Since his debut, Gaurav Gupta has been touted many things. From ‘Future of Couture’ (AltaRoma, 2003) to ‘Rule Breaker’ (GQ Style Awards, 2018), all deductions have ascribed a designer that’s charting his own path. “I tend not to lock myself into boxes,” muses the acclaimed Indian couturier. But if Gupta had to think of something, it would be ‘future primitive’—a term that is futuristic and one that lives in the world of fantasy. “People have called it avant-garde or new age with an ancient soul,” the celebrity designer tells Vogue Singapore, who was in town for online retailer Mèlange’s designer showcase. A collaborative display that presented Gupta’s designs alongside luxury jeweller Renu Oberoi’s bejewelled creations.
Intricacy and intrigue envelop every one of Gupta’s surrealist designs—with an origami-like style that conjures sculptural pleated silhouettes. The Delhi-born designer credits his rudimentary skills like sketching, draping, pattern cutting, stitching and tailoring to his time in National Institute of Fashion Technology, a leading institution in fashion education in India. He then proceeded to attend Central Saint Martins in London. “It is the creative hub of all the fashion schools in the world. There were only 30 spots in womenswear and I got one of them. I was the only Indian in the whole fashion department at that time.” He recalls the education as a difficult experience, yet the best experience creatively. “Saint Martins pushes you to find your identity where you go deeper and find your own voice that’s original and unique.”
And that he did. Since the launch of his eponymous couture house, these avant-garde creations have been adorned by A-listers alike, from Cardi B to Deepika Padukone and very recently, Beyonce at her Renaissance World Tour. “I think we have managed to create a whole new universe altogether over the last 18, 19 years. We think about embroidery and how it can be done. How is a machine embroider, a hand embroider and the 500 artisans that work at Garuav Gupta being explorative with the techniques they come up with? We are free and boundless in the creation process; we drape chiffons and Georgettes in different ways, but then we have sculpting that has become a brand signature code as well. It is something that was used traditionally, with corsetry and boning.” All of the design codes and techniques harmoniously resonate with the brand’s mantra of endlessness and infinity. “There is no starting or ending point to any garment; it’s kind of fluid and very free-flowing,” elaborates Gupta.
I love the part where you mentioned sculpting being a part of tradition, which is deeply embedded in the house codes. What does that mean for you as an Indian couturier?
I don’t necessarily feel Indian. I just happen to be from India and I’m very lucky that I’m from India and I’m exposed to so many Eastern ancient philosophies and cultures. And that’s a part of me. In India, there’s so much amazing skill and by example, they have such ancient embroidery techniques and draping techniques. That level of scale is where we are able to explore in different futuristic ways. We are able to come up with something new altogether, which is new for the whole world. The infinity in ancient Indian philosophy is what is Indian about me.
The ‘infinity’ aspect with many of your works, seems to apply for your designs that mimic an overflowing motion—with each being distinct yet signature. What is it like for you during the design process?
I think it’s a subconscious yet conscious process. I feel like the more modern society put emphasis on ‘oh this is a pattern’, ‘this is a shirt’, ‘this is a pair of jeans’, the more I want to break away from it be like, ‘no, there are no rules’. We should not be confining ourselves.
Your conceptual designs have too, been part of a culture shift, by introducing less conservative traditional wear into the picture. How do you straddle the line between creativity and tradition?
Yeah, once I showed a half-naked gown as the opening look in India Bridal Week, and that half-naked gown was ordered by 200 women in India. I’ve been very lucky to be in the era I have been in. Because I think India was ready for a revolution and I have been lucky to be a part of it. And somehow in a weird way, being one of the drivers of the revolution as well. So it kind of became like a cultural conversation with the country altogether. I would see mothers and brides come to me 15 years back. And now brides don’t come with their mothers and mothers-in-law anymore. They will wear what they want to wear.
Because of globalisation, social media exchange and international brands coming into the market, there’s been a rapid cultural shift in the Eastern world, especially countries like India. When I first started out, people were wearing traditional clothes in wedding. I think nobody could imagine that in ten or 20 years, a bride would wear one of my sculpted gowns.
There’s a profound understanding of a woman’s body with all your creations. How do you achieve that?
I think in three dimensions or five dimensions. I don’t think in two dimensions. Because I’m not just looking at the woman’s body, I’m also feeling her mind or understanding her vulnerabilities and her confidence and her needs. It’s a conversation.
Speaking of which, Beyonce was a vision in your designs during her Renaissance World Tour. Tell us more about the creation process.
It’s often a beautiful collaboration with a celebrity. What happens usually is that the stylist, myself and my partner, Maison Bose in LA, and the celebrity are involved in creating a moment together. So each of these is a cultural collaboration. We go deep into the storytelling of it. We thought that green would look beautiful on Beyonce. And we should make a sari gown moment for her, let the chiffon flow and she will enter with the hood as a chiffon and that will make a moment. That’s what we managed to do and that’s amazing.
If you had to describe the Gaurav Gupta woman, who would it be?
Gaurav Gupta is not a woman. It’s anybody who is boundless in their mind. It could be Priyanka, Deepika, Beyonce and Alia. It could be a trans woman. It could be a man. It’s anyone who’s able to live in that parallel fantasy world, wants that sense of freedom and wants that sense of celebration. That is the Gaurav Gupta person.
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