As a silent child, much like the boy from Fanny and Alexander, Sonam Dubal found his voice between nature amongst the flowers that circled his favourite koi pond in the garden that had both golden and silver carp with buzzing iridescent dragon flies watching him as he read a book lying on the grass.
Growing up amongst the verdant tea estates that bordered forests around Assam and the Dooars, and then living by the Teesta river in Rangpo, Sikkim, infused in Dubal a natural love for the sounds of nature. This orchestra of sounds with the maze of colourings stayed within him as he started his journey into the city first through college in Kolkata and then New Delhi when he joined NIFT, finishing in 1990.
“There was a pause, as I ran away to Paris as soon as I finished working with the great vanguard of Indian fashion, Rohit Khosla,” Dubal tells us. “I was searching for myself, evolving organically a language of design, learning the arts of textiles, working with crafts, and understanding the deeper stories of indigenous textiles and weaving,” he adds.
Dubal confesses that his design work erupted from coming to terms with his mixed cultural heritage added with his openness to people and observing everything around. He launched his signature line, Sanskar, in 1999. His label is a vanguard experiment in revitalising and redefining traditional Indo-Asian silhouettes with sensitivity, a guiding principle and foundation for the evolving collections that blend cultures; recreating stories from the past into the future.
His label has been endorsed by many patrons including documentary filmmaker Leslie Cockburn, philanthropist and model Nena Thurman, and Natascha Weir. Closer home, film director Shonali Bose, actors Konkona Sen Sharma, Tabu, Manisha Koirala, Malavika Tiwari and Vidya Balan have adorned his creations. To add another feather to his cap, Dubal has recently been awarded Forces of Fashion by a popular magazine for his contribution to the Indian fashion industry.
The designer’s latest winter/festive collection ‘Golden Threads’ is an evolution of his signature line. “It’s a little more contemporary because I have added brocade dresses, interesting jackets and bright coloured coats. The collection is about embroidery, craftwork and sustainable ecological friendly textiles,” he says, adding, “It is inspired by thread work, painted flowers and colours of the koi pond. Based on fantasy and artistic old-world charm, this collection revisits travel and the beauty of painted flowers depicted through embroidery and canvas.”
For this collection, Dubal has used jewel tones, ranging from midnight blue to wine maroons, emerald greens mixed with tonalities of black in velvet, silk and textured Eri silk with gold thread embroidery. Dubal says Chennai holds a special place for him.
“I love the clientele; the patrons have great taste and aesthetics, and Amethyst houses collections beautifully, which makes a lot of difference,” he says. For Dubal, winter works out very well to launch a collection. “Winter extends to the festive and holiday season with Christmas and New Year. And since my collection is all about the vintage but styled more contemporary, it is best for this season. One can look forward to short dresses, single sleeve shoulder dresses with brocade and layered that can be mixed and matched. Then there are coats, jackets and easy tunis in print and tie-dyes in muted tones in loose anti-fit style. The collection is best suited for evenings, cocktails, parties, festivals, and for travellers,” he tells us.