The pioneering Sharbari Dutta passed away just before Puja last year, but her influence is unmissable in Shunyaa’s production. Reshmi Bagchi who helped Dutta start her label as a partner, shares that the designer’s archive is extensive enough for Dutta’s vision to carry on.
“Shunyaa still very much runs on Sharbari Di’s ideas, her ethos and creative vision. Our work has been cut out for us. She was extremely meticulous, she has left us a whole library to work with. She already mentioned the colours we should use as well as the fabrics, which makes things really easy for us. She always said, ‘everything should be in place so Shunya can carry on even when I’m not here'. But we never thought her words would come so true so soon,” Bagchi says. The label is witnessing the busiest season of the year and Bagchi shared what Shunyaa has in store for Puja:
What are buyers looking to buy this Puja?
We’ve observed this interesting trend, that of youngsters shopping for themselves. That shakes things up a bit, they know what they want, they want some distinct styles. In fact, this aspect was important for Sharbari di as well, to make pieces that will never stop being relevant. The youngsters often browse through our social media before dropping in and try the pieces here.
Couples are looking to coordinating or twin in what they wear. For festive buying or even in wedding season, when a bride picks a sari, we usually help out with the grooms wear, suggest the best colours for them. They’re shopping together, which is so wonderful
Tell us about your next collection
Our Black Thunder collection has been received with a lot of love, it’s a 12-piece collection inspired by Mongolian designs. Sharbari di did hand-painted gondh-art dhotis for this line. We also have a new power dressing collection for working women called Lamhe who don’t find a lot of time to themselves, so these adaptable cuts in tussar cotton are minimalist and embellished with Kashmiri embroidery, the men’s wear also features some immaculate Kashmiri work
Are you selling online?
Yes, our patrons have thankfully been happy to make the move to virtual buying; in fact, the trials too happened virtually. We made the pieces, sent them to the buyers, they wore it and consulted with us on a video call.
Would you say people are spending differently this Puja?
Yes, I would say budgeting is on everyone’s minds and festive buying is more conservative now. There are a few buyers who are opting for investment-worthy pieces since some of their costs have been cut. In fact, when Sharbari Di started Shunyaa she was very conscious about pricing the clothes, she thought fashion is for everyone and anyone should be able to afford her clothes because she wanted to reach everyone.
The puja collections start from Rs 3,000
Wedding line starts from Rs 10,000