A spring symphony

Fashion designer Manish Gupta brings to the city his latest collection, Florence, derived from floral motifs and feminine artwork. He talks about his design aesthetic.

February 01, 2015 05:27 pm | Updated 05:27 pm IST

Manish Gupta at the Collage store. Photo: K. Pichumani

Manish Gupta at the Collage store. Photo: K. Pichumani

I wanted to be an architect but I didn’t make it,” laughs Delhi-based fashion designer Manish Gupta, who is here in the city to release his Spring-Summer collection 2015 at the Collage Store.

Vestiges of that dream are preserved in the racks of clothes that line the store; multi-textured fabrics, baroque embroidery and perfect execution hint at the inspiration behind the work.

“A lot of elements of my design have been gleaned from art and architecture,” he says. “Besides whether it is clothes or buildings, certain skill sets are required — creativity, vision and the ability to convert a sketch into a finished product.”

His latest collection, Florence, derived from floral motifs and feminine artwork, is a celebration of spring; net, chiffon, lace, organza and velvet yarn fashioned into dresses, kurtas, skirts and jackets in light-as-air pastels.

“This collection has been inspired by floral motifs and art work. The colour palette includes shades of green, blue, peach, beige and yellow and there is a lot of hand-crafted embroidery and pearl embellishments. Like most of my other collections, this is contemporary fusion wear; it can be worn as a stand-alone dress or paired with a churdidar and dupatta,” he says, turning to a young woman who has just emerged from a dressing room wearing one of his outfits — a beige, asymmetrical dress with vivid pink flowers splayed across it.

“Sheer layers are in right now, both in India and abroad,” he says, adding however that his clothes are feminine rather than sexy. “For instance, there isn’t a lot of skin show in my clothes; I may have net sleeves or a deep back covered by sheer fabric. The Manish Gupta woman is a classic person who would like to be elegant, knows what works and cares about quality and finish. She doesn’t blindly ape trends. My clothes never go out of style — I have people coming back after five years and picking up the same sort of outfit,” says the designer, a graduate of Pearl Academy of Fashion.

His eponymous label, which has been around for close to seven years now, since its debut in 2008, has been part of Chennai’s landscape from the very beginning, he says.

“I’ve been retailing in Chennai since I started. It is a good market — people respect the classic and are willing to invest in it. My prices are high; but people here keep coming back,” he says.

An absolute no-no for Manish is bling. “My clothes are for the long haul, every aspect of production is done in-house to ensure quality. So even though it is immensely popular, I don’t do bling. It is great for an event but you cannot wear it five years later,” he says, adding that he does however customise clothes to suit an occasion if desired.

On future plans, he says, “I am planning to start retailing abroad. I use a lot of Indian motifs but the sensibilities are contemporary and I think there is a great market out there for my work. All my expat clients tell me that,” he says.

However, Manish adds,“The women of my family rarely opt for my clothes. Everyone has their own taste and wants to wear the clothes that reflect it. And that is what style essentially is; an inherently personal thing that allows people to be themselves and wear what they are comfortable in.”

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