“I first met Linda Fargo at Christian [Louboutin]’s atelier in Paris. Christian and I were doing our first global collaboration (in 2015) and Bergdorf would have been one of our many stops. Linda had come with her team to look at the merchandise. What struck me was how the ‘hallowed’ Linda Fargo was so soft spoken, and polite to a fault.
My second meeting with Linda was at Bergdorf for the collaboration. It was a day of press, where Linda was interviewing Christian and me. A lot of people struggle to get my name right. But not only did she get it right, she got the pronunciation too. I was super impressed.
While she was showing us around Bergdorf, she came and rubbed my arms; she must have sensed I felt a little out of place there. It’s not the kind of behaviour we expect out of ‘fashion people’.
Instinct told me we would meet again. One thing led to another, and Linda came to stay at home with me in Calcutta, a few years later. We sat in my kitchen, in comfy pyjamas. We spoke about everything—from art to fashion to spirituality. From love to religion. And everything that was right and wrong about the world. From hopping around in rickshaws to buying junk jewellery at Hogg Market and snacking on the street—we did it all with complete abandon. We both have individual public images to live up to, both quite varied. But inside, I realised, we are quite similar creatures, and a rare kinship started.
When I went back to New York, she reciprocated by opening her world to me. And I got to meet some of her wonderful friends. Linda came to join us for our 20th year celebrations. And little did I know that the seed of the idea of Sabyasachi Jewellery at Bergdorf was already stirring in her instinctive mind. Currently, as I celebrate my pop up at the Bergdorf store in New York, I have only one thing to say—success and niceness are not mutually exclusive.”
Featured photograph: Ryan Kobane/BFA
