Sabyasachi’s NYFW Return Is a Lesson in Low-Key Luxury

3 min read

It’s been nearly 18 years since Sabyasachi last showed at New York Fashion Week in 2009. But on the final evening of New York’s spring/summer 2027 season, the label made its triumphant return with Christy Turlington opening a 72-look collection dubbed “Bengal Byzantine Broadway.” Full of easy denim, classic button-down shirts, and heritage-inspired wardrobe staples, the seasonless assortment paid homage to American Western wear with a South Asian twist. Underscoring it all was the brand’s new fine jewelry collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring jaw-dropping solid-gold and gemstone-studded Byzantine revival cuffs, Etruscan pendants, and chunky rings.

“Handmade, I think that’s the final frontier of luxury,” designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee told ELLE backstage at Spring Studios, about an hour before the show. The cult label was founded in 1999 and is a favorite of Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. “I think that India is not a land of elephants and peacocks,” he added. “It’s a very intellectual country where you have everything from history, art, culture, modernity, IT, medicine, all colliding. I think there is a very stereotypical lens with which people look at India, and I wanted to change that by saying, yes, we wear craft on our sleeve as a modern language, but that’s not what defines as entirely.” Mukherjee explained that while his brand is inherently Indian, it’s a global label, with production and artisanship traversing Italy, Spain, England, France, and Morocco, through an Indian craftsmanship lens.

Sparkling hand-beaded coats came with specially hand-quilted linings. Elsewhere, jackets were covered in cow-print-embroidered patches of tulle. The Kolkata-based designer, who opened a New York store in 2022, experimented with Americana-style tropes. The plaid shirt, classic blue jeans, the denim vest, and the cowboy hat were all included. “For me, it’s a perfect amalgamation of Americana and Indian [craft],” he says. He considers his work, and this collection, to sit at an intersection between ready-to-wear and demi-couture. “You know, I don’t really believe in doing couture, because I think it’s very outdated, and it sits very uncomfortably with me. I was born very middle-class, and didn’t have much money when I was growing up. So, when I look at couture, it almost makes me feel like a little child in ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes.’” If you have to hire a van to fit a dress, then you shouldn’t come to me.”

Sabyasachi has a kind of distinct, understated nature that requires one to look twice, pay close attention, and, when possible, touch and feel to really appreciate the craft that goes into the clothing. It is more often than not quiet. That was also the case with this particular collection. However, there was nothing quiet about the jewelry. It was highly visible on the runway (often not the case at fashion week) and clearly added a unique defining edge that conveyed instant zhuzh and personality. Oversized gemstone and solid-gold jewelry replicas inspired by artifacts from ancient Rome, Greece, and the Islamic Empire don’t really exist on this level anywhere else. And with the low-key clothing that emphasizes handmade craft, the jewelry becomes the real storytelling element. “In a world where we are slowly getting desensitized by artificial intelligence, I think it’s more and more important to put a human touch forward,” Mukherjee adds.

Kristen Bateman is a contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar. Her first fashion article was published in Vogue Italia during her junior year of high school. Since then, she has interned and contributed to WWD, Glamour, Lucky, i-D, Marie Claire and more. She created and writes the #ChicEats column and covers fashion and culture for Bazaar. When not writing, she follows the latest runway collections, dyes her hair to match her mood, and practices her Italian in hopes of scoring 90% off Prada at the Tuscan outlets. She loves vintage shopping, dessert and cats.