User talk:Gaurav Gupta (Fashion Designer)

"Gaurav Gupta" Gaurav Gupta, born 1979 in Delhi, India, is a fashion designer whose work has garnered global attention for his signature extempore draping, three dimensional embroideries in metal and leather, juxtaposing contradictions, heralding a new age India in fashion, study of the human anatomy and restructuring of the traditional saree. An alumnus of Central Saint Martins, London and the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi, India, Gaurav’s work began receiving early recognition as he completed his studies in Womenswear Design at NIFT and his graduating collection was awarded with honours at the Makuhari Grandprix in Japan (2000)and Admirality Needle in Russia (2000). His graduating collection at St Martins was a complex, couture and extremely personal interpretation of fantasy in the mythological tales of India. Garments with hundreds of notches, broken jackets, veils hanging with threads on a loom, shredded brocade put back together as a weave were some novel ideas that made his collection get noticed instantly. First was Italy where he received the Roots of Creativity award at Mittelmoda in 2003. The same year at Altaroma Altamoda, the Mayor of Rome presented Gaurav with the title of Future of Couture, a trophy for Research and Experimentation in Design. Two years later, Gaurav was invited to be a jury member at the Mittelmoda Fashion Awards in 2005. Subsequently, he gathered work experience with Hussein Chalayan and also completed a jewellery design collection for the Italian brand Chimento. Meanwhile, Gaurav accepted an offer to work as Art Director of LTB, one of the world’s largest denim and ready-to-wear brands with their head office in Istanbul, Turkey. Though the profile and team were global, the role was not creatively stimulating for Gaurav who then decided to return to India and set up his own label, which was initially the reverse of his name and spelt Atpug Varuag. Working out of a two room workshop cum studio in Saidulajab in southern Delhi, Gaurav showed independently for the first time at India Fashion Week in 2006 with an exposition of his Autumn Winter line. With beautified military as its lose theme, the collection challenged preconceived ideas about beauty, structure, rigidity and flow. Propelling his label overnight into national media attention, through this collection Gaurav was named Breakthrough Designer of the year by MTV, Best Debutant by Zoom Fashion Awards and international journals like Creativita by Collezioni called him one of the world’s key designers who will set trends in global fashion. Swiftly, Gaurav Gupta came to be known as Fashion’s ‘enfant terrible’, as ‘the new hope’ for Indian Fashion and also as a bewilderment for critics. With every collection since his first in 2006, Gaurav has been delivering excitement and a nervous anticipation that have kept the media and clients curious and his shows packed brimful. Another breakthrough came as Gaurav showcased his interpretation if the saree, a thousands of years old Indian garment that has been draped in various ways over centuries. Gaurav took the saree, scrunched it, draped it, pre-stitched it, flared it, reduced it, exaggerated it and presented it as a couture ensemble that was defined by various media as Gothic, Victorian, vintage, Grecian, revolutionary and future primitive. Gaurav’s saree gowns and saree lehengas have brought about some radical transformation in the way traditional Indian couture is viewed and has become synonymous with the new age and global India and its contemporary thought and progressive ladies. Soon his designs saw presence across covers of publications like Vogue, L’Officiel, Elle, Marie Claire, Femina, Verve, Cosmopolitan, Bello and Nylon. Vogue Italia, International Textile and the Herald Tribune were a few others to carry his designs and ideas. Outside of India, Gaurav Gupta has shown his collections as part of Dubai Fashion Week (site link), Paris Fashion Week (Tranoi) and Rome Couture Fashion Week (Altaroma Altamoda). In recent progression, Gaurav unveiled his flagship store at DLF Emporio, India’s premiere luxury shopping space. The store, designed by Gaurav in collaboration with architecture firm Lotus Ink, has received attention and accolades for its unusual thought with mannequins flying over a water fountain and walls that float in the air. Incidentally, architecture and study of the human form have been core inspirations and points of study for the designer who has been dubbed as one of fashion’s resident scientists. Fantasy, Goth, Underwater, Nymphs and Birds have been a few recurring ideas in Gaurav’s work. Gaurav has also collaborated with Play Clan, a contemporary design label, to create product like journals, card holders and cigarette cases with Gaurav’s signature psychosomatic prints, for the prêt brand Evolv. In partnership with Swarovski, Gaurav is creating a line of couture jewellery that will be stocked at specialized Swarovski boutiques around the world. Swarovski has previously supported Gaurav in his womenswear collections where Gaurav displayed a distinct use of rare shapes in crystals. Also, Gaurav has collaborated with the global prêt brand 7 For All Mankind on a range of metallically accented denim jackets and jeans. Gaurav is the only Indian to be featured in the British documentary Fashion is Great, that was showcased as part of the 2012 Olympics in London. Through all his interviews, shows and discussions, designer Gaurav Gupta continually urges people to think, challenge their thought, explore the self and to never succumb. Gaurav Gupta is being seen as a novel voice in couture and experimental fashion.