Lunar magic : Poonam Bhagat and Taika

India's Poonam Bhagat and her label Taika are a far cry from 90% of what passes as haute couture in India, marked as the latter is by a blinding love for bling,  baubles and over-the-top tchotchke : crystal, gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, zari  and a gazillion gewgaws that make even a simple cocktail dress resemble the trousseau of a Punjabi bride at a Big Fat Indian Wedding.

The only analogy this geeky, non-fashionista writer can come up with to explain the difference between Bhagat's Taika and - most of - the rest? It's Gabriel Garcia Marquez's magic realism versus the gaudy kitsch of Barbara Cartland. 'Taika' is Finnish for 'magic'. 'Poonam' is Hindi/Sanskrit for the full moon. What else can the combination stand for but luminous wizardry? It is a world of the finest fabrics  : each as luminescent as a Poya night. There is silvery-grey chiffon, as light as moon-rays,  russet silk, as burnished as the rising orange moon,  embroidery as fragile as sea-spray bathed in milky effulgence. Like her celestial namesake, 54-year-old Bhagat is constantly on the move; her probing mind and cheerful personality  make weavers, artisans, potters - gravitate eagerly towards her.

From Samarkand to Japan to Bukhara to - Sri Lanka (one of her latest lines drew its inspiration from the work of Senaka Senanayake) : Poonam Bhagat captures beauty, be it a fallen leaf or a laden cloud. And when she returns to home-base, she pours it into her work. While most of her counterparts are muah-muah-ing their way from one Page 3 event to another to publicize their new collections, Bhagat beavers away, quietly translating and reinterpreting her passion in tulle and taffeta, linen and velvet.  And when she finally goes public on a runway, the world is flooded with Taika's brilliance all over again.

"Fashion happened entirely by chance," laughs Bhagat, a graduate of psychology, as she deftly flicks swatches of a dozen shades of white, settling expertly on the one that is just right for what she has in mind. "I was originally fascinated by the machinations of the mind." As I watch her mind-read a buxom lady who has picked out an impossibly narrow garment and tactfully suggest another, equally ethereal but with a more comfortable fit, I can see that the honours degree still comes in handy.

Bhagat was always drawn to the work of designers like Hanae Mori, Ungaro, Lagerfeld and Valentino and would sketch as a hobby. Today, Taika is one of the most-watched labels in India. My bulk heaves with pride - I do own some cherished 'Taika'  - when she tells me,  without denigrating the kitsch brigade, that her clients are mostly 'highly-individualistic and self-confident women who are assertive but not loud, dramatic but not in-your-face and sexy, without being vulgar."

Bhagat's clothes are highly wearable, and though we would all like to look like the sylphs strutting Taika on the runways, there is no denying that the understated drama of the label makes even XL wearers feel feminine, beautiful and swathed in classy style. Bhagat refrains from working with prints, because they are 'much easier to render', preferring laborious applique and embroidery instead. And yet, Taika's pricing is not outrageous. "That's because I belong to the old brigade," she laughs, flinging various scarves, jackets and other items over my shoulder or around my neck, transforming me -during the interview - from dumpling to moonbeam - in the mirror.

"I spend my own money wisely so I first look at my clothes through that prism, asking myself how much I would pay," she concedes. "My profit margins may be lower than those of most others. But seeing people I admire in my clothes is surely the greater gain ?"

Website: http://www.taikabypoonambhagat.com

By Padma Rao Sundarji

(Padma Rao Sundarji is a senior writer native to New Delhi)