London Fashion Week – Ashish AW12

Ashish Gupta’s collection for Autumn Winter 2012 was so cheerful and youthful and entertaining and smile-popping that I wouldn’t even know where to start to describe it.
Well, let’s first say that the collection was entitled ‘Bollywouldn’t’, sounding like one of these very fun names OPI like to call their colourful nail varnishes. Secondly, as the collection notes say, the Ashish woman this season ‘travels light but shops heavy’. She’s a too-cool-for-school traveller who likes to play with layers of mismatching clothes and mix tie-dye silk kurtas with glittery Acid House smileys or yin-yang patterns sewed or printed on her Hare Krihna tracksuits. Her mantras are written directly on her tuniques in case she becomes forgetful after too many lassis at the full moon party.
Sequined dresses or tops in gold, silver or pink are teamed with jumpers adorned with inscriptions such as ‘Dude’ or ‘Mas Amor’, loosely tied around the hips or worn over hallucinogenic paisley-printed shirts. All models wore rainbow platform docker boots and sometimes heavily adorned Indian nose chains. The last silhouette of the show was actually a floor length evening dress worn with a pink knitted jumper reading ‘Be Happy’… and everyone in the audience, from front row celebrities Jodie Harsh, Kate Nash or Paloma Faith to the always immaculately dressed Harold Tillman, chairman of the British Fashion Council, to fashionistas, buyers or journalists, seemed very happy indeed!

Laurie Guillem