Designer to the stars, Masaba Gupta to honour mentor Wendell Rodricks tonight with a quirky caricature dress
Wendell Rodricks and Masaba Gupta
At 9.30 pm tonight, when Diva Dhawan walks the ramp at Masaba Gupta’s show for an ongoing fashion week in Delhi, she’ll be wearing a white and black tunic carrying the caricature of someone who looks all too familiar.
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Made by a Goan artist, the sketch of veteran fashion designer Wendell Rodricks speaks of the bond Gupta shares with him. “I can’t help but get teary-eyed by the gesture,” Wendell says, speaking to mid-day.
Gupta, who has in a short span seen unparalleled success and celebrity fandom, considers the Goa-based designer her mentor.
Their relationship dates back to 2009 when she was a student of fashion at SNDT, and he was helming a mentorship programme.
“I wouldn’t be in fashion if it weren’t for him. He showed me how to be good at my work, and still be a good human being,” says Masaba, referring to an industry notorious for sometimes bearing its not-so-pleasant face. It’s been years since she graduated, and she now dresses everyone from Kareena Kapoor Khan to Sonam Kapoor, but a customary call before every show to Wendell continues. “He has a knack for calming my nerves.”
To Sir, With Love is in fact, a cheeky hat tip to Wendell’s propensity for equality; he hates being called ‘sir’. “But I can’t get myself to call him anything else. When I was starting out, everyone told me my ideas were terrible, unconventional, and I was seriously reconsidering my decision. His stamp of approval made all the difference.”
Wendell remembers meeting Masaba as a little girl, hiding behind her mother’s (actress Neena Gupta) skirt. And later, during her time at SNDT. “She was the last one among 15 students to present her collection. When she put the concept in front of me, I was dumbstruck. I hadn’t seen this sort of originality for long. In fact, that was the only collection I didn’t recommend any changes for. I let it fly,” he recalls.
Wendell describes Masaba’s style as black-magic-meets-Punjabi-tadka. “She brings a sense of unusualness — bursts of colour complementing stark black and white graphics — to the Indian fashionscape, which is largely because she is unafraid of her heritage; daughter to Neena and Sir Vivian Richards,” he says.
Masaba says she would have paid the tribute long ago, and regrets missing out on his last show at a Mumbai fashion week this August, when he passed on the baton of his label to successor, Schulen Fernandes. “I missed his last bow. I want to pay a tribute through this dedication,” she adds.
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