A road not travelled

Last year, H&M announced its first-ever Indian designer collaboration with Sabyasachi Mukherjee. Titled ‘Wanderlust’, the collection promised Sabyasachi’s signature nomadic vibe at price points that were far more accessible. But then the pandemic hit. Over a year later, as our need to escape reaches its zenith, this same line finally sees its way to stores. The timing, in true Sabyasachi style, couldn’t be more prescient.

-  Priyanka Khanna

Like with so many aspects of the pandemic, this may be the first time we are writing a story on a collection that was meant to launch a year ago. Even if you take into account the long seasonal fashion cycles, this is an anomaly. Last March, Vogue India excitedly previewed the Sabyasachi X H&M drop with a strong element of national pride. “When H&M asked what I wanted to do, I told them that in my head and heart I’m a traveller, and I want to create a travel wardrobe. So I asked myself how a collection could journey seamlessly from a palace in Jaipur to a pool party in LA,” the designer told us.

But then, on March 23, India, like most of the world, went into lockdown and travel became a distant dream. It was then that H&M and Sabyasachi jointly took a decision to hold off on the launch.

Over a year later, the collection makes its way to stores. But here’s the clincher—with no new designs. There was no need for an update, Sabyasachi tells me, over a Zoom call from his wood-panelled library in Kolkata. Even while designing pre-pandemic, Sabyasachi says he was cognisant of maintaining values of timelessness and quality, with a conscious lens on consumption—values that will never go out of style.

“After more than a year of uncertainty in the world, what we need is a dream of better times ahead and the perfect collection for those warm summer days. The collection is quintessentially Sabyasachi—from prints and embroideries to craftsmanship. While we may not be able to travel to the places of our desire right now, we can always dream. For me, this whole collection is an escapism in wanderlust”

- ELLA SOCCORSI , HEAD OF DESIGN, H&M