The Night Garden
A New Creative Chapter in Bloom
Photo : FS Media Pro / FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week / RISE Worldwide
There was a moment at Lakmē Fashion Week X FDCI when the runway seemed to exhale. The house lights softened to twilight, and a quiet murmur swept through the audience — the kind of anticipation that arrives only when fashion and storytelling are about to entwine. The Night Garden wasn’t just Satya Paul’s showcase. It was the unveiling of a new creative chapter, blooming softly under a starlit vision.
Aditi Rao Hydari, ethereal and steady in her craft, stepped into the role of Co-Creative Director, marking her first-ever creative collaboration with a fashion house. The partnership feels intuitive — as though her elegance has always been part of Satya Paul’s world, simply waiting to be named. Her arrival signals a shift: a renewed understanding of the saree not as tradition revisited, but as emotion reimagined.
Prints unfurled like petals — deep jewel tones, soft gradations of moonlit foliage, subtle shimmer catching movement like dew. Drapes flowed in fluid choreography, created for women who lead with both softness and strength. These were sarees for the modern romantic: effortless, current, yet steeped in a beauty that refuses to date.
From the front row, Aditi’s presence translated into design — the silhouettes whispered grace without surrendering agency. Her vision, as she expressed earlier, is to create clothing that becomes a second skin: instinctive, versatile, and personal. You could already feel that intention here — artistry worn lightly, luxury without noise.
The brand’s long-standing Creative Directors — David Abraham, Rakesh Thakore, and Kevin Nigli — watched proudly as the story unfolded. Their legacy of contemporising the saree found a new narrator tonight, one fluent in cinema, culture, and the poetry of detail. There was no dramatic reinvention — just a quiet evolution, as deliberate as night turning into dawn.
When the final look disappeared backstage, the applause lingered — not loud, but warm, like the closing of a chapter that promises something beautiful ahead. Satya Paul has always known how to dress the discerning woman. Now, with Aditi Rao Hydari guiding the narrative, the saree feels ready to speak even more intimately to the world.
“I’m excited to shape pieces that are versatile, effortless, and rooted in individuality,” Aditi shared, aligning her vision with the brand’s modern sensibility.
The Creative Directors — David Abraham, Rakesh Thakore, and Kevin Nigli — welcomed her with equal enthusiasm, citing her timeless elegance and deep cultural appreciation as a natural fit for this new era.
Under starlit hues and lush florals, the showcase previewed festive drapes and contemporary prints — a glimpse of the beauty and transformation this collaboration promises to bring.
