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| Parno Mittra was the show-stopper for a mini fashion showing, giving a glimpse of what to expect at the store in Quest mall. The actress wore an “abstract-print sari which is inspired by topography map” from Satya Paul’s autumn-winter Old Streets, Neon Lights line. Masaba’s other Satya Paul signatures like the ink, phone booth and lipstick saris were also showcased as was Satya Paul’s Back to the Future line of 2011. “I love it. I was given four options and I picked this sari,” said Parno. |
Masaba Gupta hadn’t cut her hair in eight years. This year she did. “I got off a plane and went to a parlour and cut it off. I said ‘Nothing doing. I need a change in my life and my hair has to go,’” the 25-year-old fashion director of Satya Paul told t2 on her visit to the city last week. She was here for the launch of India’s “biggest” Satya Paul store, close to 2,000sq ft, at Quest mall. Change is not the only reason why she wanted to chop off her hair. Beyonce is! “I said it! That’s the actual reason I cut it. I wanted to look like her. I have gone on a diet and I have cut my hair. I am obsessed with Beyonce,” she laughs out loud. Next on Masaba’s list is finding her Jay-Z. Will she get one? “I would probably find some Altaf Raja!”she laughs out even louder. The designer daughter of Neena Gupta and Sir Viv Richards chatted with t2 on Satya Paul.
Satya Paul with your signature touch is coming to Calcutta for the first time…
It’s really amazing because honestly, this is our biggest store yet in India and it is something we are very proud off. It shows all the various phases of Satya Paul… the present, the future, the past. They have pieces dating back from 2005-06 up until my collection. The latest to hit will be spring/summer ’14 in February-end. It is really exciting because when you have such a big space, you can showcase all your body of work, which you don’t get in retail spaces often. There is something here for everyone. I am really excited because I think Quest mall is one of the most high-end malls. This store will have a lot of my line. This is our proudest yet because it’s like a gallery.
Did you decide on the decor as well?
I gave my inputs. Most of our stores in India had black flooring. That is something I consciously said that I don’t want to do. I wanted to have white flooring. I think black flooring sucks up a lot of light, making the store look drab. I just felt that we should keep it very clean. There is a lot of wood in our other stores, like, lots of dark wood. This is predominantly white. Usually, we only have photo-shoot images. This time we had a whole lot of stuff like when you enter first, on the right, is the first collage I made like a teaser for my collection.
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| Masaba shows off one of her Satya Paul favourites — a disco-ball lehnga. |
What are your five favourites from the stable of Satya Paul?
I love the disco-ball lehnga and also the disco-ball saris, especially gold and black. That’s something that is truly Satya Paul for me… its philosophy. The disco-ball sari in gold-and-black is what I wore for the first time when I was being announced as the director. It is a pre-pleated trouser sari. I have always loved the scarves. I love cufflinks. They are all here. I think Satya Paul makes really cool and quirky ones… golf balls and golf sticks. I also love the bags. There is supposed to be this thing called a bowling bag, which is supposed to be one of our best-selling accessories. What else do I like? There is a really nice gold sequinned sari, champagne coloured. I think that one is quite interesting.
Let’s do a Satya SWOT…
Strength: In the sari and print spaces, I feel like there are two players in the market. One is Satya Paul and one is me. Both are mine! Their level of printing and knowledge is far ahead of anybody else in the business today. I feel to maintain a USP, a signature for 28 years is a hard job. They have maintained it.
Weakness: While most people think that the lipstick line was so popular, I think we need to do far more shows in the same space, in the same language, so that we can make our stamp that Satya Paul is now younger, fun and more edgy. That’s something we need to work on consciously.
Opportunities: They are endless, actually. Satya Paul is a brand where we are given things in terms of… people have a lot more faith in us. Talking about collaborations, be it corporate or anything… they have a lot of faith in us because of the experience, the corporate backing and that fact that Satya Paul is in the same house as a Burberry, where the luxury brands are. You can learn so much from the best luxury brands in the business. Not many brands get to revive themselves after 28 years of being in the business. To get a fresh start, a clean slate is excellent.
Threats: I really worry about the future of print because I feel there is a slight overkill of the print happening today. A whole lot of designers are doing it. I am not saying in terms of competition because what they are doing is shit! (Laughs) But in terms of you know whether people are going to be fed up of it or are they going to want a new language of print? That’s a challenge this year especially. I feel the quirky print is kind of dying. (Laughs) There is no story behind it. It is just there. That’s also what Satya Paul stands for. So, how do you keep it fresh each time? You run out of stories sometimes. And you run out of inspiration.
So, do you often hit a dead end?
I feel like I am always at a dead end. (Laughs) It’s been happening more so because I have been working on two brands (Satya Paul and House of Masaba). I think I am killing myself, but I have been very lucky. I feel an idea just pops out of nowhere and it works, but I am hitting a dead end pretty much before every collection. Always. I really worry about print, but it will come back. There is still hope.
What are you working on for Satya Paul?
I am working on autumn/winter ’14, which is based on The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin. This whole collection that I have done is called the Art of Deception, where we are playing optical illusion. At the same time, we are also trying to move a step forward and take risks.
Finally, what’s the Satya Paul woman of 2014 like?
She is very excited that there is this new energy coming into Satya Paul. When I meet people who have worn Satya Paul for 15-20 years, they are like ‘we just want to own it because we consider it art’. That whole attraction that Satya Paul is actually art is now sort of coming back. The Satya Paul woman is far more fearless than she was. She knows her saris really well. She is a go-getter and she loves colour. So, it’s the same woman that Satya Paul always had, but she’s just come with a new energy that the brand has come with.
Look who was there
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| Sanjay Kapoor, managing director, Genesis Luxury (that has Satya Paul in its bouquet) chatted with Karan Paul. “We have got 22 stores in this mall and 14 different brands are opening up… Burberry, Emporio Armani, Michael Kors, Satya Paul, Paul Smith, Villeroy & Boch, Fulra, Tumi, Bwitch…. Everything will have opened up by the middle of March,” he said. Will luxury move in Calcutta? “I think Calcutta is a well-travelled, well-informed society. Brands which have been successful globally, will be successful out here. You’ve got to create the right infrastructure and ambience for people to shop,” Kapoor told t2. |
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