Around the World, One Runway at a Time
“Style is defined by the ability to be comfortable in your own skin,” says Suneet Varma, designer of an eponymous line of dazzling Indian couture, “no matter what you are wearing.” That may be but the most compelling question about Varma is why haven’t more people heard of him? It’s as though his wondrous gowns and saris, dripping in luxurious adornments, ensconced in a palette of prismatic colours, are simply a secret the fashion world has kept to itself.
Varma spent inspiring stints with couturiers Nicole Farhi, London, and Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, after graduating from the London School of Fashion in 1986. Since then, Varma has been involved with myriad activities enveloping almost every aspect of fashion, ranging from revival of weaving and embroidery, researching and developing couture-embroidered garments for international design houses like Donna Karan, Carolina Herrera and Nicole Miller, to designing and manufacturing embellished handbags and fashion accessories for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
His label can be seen throughout the U.S., London, India, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kuwait and South Africa. And he’s even got his own show, Style Guru, India's first and only international fashion program. He says, “The most exciting discovery was to learn that international designers felt that India was a reservoir of inspiration for them. The show on Cartier revealed how a Rajasthani royal family has been one of their most lavish clients. Oscar de la Renta confided that he wished he had been born in ‘such a colourful place as Rajasthan.’”
After 15 years of decadent couture work, Varma knows how to win the hearts of high fashion enthusiasts. His coveted collections, often shown on the catwalk like a seamless dreamscape, include cocktail and formal attire, embroidered accessories, bejeweled furnishings, and even a contemporary menswear line that debuted in 2005. Based in New Delhi, he’s self-professed ‘old-fashioned’ in style but uses his global network of artisans to technologically source the very best. Add in the glitterati of Delhi and Mumbai mixed with a few Bollywood ventures and behold a brand with plenty of marketable cachet. Varma’s success rests on the laurels of consistency with which he delivers season after season.
While Varma’s impeccable style is indisputable, his initial attempts at going global a few years back failed miserably and publicly. “I do regret that I wasted a year and a half trying to go international,” he says. “I thought I was ready for it. Also, I was judgmental and arrogant–that can be a horrible mistake.” But, he’ll concede that Hollywood and the West are prime markets for bringing couture to prêt. “Indian fashion is very firmly on the global map today,” he explains. “It is just a matter of time before Hollywood acknowledges the Indian fashion industry, as we have such a wealth of talent, especially in the couture segment.”
Though Varma has headlined at Lakme Fashion Week (India) and Couture Week (Italy), but admits that he designs with younger, liberated women in mind. “The ideal client is women in their late twenties or early thirties and onwards. This is when women come into their own, discover their positive attributes and confidently use them to enhance their looks and personalities.” A designer’s designer, he is admired for his ability to create bridal ensembles in silhouettes close to the body with minimal use of fabrics, so that the look is clean, glamorous and auspicious. Quite the opposite of the overhyped, overweighed exports sent abroad.
Varma-nistas have come to expect contrasting textures in a mélange of colours, three-dimensional embroidery, spontaneous patterns and wacky prints all doused in appliqués of sequins and crystals. So much so, Swarovski has rightly crowned him ‘the largest consumer of crystals in India in the recent years’. Never shy, Varma stakes his claim, “If somebody wants shine and glamour and the innovative use of crystals, then they should come to me.”
Riding the India-is-chic wave, Varma is nabbing the spotlight, and the bleary-eyed world of fashion is waking up in the front row. He certainly has become a force, if not a hero, in the industry. It’s his unerring attention to every detail of form and function that sets him apart. Details change the perspective. What was once ugly is now magnificent. What was subtle becomes dramatic. And, nobody lets you experience these niceties, this thing called haute couture, like the grandiose Suneet Varma. He’s less reflective of the private man than the artist impresario. But, his redeeming persona does capture India’s elements with unparalleled elegance and beauty and exceeds dramatic necessity. “As a couturier, I feel making beautiful clothes is an art. I have worked in a disciplined fashion but my design research has of late been more lyrical.”
BY: NAVDEEP MUNDI/PUBLISHED: FALL 2007 ISSUE
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