Sabyasachi, Label Beloved by Padma Lakshmi and Priyanka Chopra, Opens in NYC
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“It’s a sensory overload.”
Welcome to the world of designer-entrepreneur Sabyasachi Mukherjee. If you’re a Westerner not well traveled in India, chances are you’ve never experienced anything like it. Until now.
The creator of the eponymous Sabyasachi fashion lifestyle brand, revered across India and throughout parts of the Middle East and a favorite of the Bollywood elite, opened his first store in the West this fall, in New York’s West Village. It is, in the true sense of the word, awesome, a mind-blowing experience of audacity and enchantment.
Splendid in its ebullience, the boutique offers a wealth of ideas from which those looking to go all in on holiday entertaining can extract pointers. As a host, Sabyasachi is a beacon of calm, attentive yet relaxed, but there’s nothing effortless about his eclecticism, which is anything but random. Case in point: at the store’s opening party, the magnificent dessert table laid out in the accessories room—a vast pastiche of sweets on various plates and trays, meticulously arranged in an intricate jigsaw puzzle, a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.
That display is a microcosm of Sabyasachi’s “world of a maximalist,” one fully self-created. When scouting store locations, he saw possibility in a 5,800-square-foot space in the Archive Building on Christopher Street, ultimately transforming its white box blandness into a magical emporium. Each square foot of wall space, from floor to ceiling, soars with visual wonderment, starting with dark, sumptuous woodwork and faded patterned wall coverings.
“I wanted to present a distinct Indian voice,” Sabyasachi says.
The hundreds of artifacts on view hail from around the globe and across the centuries: pichhwai, paintings on cloth originally created as backdrops for statues of deities; Persian Qajar dynasty paintings, now bordered in fabrics crafted from old saris with zardozi embroidery; “doodles” by a Bleecker Street sidewalk artist; and tableware from Scully & Scully.
“Beautiful things are beautiful things irrespective of where you find them,” he says.
It all forms the backdrop for the designer’s fashion and accessories, everything made in his home base of Calcutta. His clothes are opulent, with event wear featuring prominently. (Among the bridal couples he has dressed are Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas.) At the store, bridal and other extraordinary made-to-order looks can exceed $40,000. Similarly, high jewelry includes fantastical prices. An intricately crafted, emerald-encrusted collar selling for six figures was in the store during a preview; a $2.5 million stunner was en route.
Overall, the evening looks feature lavish embroideries, often gold on black, with some silhouettes derived from traditional saris and lehengas. There is also an ample range of separates intended to integrate easily into Western ensembles.
“Head-to-toe would be just too exotic, and some people will perceive it as a costume,” Sabyasachi says. “But smart separates—an embroidered jacket, for instance—you can wear with a white shirt and jeans. It depends upon how adventurous or non-adventurous you are.”
Needless to say, Sabyasachi is a big proponent of a daring wardrobe, whether that means ditching the LBD cocktail standard for a fanciful embroidered look or setting a table with unexpected creative bravado.
“Globally, we have all gone through a collective introspection,” he says. “People are ready for a new influence. We need to get out of our insular mode to try something that maybe frightens us at first, but then fascinates us.”
This story appears in the December 2022/January 2023 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
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