here is Rs 69,500.

In the north, the flashier, the more expensive, the more bling, the better. It likes playing to the gallery. Small doesn’t work for them. Price point? Dare I say Rs 69 lakh!

The west is easy. They look for couture with a touch of high street. They want to dress up but they don’t want to look dressed up. They want to look effortless. They don’t care about prices, they care about the product.

And in the south, tradition is still strong. They love their gold and their jadau jewellery. Women like special clothing that has a strong sense of India and they are also quite price conservative.

Where would you kill to have a store?

In Paris, with the Chanel boutiques as my neighbour! The star design feature of the store would be my 101 clocks.

Finally, what is your biggest retail secret?

In Pretty Woman, Richard Gere told Julia Roberts that stores are never nice to people, they are only nice to credit cards. I told my staff that we should just be the opposite of that. That’s my biggest secret.