Gadhuli by Sanjukta Dutta captures the essence of twilight

There’s an odd sort of sorcery in that short moment of evening when the sun starts to recede and the sky holds its breath. It is no longer day, nor is it night yet — that still hour when all hangs in abeyance. That’s the mood designer Sanjukta Dutta so seamlessly captured in her recent showcase, Gadhuli – The Twilight in Delhi.

Designer Sanjukta Dutta’s Gadhuli weaves Assam’s soul into couture

The lineup didn’t hurry to impress; it developed gradually, the way a sequence in a film you don’t want to end. Maroon colours dissolved into black, the colours of twilight sewn onto folds of silk that glimmered as models walked. Nothing came across as forced — each drape, each layer appeared to breathe. The designs told of transformation, of light yielding to shadow, of strength yielding to tenderness and still retaining its bite.

The show opened on a very emotional note — an ode to the late Zubeen Garg, the iconic voice of Assam. A sari that was handwoven with his portrait and lyrics from his songs set the runway open. It wasn’t fashion; it was memory being woven, a hushed dialogue among melody, fabric, and emotion.

Sanjukta did not pay tribute to a musician alone; she celebrated a cultural pulse that still resonates through Assam.

Putting an emotional touch to it, violinist Sunita Bhuyan brought the runway to life with a live concert — an emotive tribute to Bhupen Hazarika on his birth centenary. The music echoed in the room like a family conversation between generations, rooting the collection in the rhythm of its origins.

“Gadhuli is that delicate moment when all things seem to be in balance — when tradition intersects with evolution,” Sanjukta stated post-show. “It reminds me of Assam — where nature, craft, and culture exist in harmony with gentle strength.”

In Gadhuli, Sanjukta Dutta saw the mekhela chador — the quintessence of Assamese heritage — reimagined in contemporary terms. She combined hand-woven weaves with sharp, modern silhouettes: those of structured skirts, flowing anarkalis, sharply cut dhotis. It was a dialogue between past and present — between motionlessness and movement.

With Gadhuli, Sanjukta did not merely show a set of pieces; she distilled a mood. It was about memory and homeland, about the place between twilight and darkness where all is transformed but nothing is forgotten. Twilight, as she reminds us, is not an ending — it's a beginning shot through with gold and shadow.

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