story by Stephanie Madrid
photos by Freda Henry
Straight from Babi Ahluwalia’s own lips, Sachin and Babi’s Spring-Summer 2010 collection is “effortless chic.” Although the husband and wife duo are fairly new to the fashion design world, their names are already known to designers such as Escada, Oscar de la Renta and Vera Wang, all attuned to the husband and wife team’s established work with beautiful embroideries and impressive fabric finishes.
The models wear genuine Panama Hats provided by Benn Jae for Cutler & Ecua-Andino. Inspiration for the collection, according to Sachin, comes from the women he has encountered in his life, such as his mother. He described these women as natural and full of drama. The expressed belief is that this is a woman who does not conform. She will wear the clothes, not let the clothes wear her.
Sachin and Babi are mostly experienced with using lavish chiffon for their collections, but have now experimented with Jersey. Babi mentions that they wanted to see how they could display texture using jersey.
One of the more interesting pieces is this black ensemble (below, one of Sachin’s favorites). Sachin explains that his inspiration came from a scaffolding project that he witnessed in the city. There were many large black ropes that overlapped. He tried using actual rope to make the garment, but ultimately found that the material would be too heavy. Instead, this less literal piece was conjured.
Some of the chiffon pieces had a sequin slip underneath, which added an interesting extra layer of complexity to those looks.
One of Babi’s favorites was a dress that had been tucked into a light blue trouser. It looks like a free spirited thing to wear, and exemplifies the woman Sachin & Babi hope to impress and serve through their collection.
Sachin mentions how this collection is full of separates. Oh, and how we loved the separates! All were full of color and exquisite patterns and embroideries.
Designers Sachin and Babi Ahluwalia:
