Masaba Gupta to take over as Wendell Rodricks label’s creative head?

Schulen Fernandes has announced her departure from the Wendell Rodricks label The young designer held the pilot role of creative director for the iconic resort wear label for four years She was handpicked as successor by the late designer Wendell Rodricks who died last yearDecisions like these are heartbreaking and near impossible to make or feel right aboutrdquo Fernandes told midday from her home in Panjim Goa Having first met Rodricks as a student at SNDT University she took over as creative director of the label in 2016 Her decision marks a shift in the life of the label that was acquired by Mumbaibased luxury fashion house Purple Style Labs PSL in December 2020 Founded by Abhishek Agarwal PSL is backed by Flipkartrsquos Binny BansalWendell Rodricks and Schulen Fernandes right before their show as part of India Fashion Week in March 2017 in New Delhi PicsGetty ImagesldquoI expected as design head to design collections of course I was very clear in the initial discussions of the acquisition about my sole interestrdquo Fernandes was eventually asked to overlook the production and operational activities of the label considering that the new team would need time to acquaint themselves with the labelrsquos existing structure and workflowFernandes admitted feeling assured at the time but said soon things started to turn ldquoI was promised a team of two assistants following my request but that never materialised despite remindersrdquo she said ldquoIt was a fairly small team and with my constant involvement with daily business work my creative time and bandwidth really took a setbackrdquo she addedMasaba GuptaThe proverbial last nail in the coffin came after the launch of the Spring Summer 2021 collection titled The Sea Glass in late April ldquoI guess the decision was a nobrainer when Abhishek Agarwal during our last meeting in Goa mentioned that the management did not intend to make any new designs or another new seasonal collection for the next 612 months They thought the label had a huge archive of designs to take them through another sales year and saw no purpose in investing in a new collection post the Sea Glass collectionrdquo Fernandes explainedAlso Read Masaba Gupta to go north when cases go southWhen midday contacted Agarwal via email our request to elaborate on future strategy was left unaddressed citing ldquoa strictly confidential business strategy ldquoBut I can confidently say that wersquove been very clear in our longterm vision since the inceptionrdquo Agarwal stated ldquoWhenever a group such as PSL acquires a brand the target is to scale it multifold and expand across channels and jurisdictions In that journey itrsquos not uncommon for creative talent to feel unaligned with the business side of thingsrdquoWendell Rodricks labelrsquos Spring Summer 2021 collection titled The Sea Glass designed by Schulen FernandesIn March midday had contacted Agarwal to confirm widespread speculation that Mumbaibased fashion entrepreneur Masaba Gupta would step in as creative head of the Wendell Rodricks label He had then responded with ldquoWe might be looking at doing a crossline with the two brands together given that we are also an equity investor in Masaba but there is no appointment as the creative director for the WR brandrdquo Fernandes did confirm an ldquoopenrdquo discussion of a creative collaboration for one collection between the two labels ldquoThere was a private conversation between two friends Anjana Sharma and Masaba It was an interesting idea which never took off as Masaba got busy with her TV show and other commitments I for one was really looking forward to itrdquo said FernandesThis writer revisited the question about Guptarsquos appointment with Agarwal this week Gupta shared a close relationship with the late Rodricks and like Fernandes considered him her mentor ldquoI wouldnrsquot be in fashion if it werenrsquot for himrdquo Gupta had told midday in an interview in October 2016 That PSL is a strategic equity investor in the House of Masaba Gupta is yet another link Gupta however clarified in an email note ldquoWe are not doing any crossline collection with WR nor do we have business plans with the WR label I am committed to my label and my focus lies in growing the House of Masaba I wish the WR label all the best in their journeyrdquo Agarwal on his part termed it a rumourWho will replace Fernandes is unknown although Agarwal confirmed the possibility of a new appointment Fernandes said she plans to take some time away from fashion and process this unexpected development ldquoWendell and the label are a huge influence in my life And anyone who knows me well knows how committed I am to the legacyrdquoAlso Read Masaba Gupta Stopped doing fashion shows for two years