Women's
Bibhu on Bibhu
On the day in January when news broke that Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation had tapped designer Bibhu Mohapatra for its annual prize, he was ensconced in his studio at the CFDA Incubator, managing expectations. Prior winners of the prize include Rodarte, Alexander Wang and Proenza Schouler, so Mohapatra would have been excused for dreaming big at that moment.
“I’m a very practical person. I’ll keep doing a presentation, not a runway. We’re focusing on the product,” he said. That pragmatism led him to pursue a masters in economics, since that provided a ticket from India to the United States. (Utah, as it happened.) When he finished the degree his advisor, who had seen his sketches, insisted that he apply to Parsons and FIT, which he subsequently attended and became a designer.
He interned at Halston, with a mentor whose mentor was Norman Norell. Then Mohapatra spent nine years at J. Mendel, rising to the rank of design director and building the business around fur and evening wear. When he started his own label, he felt he had to prove himself outside those categories, but evening and dressy daywear are where he sees the strongest demand. He has garnered red-carpet moments with Hilary Swank, Elisabeth Moss, Emmy Rossum and others.
His clients are pragmatic too, he says. “She’s educated, smart. Her goal is not just to be fashionable. She perceives beautiful craft. She’s not necessarily a fashionista, at least I hope not, because I want these clothes to have a long life. She has passion, not just for clothes. And she’s international. She travels a lot. She’s a lady.” She’s also versatile. “Lauren Santo Domingo always styles my shows, so she’s always [a muse.] And she can be super traditional or she can morph into really edgy downtown girl,” he says.
The fall collection was all sultry vixens, dark glamour and high drama, even without the smoke machines and “Carmina Burana.”
“The concept is our human characteristics, the good and the evil that we all have. It’s dark and moody but very luxe,” he says.
“i grew up around artists. Not around fashion as we would define it, but yeah, the creative aesthetic was there. My mom did beautiful embroideries and she taught me how to sew on an old Singer machine. My brother is a brush artist. And in India you live with colors, spices, fragrances, festivals. The region I’m from, Orissa on the east coast, is known for silk.”
He cherishes his mother and sisters and all the women who brought him to this point.
“I’m on the board of the Komen Foundation and of Breakthrough, which is focused on human rights violations against women and children, in Asia mainly. I do as much as I can because without women, I don’t exist. For many reasons.”
