Crafted to Perfection

Varun Bahl’s show opened this year’s couture week. His French Queen-meets-Mughal Princess rendition was a hit from the word go,even as the opening model,Tinu Verghese,came out in a quilted coat with pinched shoulders on a moss green poem of a lehenga that shimmered only when it walked. Others followed: a Chantilly lace coat with trousers,a firozi (‘turquoise’ doesn’t conjure the same magic) sari with arabesque flask motifs,anarkalis and farshi pajamas; each ensemble was of unimaginable beauty and the most sophisticated aesthetic.

Especially beautiful was a sari worn with a lehenga,it was pleated on one side and draped beautifully at the back like a dupatta. But the pièce de résistance was an ivory lehenga embroidered with multiple colours of silk and gold. It was a coup de foudre — love at first sight — and I’m sure it would retail at no less than Rs 15 lakh.

It was enough for one to seek an appointment with the designer to enquire about his efforts into it. “It’s the most painstakingly-made thing,” admits 35-year-old Bahl. “I took three weeks only to decide the colours on it.” After that,of course,the piece took over two months to create,with four to five craftsmen working on it at a time.

Unlike commercial line or ready-to-wear line lehengas,that have around eight panels,a good couture lehenga will have 14 to 16 panels. This makes the skirt more fluid,regardless of the ornamentation on the surface,and its fall is more feminine and less boxy. What this means is that each panel requires finer embroidery and the entire skirt,naturally,takes far longer to create. It gets far too expensive to make,but its beauty is unmatched.

Bahl says even though it was a bridal piece,he worked with an ivory base simply because he wanted to fill it with colours. There’s duck egg blue,stained yellow,red,teal,pistachio and different shades of gold. Each colour was introduced only via embroidery and one at a time,so that each panel took three weeks to be complete. “Then came the French lace,which I made myself in the factory. It was stupid of me to do that since lace is cheap and freely available. I wanted something particular,and I wanted to fill it with red,” says Bahl,with endearingly feigned modesty.

Where Bahl really puts his faith is in his embroideries; he says he uses the most difficult techniques and the finest needles that his craftsmen get made especially for him. “My dabka (zardozi) is one-tenth the size of a normal stitch,” he shows off. “Essentially,there are only two types of embroideries — zardozi and aari — but what makes the difference is how fine and neat the workmanship is,” he explains. His favourites are the kasab or the tilla and the difficult-to-maintain badla.

He sources fabric from all over,from Como in Italy to his cousin’s factory in Taiwan,till he gets what he desires. He says,“If not,then I will make it in my factory. But I haven’t yet had to compromise.”

Like a proper couturier,Bahl meets his clients only by appointment at his Noida factory. An outfit is first made in muslin,or toile,and then finally created in the fabric of choice. There are at least two or three fittings with the client. And fewer craftsmen are used,so the hand doesn’t vary.

It’s ironic that Bahl almost never made Indian wear. Seven years ago when he debuted,it was with the most elegant line of cocktail dresses ever seen on an Indian ramp,with block prints,flat sequins,silken roses and rich velvets. Fashion folklore says his ingress into

Indian clothes was the result of a failed love affair with a fellow designer,an I’ll-show-him moment that turned his professional fate around too.

“Prêt-à-porter is great for business but a couture piece is where your fantasy comes alive,” Bahl avers,“India has always had a culture of made-to-order pieces so ‘couture’ will always thrive here.”

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