Pitching It Right

The laws of attraction find a whole new meaning in fashion designer Hemant Sagar’s world. “More than the clothes,it’s always been about the attitude. But more than the attitude,there is the need to look attractive to others. Fashion works on sensuality,on creating an energy of compliments,” says the designer,who was in the city for the BMW party at the Krishna Auto Sales in Industrial Area,Chandigarh. Sagar showcased his couture line at the event.

Sagar,who studied fashion along with partner Didier Lacoanet in Paris in the seventies,said the reason behind the success of their label was the fusion of two different sensibilities. “French have a sense of fashion and Indians their craftsmanship,so it was a marriage of European sensibility and Indian touch. The confrontation of the two cultures resulted in fusion,” he says. The nineties were tough though and when their company went bankrupt,Sagar returned to India to start afresh in 2004. “We never wanted to be one of those foreign brands setting shop in India. We wanted to add more substance,make our work meaningful. We needed to have our own pret label too at that juncture,” he says.

It was not an easy process,he confesses. “But it had to be done,to find our own space and ground,” he says. A decade later,the two are opening their own store this week in Delhi. “This is where we will experiment with fashion,” he smiles.

Being experimental is also the reason why he has shied away from doing Indian wear. “A designer’s job is to deliver for the season,to innovate and not repeat. Unfortunately,the Indian market focuses on where people spend their money — on weddings. How many of us dress up like that every day of the week?” he asks.

For him,fashion is certainly not about tradition,nor is it about catering to weddings. “In India,models strut down the ramp wearing lehenga cholis. That’s tradition,not fashion. A saree is anti-fashion,for it has not evolved. You can take that as inspiration and do something different with it. Fashion at the end of the day has to be outrageous. It has to create a trend,a movement,” he says.