IANS

Abhishek Bachchan will exchange wedding wows with Aishwarya Rai wearing an outfit designed by Sharbari Datta, the well known revivalist menswear designer here.

It was Ash's mother Brinda Rai's wish that the Bachchan men wear clothes by Datta, India's "only woman designer" who dresses up "only men" in traditional attires.

"I've despatched about 30 pieces of classical Indian dresses for the marriage after Brinda Rai said that I should design the clothes for Abhishek and the menfolk of the Bachchan family. I have reasons to hope that Amitabh Bachchan would also wear my collection on the day," Datta told IANS in an exclusive interview.

"They are various cuts and styles in maroon, off-white, electric blue and rust which I have used keeping in mind the 6ft 3in height and medium complexion of Abhishek," said Datta who for decades has reigned supreme in the men's fashion world, weaving magic on otherwise bland pieces of kurtas and achkans.

"Brinda Rai had met me way back in 2003 when Aishwarya was shooting for Rituparno Ghosh's "Chokher Bali" in Kolkata and bought two shawls for Ash. Now she came back to me for the Ash-Abhishek's wedding. It is a nice feeling considering that I'm not into the ramp circuit and the occasion is one that every designer would have loved to be a part of," said Datta who brought a gust of sartorial freshness to the orthodox world of male fashion a decade before the word "metrosexual" was coined.

Sharbari is a designer who gate crashed to only dress up men in ethnic chic and herald the re-arrival of designer kurtas and coloured dhotis in a throwback to the rich old sartorial traditions of the country.

From Jagjit Singh, Vijay Mallya and Russi Modi to Leander Paes, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, M.F. Hussain, Baichung Bhutia and Sourav Ganguly - none could resist the elegantly intricate designs by Datta.

"I am not divulging every detail of the attires because there should be an element of surprise that all brides and bridegrooms love to unveil," said Datta.

"I have only avoided using black because that is not considered auspicious for Indian functions," Datta added.

"I can dress up Abhishek and not Ash because you know I only design for men. But from what I have heard, the bride would be wearing a benarasi sari. They have bought a large number of saris from Varanasi," said the designer.

Sharbari Datta is the daughter of celebrated Bengali poet Ajit Datta. She grew up to the rhythms of poetry on the one hand and dance and music on the other, imbibing the essence of culture deeply. She did her graduation from Presidency College and took her Master's Degree in Philosophy from Calcutta University. Yet, arts remained an enduring love.

"It was a bleak world of stripes and checks that I gate crashed into. A drab world, where the most daring sartorial adventure man could imagine was a silk tie that has, over the years, managed to shift from diagonal bands to paisleys and floral motifs. Or a dhoti with a border and a kurta with modest embroidery at the neck and shoulders," recalled Sharbari.

"The traditional cuts and styles that you have seen in period films found a social place in my works. I am a revivalist designer. When I started it was a new concept. They said it was effeminate but I changed all those notions," said the designer proudly.