Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender

About

William Morris Gallery is delighted to present Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender, the first major survey exhibition of fashion designer Ashish Gupta. It will showcase over 60 designs, offering an unprecedented overview of Ashish’s subversive and playful practice.  

Originally trained in fine art, Ashish studied fashion design at Central Saint Martins, London, founding his eponymous label in 2001. He has established a reputation for high-glamour outfits designed in his studio in East London and then hand-made by skilled artisans at his small workshop in Delhi. 

Ashish’s practice includes a broad range of cultural and design references, embracing both American and European fashion histories and indigenous textile traditions from across the world. Ashish’s designs often challenge preconceptions of materials and techniques, interrogating the construction of cultural identities and the ways in which clothes send signals about their wearer.

In recent years Ashish’s work has engaged more explicitly with ideas around global exchange and the complex cultural relationships between India and Britain. In both the clothes themselves and how they are presented within his photographic campaigns and fashion presentations, key South Asian reference points are increasingly pronounced and celebrated. Ashish’s signature use of colour reflects his belief in the ability of clothing to bring joy to its wearers and create a space in which different identities become unashamedly, luminescently visible.