One of the leading exponents of the surrealist art movement, Salvador Dali was known for his flamboyance just as much as his dreamlike and often unsettling images. Referred to as the master of art and style, with his wire-thin moustache, trademark chalk-stripe suits, his opulent waistcoats and ruffled shirts, he has gone on to inspire many designers and modern luxury brands. Last month, visitors to the iconic residence of the Belgian Ambassador to India in New Delhi, got to experience the Dali impact first-hand. The soiree, curated by Brussels-based textile company Scabal, was designed around the 12 paintings that had been commissioned by the company’s founder Otto Hertz in 1971.
Diwan Saheb.
Hertz had requested Dali to envision what ‘man and fashion’ would look like in the year 2000. Now Scabal has revisited these extraordinary works with the Vision Collection, where 12 new fabrics have been designed based on the 12 paintings. And for the Indian debut of this special collection, Scabal distributor in South Asia, TSB Overseas, invited homegrown designers to bring Dalí’s surrealism to the runway. The showcase, curated by Prasad Bidapa, featured three looks each from four bespoke retailers —Bengaluru’s P N Rao, Delhi’s The Darzi Group and Diwan Saheb and Jade Blue from Ahmedabad. The fashion show on the lawns of the Belgian Ambassador to India, Didier Vanderhasselt’s residence (which itself is striking and designed by artist Satish Gujral) concluded with a model wearing an unconventional navy suit from popular designer Dhruv Kapoor. It was in the true spirit of Dali’s sartorial journey.
Business look by P.N. Rao
Linked to art from 1971
“Dali, a great painter, was also a businessman, and liked the idea of earning money through this special commission,” Neil Hart, Global Sales Director – Fabrics, Scabal, observed at the event, as he discussed how Hertz was introduced to Dali in the 1970s. “If you look at the collection, you’ll see the link is either a colour, a shape, or a design,” he added.
Dhruv Kapoor
Each fabric swatch is presented in a butterfly-shaped carnet (the butterfly is a recurring theme with Dali). Ironically, Scabal was the first to introduce the fabric ‘bunch’, which is today ubiquitous among fabric merchants and tailors. “All of the cloth is made in our factory in Yorkshire, England. It is wool with a bit of cashmere (from China and Mongolia),” said Hart.
The stylish footman.
Thin advantage
“Scabal is at the forefront when it comes to developing new luxury lines and raising the bar,” said Sarbinder Singh Bindra of TSB Overseas. “They were the first ones to get the super 100s (wool fibres that are thinner than a hair at 18.3 microns), 120s, 150s, and 200s (the most expensive and refined, as thin as 13.5 microns – thinner than human hair).” Over the years, Scabal has created 5,000 fabrics (from blends of Merino wool and cashmere, herringbones and twills, to velvets, linens, and more) in its Huddersfield mill (one of the world’s oldest, founded in 1539). Festive lines for their 80 markets around the world include the Diamond Chip, where crushed diamonds coat the fibre that makes up the fabric, and even Gold and Lapis Lazuli lines. It’s the only textile manufacturer to have a store in London’s Savile Row. “No other fabric company has that,” said Ketan Pishe of PN Rao. “They have dressed James Bond stars (from Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig as 007) and Robert DeNiro (in Casino Royale). But their shop on the Row speaks a lot about the quality of their team,” he continued.
H.E. Didier Vanderhasselt, Gregor Thissen and Sarbinder Singh Binda.
Lady Godiva and a suit
At the Scabal affair, P N Rao’s Naveen and Ketan Pishe discussed the popularity of slightly heavier fabrics in India. “As most of our stores are in the south, and we don’t have the cold climes of Delhi, I would say that 250-280gm (a medium weight fabric) is a good weight for bespoke suits,” explained Ketan, adding that such fabrics also hide imperfections. The three looks for their customer base (normally aged 35 and up) included ‘business’, ‘red carpet’ and ‘wedding’. For the first, they had used a Scabal fabric with a triple-stitch pattern inspired by the red Dali painting, ‘Lady Godiva’ – a woman on a horse with a butterfly on her head. A single-button deconstructed shacket was paired with relaxed trousers and sneakers, fluid and comfortable.
Jade Blue lifestyle.
A view of the set-up.
For the red carpet look, they went with the fabric inspired by Dali’s painting, ‘4 cravates worn by anaemic nympholeptic high school kids of the future’ – a boy in a green outfit with a page boy cut. For the wedding look, the fabric was inspired by the light blue and lemon Dali, ‘Cybernetic gentleman with cassette drawers attached to him, in which the history of civilization is recorded on microfilm’ – a figure with drawers sticking out of him. Both Naveen and Ketan took a cue from Dali’s Surrealist dandy to create their own Indian dandy. “Dandyism found its roots much earlier in India, with the grandeur of princely States,” explained Naveen, who recreated the modern bandhgala for the show – a shorter jacket paired with a darbari cummerbund.
Ketan Pishe with the Dali painting.
(L-R) Naveen Pishe and Ketan Pishe.
Price of exclusivity
This special Dali-inspired Vision Collection is for connoisseurs. “It’s probably going to be sold at a price of Rs 55,000 per metre,” Sarbinder Singh Bindra estimated. “Normally, you need 3-3.25 metres for a tailored suit. So it would cost you around Rs 1.75 lakh, plus tailoring.” Scabal deliberately makes small quantities of the Vision Collection, to keep it exclusive. “We don’t want to be selling it to everybody, and we’re not making thousands of metres of fabric; we’re talking about hundreds of metres,” said Hart. The company, which sells fabrics to European luxury majors such as Armani, Zegna and Prada, and American brand Tom Ford, has hosted similar Dali-inspired events in the US, UK, and Korea, “But this is the biggest one we’ve done so far,” he added.
Published – December 15, 2025 12:15 pm IST