Bubbles Sabharwal has conceptualised a play which would showcase the Spring Summer collection of designer duo Vrinda Sachdev and Gurinder Singh. By Shrabasti Mallik
Imagine this — a theatre performance being showcased in the show window of a small flagship store with six actors on stage. All of this squeezed into the tiny yet promising lanes of Delhi’s fashion forward Shahpur Jat Village. If you are conjuring up an image of a theatrical performance, you are not wrong. But this particular performance has another side to it. A side that very few artistes have looked at. Through the play, the characters will showcase the Spring Summer 2016 collection of designer duo Vrinda Sachdev and Gurinder Singh.
The play, Qbik Caught On Stage, has been written and directed by Bubbles Sabharwal after the designers came to him two weeks ago. We asked the designers why and how they thought of such a unique concept and Sachdev said, “As designers we believe art has many forms and no two forms can exist without the support of another. We perceive fashion to be more than just about how you look but how you feel. So why should it be any different for the launch of our biggest spring collectionIJ For our Spring Summer’16 launch, we decided to bring together our two most loved art forms: fashion and theatre. The melange of theatre and fashion just seemed to fit as our spring collection is an illustrative painted dream, in itself.”
The collection, completed in a month and a half, is titled En Plein Air. “And speaks to a free spirit waiting to explore all that the Mother Nature has to offer, in the open air,” Singh said. The duo has played with fabric, weight, and texture. “The silhouettes are very soft with a hint of modern trend jazz as the magical combination ofchikkan and mokaish come together,” he added.
Commenting on the concept, Sabharwal said, “Stage is a very dynamic medium as it encourages the fusion of all art forms. It’s all about storytelling, even the story of a wardrobe. It takes a strong imagination to face new challenges that the audience demands. This project has been a challenge and a delight all the way.”
She was more than glad to help them. “I was happy people were looking to use theatre in a more interactive mode. The fusion of fashion and theatre in a store was a challenge. The script was changed twice but they were very comfortable to work with and allowed me ‘my space’ in theirs,” she elaborated.
The play, and the showcase scheduled today at the Qbik store, is going to be fun and short. The director explained that the script needed to be visual yet showcasing clothes, “We had to display the brand but make sure that it is not in your face. Plus, I wanted it Bollywood “ishstyle” which is in keeping with bridal wear. As a director, I wanted to weave in many diverse elements in the play.”
The concept, we get but to pull off something as new as this would be a task. When asked about how they plan to execute the entire show, Sabharwal said, “It was tough to choreograph the entire thing. To juxtapose every aspect of the show — storyline, dancing, and clothes — in a tight space and restricted time was a daunting task. But after a lot of trials, we decided that the wedding scenario was the right backdrop. So I rewrote the story and re-choreographed the songs thrice.”
The actors, or models, we are told, are all seasoned. “Some of them are from Kingdom of Dreams, too,” said Singh, to which Sabharwal added, “I have some actors who look like models but here we needed an actor to think out-of-the-box, to show off clothes yet keep the storyline active. We have, for example, a plump bride, a ‘real’ person who buys clothes and not just her perfect fashionista friend.”