Ageless Timeless Style

Couturier Suneet Varma and his muses come together to show how craftsmanship and fashion can transcend decades

- Vishat Fatima

ON AN UNUSUALLY PLEASANT MONSOON MORNING IN DELHI, seven women congregate at Saraswati Studios in Safdarjung Enclave at Suneet Varma’s behest. They are his muses: Nafisa Ali, Gunita Sodhi, Harathi Reddy Rebello, ArchanaVijaya, Batasha Mathur, Tanvir Batra, and Aleah Ahmed. They range in age from 20-59. Varma has known Sodhi for almost 25 years and Ahmed for only two, but it’s not only that they wear Suneet Varma that gives them something in common. “It’s about the romance in their lives, our history together. It’s Archana’s power, the way Harathi can seduce you over the phone; inside Nafisa is a six-year-old girl... Just a few weeks ago,I looked at a two-tone silk cape and thought, ‘This would look amazing on Harathi’. I visualise my garments on people.”

The women step up to be shot in Varma’s couture creations. There are slinky, floor-sweeping dresses and princess gowns, lehengas, jackets, and saris. They are embroidered and embellished, sparkling with a mesh of Swarovski crystals or with zardozi. There are deep reds and champagne hues, shiny blacks and pretty peaches. Some are from his recent couture show on September 10, and one is a house bestseller. Yet every piece seems plucked from the cupboards of the women wearing them. “His clothes are very different, modern,” says model and jeweller Aleah Ahmed. She is the youngest in the studio, not yet 21. “His designs work for all ages,” adds yoga trainer Tanvir Batra, who first wore one—her mother’s sari— to her school graduation. “They are so light and easy, and you can wear them anywhere.”