Ashish Gupta fashion retrospective launches in London

New Delhi-born designer Ashish Gupta has launched his first major exhibition at The William Morris Gallery in London. Curated with Roisin Inglesby and Joe Scotland, the retrospective features 60 designs and runs until September. 

The exhibition is titled ‘Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender’ is and supported by the Lizzie & Jonathan Tisch Foundation, The William Morris Gallery announced on its website. The retrospective’s eclectic mix of Ashish designs presents to the viewer questions the designer has asked throughout his career including how societies construct cultural identities and how the clothes we wear signal these identities. 

For the exhibition, Mumbai-based photographer and film-maker Ashish Shah was specially commissioned to shoot a series of images and films on location in India and London. The project was supported by the Art Fund and explores how Gupta’s garments navigate cultural relationships between India and the West. 

The William Morris Gallery is named after the 19th century British textile designer, artist, and advocate of the crafts sector. Gupta’s celebration of traditional South Asian crafts through his subversive yet playful work are thus a logical focus for the gallery. 
 
“Like William Morris, traditional handcraft skills and techniques are at the heart of Ashish’s design and the context of the William Morris Gallery allows Ashish’s work to be considered within a dialogue of artisanship, adornment and thoughtful production processes,” the institution said. 
 
Gupta’s design studio is based in East London and his garments are manufactured in his workshop in Delhi. He launched his Ashish eponymous brand in 2001 after training in fine art then studying fashion design at Central Saint Martins, London.