Celebrating a monumental 25 years in fashion, the fashion designer has expanded his grand retail footprint with a massive new 26,000-square-foot flagship store in Mehrauli, Delhi. Also read | Step inside Sabyasachi’s New Delhi store designed as a living museum with 300 artworks, antique carpets and Bengal tram In an era where luxury fashion feels increasingly algorithmic and ‘transactional’, Sabyasachi Mukherjee is taking a deliberate step back into the physical world.
“One of the reasons why luxury brands and fashion are failing is that we are making the environments of human connectivity very sterile. And if you want people to shop for luxury, you need to give them an experience. It’s very important. In the short term, people might think of this as a lavish expense, but I think of it as a long-term investment.”
Building 26,000-square-foot palaces filled with antiques, art, and heritage craftsmanship might look like a risky gamble in today’s cautious economic climate. Because luxury, per se, in fashion goods and services is becoming more and more transactional, people are finding it disappointing, and they are moving into real luxury, which is about experience, so,. Also read | Step inside Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s grand 7,250 square foot Kolkata home with maximalist decor, luxe crystal chandeliers But looking back at a quarter-century of defining Indian fashion, Sabyasachi approaches his legacy with a long-term lens: “I’m building these stores because, you see, my job is to think ahead of time.
Reflecting on why standard luxury models are stumbling in a digital-first world, Sabyasachi said efficiency has made human connectivity sterile. If we can bring emotion back into business, your business is going to last a little longer,” he said, adding, “One of the reasons why luxury is failing is that luxury was never meant to be transactional; it was meant to be experiential.
