Ace Indian designer and artist Gaurav Gupta showcased his Summer Spring ’23 collection ‘Shunya’ at the recently concluded Paris Haute Couture WeekThe Shunya is a Sanskrit world that translates as zero which was discovered in Indian many centuries ago. The stillness of zero and infinity expanded possibilities in studies of space and timeSpeaking about the collection Gaurav Gupta said, “For our first showcase on the official calendar Paris Haute Couture Week, I wanted to delve deeper into our mindscape to come up with a concept that is subliminal in thought and original in formI have tried to explore the movement possibilities between zero and infinity with tangents of mythology, fantasy, and surrealismHe said that the frozen strokes of dancing wind in infinite forms are sculpted in gold and silver handwoven tissue — the set of twin dresses in silver is an embodiment of this
The last segment of the collection was in stark gold and black. I am constantly fascinated with ancient Egyptian civilisations, explorations of time, and metaphysics There are elemental dresses in black and nude strategically revealing the form in its pristine stateMeteoric light embroideries emulate melting lava or deep waves of a very dark ocean. There is also a garbage-like dress with abstract entangled wires as embroideriesIn one of this dresses, there is a snake dress slithering and intertwining all through the body. The snakes, inspired by the kundalini, softly meander on the body in hand-embroidered waves. Their form is made luminous with black and purple rainbow and blue iridescent glass beads
Exploring sculptural draping forms in indigo electric blue in satins, chiffons, and organzas represents a sense of futurismThere are pyramid nails sewn into detailed directional embroideriesThe collection comprised of goth dresses in black leather-like jerseys and an acid trip neon yellow This is a handwoven, handcrafted story of form to infinityThere were also a silver and yellow kundalini snake dress
