Last year while studying in Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, I stayed at Connaught Hall, one of the University of London residences ...... The nearest Underground station was Russell Square and opposite that was the Brunswick Mall ..... British Telecom was marking the 25th anniversary of the charity, ChildLine with the launch of BT ArtBox, a vast, open-air art exhibition featuring its iconic Red Telephone Booth as an Art installation ........ On seeing Masaba's telephone booth prints i was instantly transported back to my idle evenings at Brunswick Mall where there was this Telephone Booth by UK based Indian origin artist Natasha Kumar, called Rangoli .... It had Lord Krishna in repeat motifs of Holi colours ..... I don't know if Masaba ever saw the collection of Telephone Booth installations strewn across London, ..... But to use the motif of such an enduring London icon has surely pulled the venerable house of Satya Paul into the funky global and very au current trend of "Fashion is Fun" for the young generation ..... And given that Fashion is the only medium that allows you to wear whatever age you feel like irrespective of your actual years on earth ..... Masaba Gupta has certainly pulled off a Super woman feat ..... taking charge of a garment with more than 5000 years of history and absolutely funking it up for a sartorially global tribe of Indian women who is up to date with the latest trends in the International Fash map and are equally fiercely proud of their heritage :) ..... The press release for Masaba's first venture as creative head of Satya Paul very dominantly asserts the emergence of The Satya Paul Girl ..... ( note, not Woman, the word deliberately used is Girl ) ..... Make no mistake, this young designer in her 20's means business and Satya Paul could not have made a more cunning choice of Creative Head to change the label's image of a Saree only player to someone who dresses the young girl about town or a quirky fashionista who carries matching luggage and totes ( Satya Paul also launched its by Masaba Luggage and Bag line, Trendy !!)

The Collection

In India, Masaba Gupta's new, young Satya Paul girl on day one of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Autumn Winter 2013, is the first collection designed for an established design house by a designer from outside the family that started it. Satya Paul appointed 24-year-old Masaba, daughter of actress Neena Gupta, as Creative Director late last year."My collection represents the new SP (Satya Paul) girl she is fun, she is quirky. We are trying to reposition the brand and so now we are aiming for the young girls instead of women above the age of 30," said Masaba.The collection was divided into four parts - the first consisted of lipstick prints, the second part was ink blot on garments, the third section had abstract designs and the last part had telephone booth imprints."The lipstick symbolises femininity, the abstract stands for basic way of life of a woman, the telephone booth stands for a constant wait and the ink drop for the various changes in a woman's life," Masaba said.Models sashayed down the runway in mini and maxi dresses, gowns, sarees teamed up with printed blouses, jackets, pallazo pant sarees, tunics, kaftans and trench dresses. The colour palate ranged from the designer's favourite neon, black, white, orange to a pop of pink, teamed with her line of luggage and accessories. - Press Release

The Lipstick print saree from the collection was made famous by actress Sonam Kapoor who wore it to Femina's Women Awards 2013 just a week back ..... It is funky and very pop art .... The print has been previously made famous by iconic British designer Zandra Rhodes and Sylvia Ayton .... and we also saw the Lipstick motif in this years Holly Fulton Autumn Winter 2013 collection ... Do check out the pics below :)

Masaba for Satya Paul WIFW AW 2013

Runway Music

Masaba started her show to M.I.A. 's "Boyz" .... the song sees M.I.A. mock and simultaneously praise men for various character traits, "Boyz" draws from West Indian soca ( Masaba's Dad is the famous West Indian cricketer Viv Richards) and Tamil gaana influences, incorporating electronica and club music influences to a 4/4 beat bassline ..... The accompanying music video features colourful computer animated graphics, garnering critical acclaim for its subversive nature and triggering a new dance and graphic design revolution in music and videos ..... Masaba is a huge fan of the Tamil-British recording artist, songwriter, painter and director and said post-show that she chose the music herself and remixed bits of it ...... "Boyz" was followed by "Sunshine" by Rye Rye feat M.I.A. , "Soul Killing" by The Ting Tings, "Tide" by Trentemoller, "History Repeating" by Shirley Bassey/ Propellerheads, and "Galang" again by M.I.A. ....... enjoy the music :)