Sucharita Paik talks with a certain unguarded innocence and conviction. The young designer, all of 25, is set to unveil her first flagship store in Calcutta on July 7 and is excited to welcome the city to the 3,200sq ft (carpet area) space in Kalkipur (off EM Bypass) monikered eponymously. “We have kept it minimalistic. I feel every piece should be showcased well,” says the fashion design alumnus from iNIFD, Salt Lake, who launched her label online in 2021.
“The journey started in the middle of the pandemic. I had passed out of college and was working with my father at that time (in the family business of real estate) and thought of starting my own venture. On work assignments, I met a lot of karigars who had been doing this for generations. When the pandemic hit, a lot of these artisans lost out on their livelihood. I thought of starting something that includes these people and started working with a few I knew at that time. All the artisans we work with are paid on a regular wage basis. I feel we can now give them a bigger platform and showcase their work to a larger audience,” says Sucharita.
The Urbana resident has started off with womenswear and has kidswear and menswear on her wishlist too. “Everything we do is in-house. We have our own printing unit which is on the outskirts, in Sonarpur. We do our screen and block prints there. Our collections are all primarily handcrafted with a few machine-embroidered pieces on exclusive fabric woven in Surat, Gujarat. We can give the client a glimpse of the making of the outfit too because we do the entire production in-house,” she says.
Fusion is the flavour of her designs. “We have trendy designs that stand out. The collection is for the women of today who want to live in the now... women of every shape and colour,” says the Donatella Versace admirer. The brand essentially works with “everything silk based” like silk satin or silk georgette or silk organza and Sucharita works in tandem with her design team. The idea is to be as eco-friendly as possible.
For the t2 shoot, Sucharita dressed Ushoshi Sengupta and Diti Saha in occasion wear apt for the brides-to-be for their multiple wedding occasions and bridesmaids. Here’s an album, and t2 wishes Sucharita all the best.
Sucharita Paik
(l-r) Diti and Ushoshi both channel understated glam in these flowy looks. Diti in a steel-blue skirt + bralette + dupatta, and, Ushoshi in a lavender gown with stone detailing, Shimmer and shine is the mood here with Ushoshi’s dhoti sari + tulle blouse and Diti’s subtle georgette silk-based skirt + sequinned bralette look.
Diti’s wine look is a smart one made up of a slit skirt and bralette. “Diti’s outfit has fabric manipulation. We created small roses and placed them on the slit,” explains Sucharita. Ushoshi is in a hand-embroidered Benarasi corset top and satin silk-based draped trail skirt.