They say happenstance can lead to beautiful things and that is definitely the case for designer Gaurav Jai Gupta. A chance discovery of an artwork by Yves Klein at Centre Pompidou in Paris led to years of consummate behaviour, which finally found manifestation in his first fashion showcase in five years, called 'The Sky Is Mine'. While the core of the collection by his label Akaaro was inspired by Gupta’s intense fascination with Klein’s signature (and patented) shade of a saturated, vivid blue, he used it as a catalyst for a larger body of research around that colour, making him undertake a journey of visual exploration driven by dyeing techniques and his inherent preoccupation with developing textiles.
“A string of unrelated events following the museum visit, such as buying a vintage jacket in a similar shade of blue out of a hundred others and continuing to fixate on it subconsciously by picking up another item of clothing in the same shade, made me ponder on my fixation,” says Gupta, who, of his own admission, would have otherwise stuck to his usual blacks and greys. In fact, this fixation with Klein’s blue led to 36 months of research and development that finally culminated in a showcase which saw models sashay down the meandering runway of Noida’s Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), wearing over 150 pieces through 49 looks on the night of September 30.
For Gupta, the process of developing the collection is such that warrants the word “creation” over “designing”. “Cultural associations such as India’s 'neel,' the depth and spirituality that the colour signifies” for Gupta, made him continue with his preoccupation with it as he explored ways of achieving the said shade. “Associations with the colour blue, such as how it is used for India, and the blue planet, came to me later. It is a project that touches upon not only the colour but also our identity, the future, textiles, narratives and questions a lot of things,” says the designer.
Gupta’s work with yarns of wool, silk, handspun cotton and stainless steel ensured that there could be no singular approach to achieving that one shade of blue, as when translated onto various textiles, it would not look the same. Experiments and failures drove the process to its fruition, that involved going from an ultramarine pigment to carrying a blue LED light to the dyers to show the shade he wanted and then to replacing digital references with physical ones to achieve the exact shade of blue. But that was only half the battle won. “In terms of dyeing, we couldn’t use the natural colours because the glaze could not be achieved. We used a lot of adhesives, binders and mixers and did most of it ourselves in the studio,” explains Gupta.
“INDIA IS NOT A FASHION COUNTRY–IT’S A TEXTILE COUNTRY. WHY DO WE LOOK AT TEXTILES ONLY FROM THE HANDLOOM POINT OF VIEW? FOR ME, TEXTILES ARE ART”Gaurav Jai Gupta
What followed was getting the composition of fabrics right where the blue would translate onto the clothes properly. “I was very clear that I wanted the collection to be very luxurious so I sourced the finest yarns, despite the logistical constraints. We finally managed to get the right kind of silk from Mubarakpur and then had to double it up to get the correct amount of glaze. I work with a fixed set of materials and that’s what we used,” says Gupta. While the designer wanted one colour, he did not want to force on materials so he let the colour react to them. “That is where the sustainability angle also comes into play – it is also a lot about how you keep things natural,” adds Gupta.
“In India, we tend to look at fashion from the perspective of the past–we are either reviving, celebrating or being nostalgic. That’s a very boxed formula of how Indian fashion operates, which is very good for various reasons. However, the future and the unknown has always interested me. I am very interested in what is contemporary. India is not a fashion country–it’s a textile country. Why do we look at textiles only from the handloom point of view? For me, textiles are art,” shares Gupta, explaining his take on fashion in India and how he navigates the choppy waters of the industry.
Gupta steers clear of using motifs and, instead, works with patterns. “I don’t sketch at all. I work with proportions and forms, which is slightly like what product designers and architects do. We brought down the patterns to circles, lines, checks and stripes because I also have to take care of the execution as per the infrastructure available, including the looms I have. We also have to make it very simple, in order for our craftsman to execute it. It has a lot of Jamdani, Chanderi and blends such as silks, zaris, a lot of cotton-wool,” he says.
The silhouettes are reminiscent of Akaaro classics and that is something Gupta is proud of. “If you see my work from NIFT and what I do today, you can tell that it’s by the same person. But my journey has been about the narrative I am building. The silhouettes are inspired by our archives and what the textiles respond to,” explains Gupta. Sarees, jackets, capes, throws, blazers, trousers, paintsuits and a few draped and flowing pieces make up Akaaro’s collection. “We have used surface techniques in the form of thread-work for texturing, something that we have never done before. Whatever we were not able to execute in wovens, we looked at the other best way of executing our visual research,” he adds.
While the inspiration for 'The Sky Is Mine' is all-encompassing for Gupta, he, of his own admission, faced some amount of trepidation of designing such an elaborate collection based on only one colour palette. “Though very momentary, I did worry about the commercial prospects but then I reached a point where this became a passion project for me,” he asserts. This also perhaps explains both what held him in good stead through the pandemic-induced delay in showcasing the collection and its final culmination in the form that it did at KNMA (part of the museum's Art X Fashion collaboration), with the backdrop of 'Inner Life of Things: Around Anatomies and Armatures', an ensemble exhibition featuring 15 artists. As thumping electronic beats set the mood of the show, slowly fading into Baba O Riley, Gupta came out to take a bow, drawing the curtains on a project that could be his own handful of sky.