Renowned fashion designer Satya Paul, who made the sari modern, dies at 79

Fashion designer Satya Paul, known for giving the Indian sari a contemporary twist, died in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadhu. at the age of 79. Paul, who had suffered a stroke in December, passed away at the Isha Yoga Center on Wednesday.

“He had a stroke on December 2 and as he was slowly recovering in the hospital, his only wish was to get all the things he was being monitored and poked with removed so he could fly away. We finally got clearance from doctors to take him back to Isha Yoga Center, his home since 2015,” his son Puneet Nanda wrote on Facebook.

Paul started his journey in retail in the late 1960s and later ventured into export of Indian handloom products to high-end retail stores in Europe and America.

In 1980, he launched the first “sari boutique” in India, L’Affaire, and founded the eponymous fashion clothing brand with his son in 1986. The brand soon became synonymous for its sleek saris.

Nanda wrote that his father, more than a designer or entrepreneur, was a “seeker”. “In the ’70s, his inner journey started with going to listen to talks with J Krishnamurty, later he took ‘sannyas’ (renunciation) from Osho. After Osho left in 1990, though he wasn’t seeking another Master, he discovered Sadhguru in 2007.”

Jaggi Vasudev, founder, Isha Foundation, tweeted a picture of Paul to condole the demise of the “visionary” fashion designer.

Among the celebrities who condoled his death was designer Masaba Gupta, who worked with the fashion label as a creative head briefly. She shared a note on her Instagram Story that read, “A true example of an actual brand, homegrown. Put in corporate hands at the right time and one with a signature that will stand the test of time.”