As one of India’s most contemporary and established designers, Gaurav Gupta’s appetite for new-age couture extends far and wide. It couldn’t be more obvious in his first visually-enchanting show for FDCI’s India Couture Week, India’s first digital fashion week, following the likes of Milan, Paris and London. With OG menswear, beauty, music and most of all a diverse casting – including a young gay couple from Kota and UP; a trans-male 18-year-old; curvy women, a young lesbian couple living happily their parents in Gurgaon, among others – Gaurav Gupta’s pushing and thinking forward.
What was the starting point of this collection and how did you go about digitising it?
I was with our new digital director and what came up first in our conversation was how do we truly represent us, our brand. What matters to us most? Love matters to us the most.
What does love mean to you?
Love is what makes the universe go around. It comes from the soul. It’s true and unconditional. For parents towards their children, friends, your body, inner self, partner or lover. I don’t deny that there is despair in the world but for me, the idea was to celebrate humanity and equally suggest the cultural changes that I’ve noticed. I’m gay and bisexual and had to deal with many struggles. I took stock of the suffering within the LGBTQI community; body shaming; colour issues; and a troubled IG generation but the stories I discovered through it were mind-blowing. The confidence and comfort level that some of these people have is incredible and they aren’t bothered about their age, colour, size, orientation or gender – they don’t define themselves in a traditional manner. They are simply great people.
How would you define the evolution of your menswear and in this collection particularly?
I don’t refer to anything and that’s really where creativity and design come from. We’ve shown more velvet looks with colours like wine and bordeaux, including our signature tuxedos, sherwanis, bandhgalas, asymmetric long jackets and shoes sculpted in velvet that you wouldn’t get here – a whole diverse spectrum. Today, the brand is bigger than me and we’ve expanded our entire menswear world to cater to every personality with menswear that is limitless. At our stores we customise clothes for sangeets, weddings, receptions, after parties (including themed and coustumesque ones), music festivals and have a range of cotton shirts, while introducing a jewellery line and making tuxedos with bling and embroidery over innovative silhouettes. Rapper Wyclef Jean to the 2020 Grammy’s and Latin boy band CNCO have worn our menswear!
Music played a big role in your show.
For the first time we’ve composed music from scratch; a soundtrack called Name is Love. Pianist Sahil Vasudeva’s original composition in collaboration with poetess Navkirat Sodhi to be put out on every big ticket music app and platform.
