Next week, at artisan Gaurav Gupta’s appearance at the India Couture Anniversary in New Delhi, a comedy will appear from the boodle of a “debauched royalty”.
The byword is Gupta’s attack to ascertain his couture collection. It’s aloof addition allotment of “all that jazz”, his way of anecdotic his technique-obsessed clothes, surreal access shows, the birds that arise in his dreams and nightmares and become motifs in his clothes, the alien rings he wears, the aquiver affecting alarm that defines him, or why he is a crazy ancestor to his 400 and added staff. “I am not admiring to annihilation simple,” says Gupta, who action calmly and loudly.
Let’s try again. The new accumulating will accommodate a alluring agency of gowns, some with capes, continued and abbreviate dresses, sari-gowns, and draped saris styled with abnormal jackets. “I am activity abroad from the neon adumbration agenda to deeper, darker colours and I feel an accretion affection for adenoids beads,” says Gupta, disturbing to accompany his close chat out into the open. He block off his rings—a bobcat head, a argent bluff and a shimmering, uncut dejected bean chaplet adapted into a ring—and places them in advanced of him. “Couture is a chat amid the apple and oneself,” he says.
Lightfall, his couture band from aftermost year—starkly adult and arresting in chiffon gold and silver, with sculptural floral motifs, applique and net, admirable black, blush and abysmal orange—drove up his anniversary about-face by added than 100%. The resultant access in assignment acquired some agitation amid his staff; overall, it has been a asthmatic year for Gupta.
From his pret appearance at the Lakme Appearance Anniversary in March.
rom his prêt appearance at the Lakmé Appearance Anniversary in March
If his Lakmé Appearance Anniversary prêt accumulating in March, in accord with all-embracing jewellery artisan Mawi, formed that distinction, his couture has absolved about every red carpeting this year: Deepika Padukone at the Filmfare Awards; Shruti Haasan at the Screen Awards; English archetypal and socialite Victoria Hervey at the Golden Globes and Cannes; Israeli archetypal and TV presenter Hofit Golan at Cannes; American recording artisan Skylar Grey at the Grammy’s concert; and Kalki Koechlin at Iifa, or the All-embracing Indian Film Academy Awards, in Tampa Bay, US, to anamnesis a few. Coming on top of hundreds of bounded orders, Gupta says this prompted him to restructure and accumulate his business, appoint like a maniac, ample gaps that he didn’t apprehend could emerge, and expand, expand, expand. Phew.
Born and aloft in New Delhi in a ancestors that deals with steel, 35-year-old Gupta advised at the National Institute of Appearance Technology (Nift) afore activity to London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Architecture to “unlearn”. Alike afore alive with beat British artisan Hussein Chalayan to apprentice address and form, or actuality afflicted by non-conformist designers like Thierry Mugler, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and the Japanese Rei Kawakubo, Gupta admits to actuality obsessive, competitive, crazy and absorbed by complexity. “Till then, I had never looked at India but my graduation accumulating was all about India in an backward way,” he says, assuming me a agenda album. If you trace aback his alienated “new, new couture”, the signs were axiomatic then. Ikat is alloyed to accomplish a child’s costume; a anorak is access bottomward into pieces with the adornment falling out (like a bomb had access central and the adornment continued because of the explosion, he says); strips of Banarasi adornment are acclimated to hand-knit a piece; there is three-dimensional Chikankari; the sleeves attending like they are melting on the garment. “It’s actual Dali-esque,” quips Gupta.
(From larboard to right) Shruti Haasan at the Screen Awards, Hofi Golan at Cannes, and Skylar Grey at a Grammy’s event, all cutting Gaurav Gupta. Photo by Viral Bhayani for Shruti, and Pascal Le Segretain/ Getty Images.
Hofit Golan at Cannes, Shruti Haasan at the Screen Awards, and Skylar Grey at a Grammy’s event, all cutting Gaurav Gupta.
We met thrice for this story. Each time, Gupta’s bathrobe appearance took up at atomic 15 account of our conversation, dabbling orders for the alpine algid coffees that he brand with his vegetarian sandwiches and fries. The aboriginal time, he accustomed in a black, ankle-length, arresting apron anorak with a white shirt-pant inside, and anybody at the restaurant had eyes alone for him. “It’s my cardinal’s coat,” said Gupta, reminding me that cardinals alone wore white. The abutting time, he wore atramentous harem pants with a atramentous T-shirt, Roman sandals, aviators and three crazy rings, one that was a watch dial. His atramentous covering bag was an astronomic hold-all; I could accept coiled up inside. The third time, it was addition brace of anti-fit draped pants. Gupta, who says he loves to boutique anywhere in the apple but brand to architecture his own garments, considers a brace of acrylic wings from the characterization Comme des Garçons his funkiest new appearance purchase. His closet at home is a décor case abstraction too.
In 2005, back Gupta alternate to India afterwards accepting a appropriate accolade alleged the “future of couture” from the ambassador of Rome at the Alta Roma Alta Moda (Rome Appearance Week), area he showed his Saint Martins’ graduation collection, he acquainted balked with the appearance arena here. He alleged his characterization Atpug Varuag—his name spelt in reverse—and agitated the accoutrements of too abundant opinion. “I was extreme, adolescent and a snob,” he admits, alike admitting appearance magazines alleged him the “It” designer.
“Soon, I accomplished you can’t abolish the Indian market. I was authoritative tunics and cheers for food like Kimaya and Ensemble, but not the affectionate that could allure best Sindhi and Marwari appearance customers,” he says, answer how he began to accord his own aberration to Indian fashion. The anxious aggressive dresses and jackets of his aboriginal accumulating fabricated way for sexy, draped ensembles, semi-pleated Graecian saris, and lehnga and sari gowns. He challenged changeless designs, creating sari blouses that alloyed net and glassy with three-dimensional embellishments and fabricated complete lehngas. “I can see the Raja Ravi Varma woman in one bend of my arch but I try to accomplish a Gaurav Gupta apparel for her. Lehngas and anarkalis are our LBDs, let’s accomplish them attending like it,” he says, answer his draped tunics, “forward kurta-sets”, the accept pads he uses for gowns and blouses, Victorian cuffs on sleeves of garments, or absorbed dupattas on kurtas.
In 2012, American pop ability annual Nylon featured red-haired bedrock brilliant Shirley Manson on its awning cutting an accouterments advised by Gupta. He was the alone artisan from India featured in the “Fashion Is Great”, allotment of the “Great Britain” alternation of videos commissioned by the British government during the 2012 Olympics on affecting bodies from all over the apple affiliated to the UK. And Atpug Varuag became Gaurav Gupta, both the characterization and the designer.
Later this year, he will barrage a menswear line, and will anon advertise a able online presence. “I am apathetic all the time, like a babyish with too abounding emotions. To accumulate aesthetic myself, I charge to annex out into never-before territory,” he says.
He could try flying.
First Published: Sat, Jul 12 2014. 12 02 AM IST
