A ‘TWO' DE FORCE

HELLO! CHATS WITH LEGENDARY COUTURIERS, SABYASACHI MUKHERJEE AND CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN ON THEIR UNIQUE PARTNERSHIP, DISCOVERING A BOND OF FRIENDSHIP AND CREATIVITY THAT TRANSCENDS MERE BUSINESS

When did you first hear about each other?

Christian Louboutin: “A while before meeting.”

Sabyasachi Mukherjee: “I was in my Mumbai store to get some money from my accountant because I had lost my luggage and needed to buy some clothes. I was in a pair of cut-off trousers and a dirty t-shirt and I went into my store almost apologetically and met a man who was standing there and admiring the store and he looked very familiar. He looked at me and said, ‘How can I meet Sabyasachi? Do you know him?’ I was almost tempted to say ‘no,’ but I decided to introduce myself and we hit it off right from the word go. We discussed everything that we both liked (a Frenchman and a Bengali have a lot in common. We are argumentative, we love food, we can talk about politics, we talk about art and craft and everything) and we realised that we have a lot of common interests. One thing led to the other and very soon, Christian and I spoke about a possible collaboration because I always admired his shoes and he admired my vision of building an Indian brand. We both own our companies independently, so there was no third party to make a decision on our behalf. We decided to do a collaboration and there it is!”

What is it about each other’s craft that you truly admire?

CL: “The importance of the embroideries and the diversity of prints on Sabyasachi’s work is amazing. Sabyasachi is a very funny character, but when it comes to work, he is super serious.”