Ashish at London Fashion Week

Geek chic was the order of the day for Delhi-born designer Ashish Gupta. Ashish’s ready-to-wear collection featured a central ‘math geek’ character with a slap-dash approach to fashion.

The SS13 collection included denim jackets with one shoulder cut out, then re-sewn back together so that an empty sleeve hung down the model’s back; mismatched trouser legs; sweaters; entirely backless vest tops and lots of sequins. Many garments had been torn apart and re-stitched up to create off-the shoulder numbers or half-and-half jumpsuits. Colours were low-key; marl greys, whites and denims. Fabrics included denim on which maths equations had been printed. The outfits were accompanied by sloppy top knots, pale pink lips, white Reeboks and – naturally – geek-chic glasses.

Ashish’s main character is ‘more concerned with quadratic equations than the number of ply in a cashmere sweater’, but despite her disdain towards fashion, she ‘not entirely without vanity’ and ‘rarely gets it wrong’. The look is part east London chic, part geek and very adolescent. It smacks of the fashionista too cool to care, but privately very aware.

There is an air of humour about Ashish’s collection too. A chuckle went around when a model strutted out in a jumper that read ‘Très Fatigué’ towards the end of the show. There is a sense that Ashish’s leading lady may not take herself too seriously, despite the fact that the first model to walk the catwalk wore a sweater that ironically proclaimed ‘I’m Serious’. The clothes are fun and playful, combining evening sequins, socks and trainers with an air of mocking indifference.

The excellence of Ashish’s collection is that although thrown together by his ‘math geek’ heroine the look is kooky cool, when taken individually pieces can work for many more types of characters – for instance, the one-sleeve blue sequinned dress with the slit up the front looked effortless with the socks and Reeboks combination on the catwalk, but would otherwise be an ideal party dress.

London Fashion Week took place on September 14 to 18, 2012.