When Masaba Gupta told me she’d be taking over as head of fashion at Satya Paul I must admit I was intrigued. Considering she is such a rising star herself how would she find the time to balance this mammoth responsibility with her own label? Would this mean a massive directional change for Satya Paul’s essentially traditional aesthetic? How would she adjust to living in Delhi? So many questions, so I asked her, and she answered 🙂 read on and witness fashion history being made. Good luck Miss G, and to the moon! xoxo
MissMalini: Hi Masaba! So we hear you’re taking over as the head of fashion at Satya Paul, congratulations and how did that happen?
Masaba Gupta: Thank you… it happened over a bunch of meetings with Sanjay and the Genesis and Satya Paul team after Sujata Assomull phoned me to say that they were looking for a Fashion Director!
MM: What can we expect to see from Satya Paul now that you are taking over?
MG: Well I hope to take the brand to the youth. I hope to make it more relevant to the younger customer. Also I want to bring back the lyrical image that Satya Paul was famous for once it started off. I will incorporate the techniques and design sensibility that I have and merge it with the long standing strong design aesthetic and signature of Satya Paul. Actually, the brand is older than me, so I feel it’s important that today’s fashionable youth should know more about Satya Paul, especially in a contemporary way. I have always loved the legendary Satya Paul prints, and can’t wait to create my own at the design studio! Satya Paul has a long and iconic heritage of prints, and is known for its fearlessness with colours. As a designer, I will try to channel that in my way, thereby keeping to the Satya Paul vocabulary, and creating my own design language out of it.
MM: Interesting! What will your role and responsibilities entail?
MG: I will be Fashion Director. My job, as fashion director, will be to provide design direction on the creative aspects. I am looking forward to showing my debut collection in a few months at fashion week. Like any designer, I will work closely with the Satya Paul design studio to develop concepts and fashion ideas for new collections, prints and embellishments for upcoming seasons, and help formulate the trends and silhouettes.Anything and everything that comes under the brand name of Satya Paul. As I said, bring back the lyrical image of Satya Paul.
MM: What made you chose Satya Paul out of all the myriad designers out there?
MG: Satya Paul chose me rather 🙂 And I am grateful to Genesis and the team for believing that a 24-year-old can be fashion director for a 27yr old brand. It is a huge oppurtunity for me.
MM: Can we expect to see your personal footprint in Satya Paul’s house of fashion now that you are taking over?
MG: Yes, as I said the design aesthetic is the same, there’s a connect… you will see the personal foot print but just done differently. It’s like the elder sister and younger sister of the same family.
MM: As an independent designer yourself how do you prevent this from diluting your own brand?
MG: This happens in the West all the time and designers are successfully juggling both brands. I am 24, I have a very clear vision for my brand and for Satya Paul, also I have the guts, more than the experience and I have time on my side. I am not worried about diluting my brand because I can see the road ahead, if I couldn’t id be worried.
MM: Fair enough! So what are the greatest challenges Indian designers face in terms of global recognition?MG: I think we lack bussiness acumen, but our fashion culture is so different from the world. It’s not a bad thing though, we have the largest and most beautiful cultural heritage, but I can’t say if this is all that there is to it. It’s too soon for me to comment on this further.
MM: Who in your opinion are the top 3 Indian designers in the country right now?
MG: Anamika Khanna, Kallol Datta and Sabyasachi.
MM: How do you feel about relocating to Delhi?
MG: I’m excited!! About the food mainly but it’s a good place to work in.. Bombay can get hectic.
MM: Can you brienfly describe your vision for Satya Paul and what everyone should watch out for (and other designers be ready for!)
MG: I wouldn’t spoil the surprise for you…!