Sabyasachi Mukherjee, who showed at Lakme India Fashion Week (20-24 October) in Mumbai, is the rising star of Indian fashion with a mission, like Gandhi in the 1930s, to persuade the country's new and old money elites to abandon their western designer party clothes and to dress instead in exquisitely simple khadi, antique Aligarh pyjamas or old world bridal gowns, but with savvy modern catwalk twists. (Gandhi asked the bourgeoisie to burn their French chiffon saris and wool and worsteds from Lancashire mills for the sake of nationalism.) "I don't believe in [fashion] fusion any more," Mukherjee has said. "I wish indo-western was never explored. It almost sounds like a pathetic attempt to woo your insecure Indian woman to try her hand at western clothing. She's better off in her sari."
