With Ashish Gupta you always know it’s going to be fun show. You know there’ll be a sequins, a clearly visible concept, and a bucket load more sequins. For part of his AW13 collection entitled Working Girl he looked to the largely untapped inspiration mine of construction work and highway maintenance. Cue high-vis sequins and an industrial boiler suit, which I think I’m fair in saying are more of an editorial choice.
The other half of the collection gave the sequinned treatment to houndstooth checks and plaid patterns, largely monochrome but here and there accented with mustard. Ashish’s talent for denim also made a reappearance, dresses and dungarees fashioned from men’s jeans, and (if I was a buyer, one of my picks) a denim sweatshirt style top.
The collection then moved to traffic-stopping hologram sequinned dresses that drew gasps of admiration from the audience. Great trans-seasonal investment pieces from the designer that will certainly give you bang for your buck.
Slightly less cohesive than previous collections, but nonetheless still eminently enjoyable.
Hannah Kane