At the door, his half grin can be mistaken as cocky. But as he enters the wood-panelled room, his eyes light up with boyish wonder. The large bay windows catch his fancy; he looks out at the Mumbai skyline and exclaims excitedly, \u201cWhat a view! What a view!\u201d<\/p>\n
You\u2019d think that for a New Yorker with an Upper West Side address, the panorama of a sprawling city would hold little surprise. But for this 43-year-old man, just as for the thousands of hopefuls from small towns, Mumbai is still \u201cso special, so mysterious\u201d.<\/p>\n
He may be the toast of A-list fashion circles now, he may have dressed some of the most influential women in the US \u2013 including First Lady Michelle Obama, and Hollywood stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Hillary Swank \u2013 but, at heart, Bibhu Mohapatra is still a humble boy from a small town in Odisha.<\/strong><\/p>\n A year ago, during a previous interview with Brunch, his heavily inflected American accent with its slow Indian drawl had been the cause of much amusement.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I never made a conscious effort to speak like an American. Hell, I still wobble my head when I talk, he had said then.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Last week in Mumbai, for the launch of his jewellery collection for Forevermark, the internationally renowned designer was still all humility and desi<\/em>-accent. Even during this interview, slivers of his simple past often take over his acquired American mannerisms. Often, he looks back fondly at the people and instances that helped shape Bibhu, the man, and Bibhu, the designer label, as they are today.<\/p>\n Rourkela in Odisha is a nondescript place. It has a population of a mere five lakh. Its landmarks include a steel plant around which the town was built. On rare occasions, Rourkela makes it to the news, riding mostly on the success of one of its former residents: Mira Nair, maker of films such as Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake. Or Amish Tripathi, writer of the Shiva trilogy. And more recently, Bibhu Mohapatra, \u2018creator of the dress that Michelle Obama wore to India\u2019 last year.<\/p>\n Mohapatra had a typically small-town upbringing \u2013 climbing trees, playing gilli-danda, \u201cscraping your knees while learning to ride a bicycle and coming home to more thrashing\u201d. On most weekends, he watched bewitched as his engineer father took apart a bike or car part by part.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t have video games back then or even a TV. We got our first TV in 1988. Newspapers never carried anything on fashion. Sunday supplements would sometimes profile one of those early designers, such as Rohit Bal or Suneet Varma or Tarun Tahiliani. That was all the fashion I had access to.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Though the exposure came much later, the interest developed early. He was always curious about things his mother sewed. And his affair with the needle and thread began when he was about 12. Old saris, tablecloths and later, cheap fabric bought with pocket money, would be cut and sewn up into dresses for his sister.<\/p>\n \u201cThat poor girl was so patient!\u201d he laughs. \u201cShe never discouraged me, but would kindly ask, \u2018Is it okay if I wear these at home?\u2019<\/p>\n When I finally made a proper dress for her, she wore it to some function and got a lot of compliments. That kind of solidified something within me, it made me believe that I could perhaps, do this.\u201d<\/p>\n In a conservative Indian family, he says, a boy wanting to learn to sew would be criticised. \u201cNot in mine though.\u201d With an engineer dad and a mom who \u201chad the full-time job of raising the four of us\u201d, the Mohapatras were modest in wealth but rich in outlook.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents were traditional, but progressive at the same time. And so each of us had breathing room.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Now, with both his parents gone, he \u201csometimes feels like I don\u2019t have a roof over my head anymore\u201d. But his siblings continue to be his support system. \u201cThey\u2019re all very happy. And proud of me, of whatever they read in the news. But they make sure I get a reality check every now and then,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Freida Pinto, Michelle Obama, Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Priyanka Chopra and Jennifer Lopez are among the celebrities Bibhu Mohapatra has dressed.\n Mohapatra studied in an Oriya<\/em>-medium school till Class 7. He went on to study at the Municipal College in Rourkela and then spent a year in a management course \u2013 just to get 16 years of education, a requisite for applying to a Master\u2019s programme in the US. But America was not so much a dream for him as it was a stepping stone into the future, into fashion.<\/p>\n \u201cAt that time, in the early \u201990s, there was only one fashion school in India \u2013 NIFT, Delhi. And it didn\u2019t seem like I could get through it. Honestly, I didn\u2019t even try,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n At the insistence of his brother who was studying graphic design in the US then, he applied for and got into the Master\u2019s in economics programme at Utah State University on a partial scholarship.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was my ticket to America. I left in 1996, with a suitcase full of Indian spices and a heart full of dreams!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n While there, a professor chanced upon his sketchbook one day. \u201c\u2018You need to go to New York,\u2019 she told me. She was kind enough to call her friends in the art department so that I could sit in during their classes [without paying extra] and do live drawings. I couldn\u2019t have afforded those otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n He started improving his portfolio and by the time he finished his Master\u2019s, he was sure that economics had been just a detour. Fashion designing was what he intended to really pursue.<\/p>\n So, he joined the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. The fast, bustling metropolis was a different ballgame altogether. Back in Utah, he was making ends meet with an on-campus job as a janitor: cleaning, vacuuming and shovelling snow.<\/p>\n He says, \u201cBefore I took that job, I didn\u2019t even know what a janitor did. I remember going for the interview and looking at one of the computers, thinking I\u2019ll probably get to sit there. Only I was taken to the closet where the brooms and mops were kept.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n He earned a measly $4.25 an hour, but learnt that no job is ever too small.<\/p>\n In New York, though his student loan paid for tuition and board, he\u2019d be left with less than two dollars for food. \u201cThat city is bloody expensive! I had to find a job before my course ended, or I\u2019d end up on the street. But for a job, I needed some experience, for which I needed an internship.\u201d<\/p>\n So armed with 20 printed copies of his resume, he walked into 7th Avenue \u2013 the home of all things fashion \u2013 and dropped them amidst takeaway menus at top design houses, such as DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.<\/p>\n Mohapatra got two phone calls off that exercise. One was from the house of Halston \u2013 named after legendary American designer Roy Halston Frowick, who rose to fame designing hats (Jackie Kennedy wore his pillbox hat at JFK\u2019s presidential inauguration).<\/p>\n While at Halston, Mohapatra worked non-stop.<\/p>\n \u201cI would be running to factories carrying bolts of fabrics on my shoulders, making embroidery layouts, going to fittings \u2013 while attending classes six days a week. I was like a kid in a candy shop; I was living my dream.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n After a year there, Mohapatra moved on to a full-time job at another big design house \u2013 J Mendel. He spent nearly a decade there and during that time, he expanded his team from four to 20 people. It was here that he first cultivated contacts with some of the most famous women in America.<\/p>\n \u201cAt J Mendel, I learnt about the key things you need to focus on to build a luxury business. And, how crucial it is to build a cohesive theme. You\u2019re as good as your theme,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He was lucky, he says, to work under a boss who allowed him the trust and opportunity to develop his own aesthetic and a huge budget to hone his skills. Here, he learnt to create luxury.<\/p>\n When he finally decided to venture out on his own, Mohapatra took a couple of months off \u201cto clear my head and get things out of my system\u201d. The repetition of five collections a year had set in hard, and it was heart-breaking to cut ties with a team he had nurtured. So he went off to Europe, travelling, going completely off-grid.<\/p>\n Chantilly, near Paris, the city famous for its lace, was one of his pit stops.<\/p>\n \u201cI went for a friend\u2019s big birthday bash at a palace there. Every living French president was there, celebrities, writers, musicians\u2026 it was an eclectic mix,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n This was where he met the British-Irish artist, film producer and style icon Daphne Guinness (heir to Arthur Guinness, the inventor of Guinness beer).<\/p>\n \u201cI saw her, I met her and I was mesmerised by her,\u201d says Mohapatra. She would become the muse for his first ever individual collection.<\/p>\n Drawing inspiration from women with incredible personalities and stories has been a recurring theme in his creations.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t have to be fashionistas, or anyone famous. They can be flawed, everyone is flawed. But their journey, what they stand for as people, their work \u2013 that\u2019s what is important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Last October, for instance, he went on a tour of the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. After four hours, he reached the place where the Dragon Lady \u2013 China\u2019s Empress Dowager Cixi \u2013 had lived.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was a concubine but she wanted to rule the empire. A lot of people I spoke to described her as a horrible person, pure evil. But some thought that she was the beginning of modern China, she gave voice to women. She was a trailblazer who ruled the empire, by hook or by crook, for 50 years!<\/p>\n Now how\u2019s that story for some inspiration?\u201d<\/p>\n Mohapatra pauses, amidst his excited narration, for effect. The Dragon Lady managed to leave a lasting impression on his latest Fall Collection, which is replete with Oriental themes.<\/p>\n Like his muses, his creations too exude a sense of power without being overpowering.<\/p>\n \u201cI want my clothes to make women feel more of what they are instead of becoming someone else\u2026 they should feel confident, empowered.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n Mohapatra is famous for his evening gowns. But he loves doing what he calls date dresses \u2013 \u201csort of in-betweens that you can go to work in and then add or take off a layer and voila! You\u2019re ready for a date night or cocktail party\u201d.<\/p>\n He has an eye on India. He doesn\u2019t look disappointed when I tell him that not many people still know him here.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not about how many people know me or how many times I show up in the tabloids. Even if 10 people know me, I\u2019m happy as long as they know me for the right reasons,\u201d he says. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cPeople here know Manish Malhotra and Sabyasachi Mukherjee for the incredible brands they\u2019ve built for themselves. It isn\u2019t just about who they are, but how they interacted with the people\u2026 that\u2019s the secret to their success.\u201d<\/p>\n It is the secret to his success too.<\/p>\n \u201cWord of mouth is a big tool. But a lot of it has to do with how you treat people. If you treat people well, they will talk about you.\u201d<\/p>\n For now though, Mohapatra is content with his latest interest \u2013 jewellery. But again it\u2019s the stories behind the shine that draw him. His own story goes: many years ago, his mother showed him family heirloom no one wore anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first touched them, I felt like I had met all these women in my family who I never actually knew,\u201d the designer says. \u201cIt struck me that jewellery serves a more important purpose: of holding on to stories, generation after generation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The collection is luxurious, as a Bibhu Mohapatra gown would be.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, luxury is what has been preserved over a long time, what has been kept alive by people\u2019s skills and passed down generations. You can find it in metal work, fabrics, leather\u2026 when you have access to that repertoire of craft, that is real luxury.\u201d<\/p>\n And what better place to find such luxury than in India? There is a sadness in his eyes as we talk about his birthplace: he realises that he won\u2019t be able to visit Odisha on this trip.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been missing home \u2013 the memories, the air… There\u2019s a lot to see in this world,\u201d he says. \u201cBut, there\u2019s no feeling like coming back home.\u201d<\/p>\n A celebrity you love designing for<\/strong>: Michelle Obama, of course. She\u2019s so inspirational, so gracious, so kind, so real. And she knows what looks good on her.<\/p>\n One Indian woman you\u2019d love to design for<\/strong>: It has to be Rekha. That woman\u2026 uff! When I\u2019m in Mumbai, my driver makes it a point to stop the car in front of her house for two minutes, in the hope that she\u2019ll come out to walk her dog or something (laughs). But no. No luck!<\/p>\n What keeps you up at night?<\/strong> Payday! I employ people and I\u2019m very proud of that, but I also feel responsible for their livelihoods and the roofs over their heads.<\/p>\n What dish do you cook best?<\/strong> Chingri Jhola (prawn curry), Oriya<\/em> style.<\/p>\n Do you read?<\/strong> I love to read. Sometimes, I keep going back to the same book because you discover new things every time. My favourite writer is Gabriel Garcia M\u00e1rquez.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your favourite kind of music?<\/strong> I love all kinds, from Rabindra sangeet to rap, reggae, Spanish music, instrumental\u2026 I\u2019m very democratic about music.<\/p>\n How do you de-stress?<\/strong> I go off to my country house in upstate New York and look after my chicken and fish there. Sometimes I binge-watch movies. I may go to YouTube and look up old Hindi films, the super silly ones with Lalita Pawar \u2013 I love that woman!<\/p>\n If you were to redo the costumes for one movie, which one would it be?<\/strong> Oh god, there are so many! Devdas<\/em> has to be one. The new one. Because it was such an interesting time when the book was written, you could do so much with it with so little\u2026 it didn\u2019t have to be layered with 10 yards of fabric trailing behind you.<\/p>\n One designer who has inspired you<\/strong>. Givenchy. The original one.<\/p>\n What do you like wearing?<\/strong> Jeans from APC. Cotton shirts that I get tailored. And very inexpensive, black cotton T-shirts which are my work wear. Black is so non-fussy. Sometimes, I wear colours too.<\/p>\n Courtesy<\/strong>: Hindustan Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A small-town boy from Rourkela stitched his way into the wardrobes and hearts of some of the most famous women in America. This is the story of Bibhu Mohapatra.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[209],"yoast_head":"From Rourkela, With Love<\/h2>\n
New York, New York<\/h2>\n
Next Stop: Someplace Else<\/h2>\n
Up, Close & Personal<\/h2>\n