Ashish N Soni

“Change Has Different Faces”

After two-plus years of no physical shows, short films, video games and virtual fashion the return to showing physically after a pandemic hiatus has gotten me super excited. It’s a changed world after all and in spite of the keep calm and carry on mentality under difficult circumstances here we are, back with a fashion show. As I complete 30 years in the fashion industry, even with more than three decades under my belt, one major change that I am experiencing is the disconnect to relate from season to season. Therefore the collection I have put together is seasonless, its current, for now or for later and when separated into pieces definitely feels beyond seasons. Though my headspace has been a fountain of ideas hailing from all over I have always been a firm believer that there are no new ideas in fashion, only new interpretations and new ways in which we choose to reinvent them. Over the past two years no one knew where we’re going anymore, and life has been so lack lustre that all I have wished for is a lot of colour back in our lives and our fingers crossed for a better tomorrow.

When I started working on the collection this time around all I could feel was to be more playful with shots of sumptuous colour instead of staying in my comfort zone of a restrained colour palette. I normally start a collection with the suit. It’s always about the jacket, specifically the shoulder followed by the trouser shape. What I want to put on a catwalk is all the pieces I really love. This time round though rather than silhouette what got me started was the inherent desire to use deadstock fabric which has piled up over the years. Fabrics that seemed ordinary and wasteful lying in store rooms became my starting point. There’s a strong, cohesive and easily identifiable narrative behind the brand’s collections and by the use random fabrics, the challenge was to ensure that these clothes seem saturated in the current narrative. My endeavour was to resharpen the brand’s edge,print,embellish or over dye existing fabrics and ensure that the presentation looks relevant. It was so easy to imagine individual groups but the excitement in the design studio was about tying it all in with my curatorial eye so as to focus in on miniscule details. The presentation is broken up into Four stories in one look that really represents the brand’s aesthetic. Textured whites and beiges alongside floral prints and floral embellishment. All the gelato pastels moving into clashes of pink and orange in zesty colour combos.

New ground is broken with the luminous colour palette and layering with fabrics ranging from wool suitings,cotton-viscose,organza,chiffon,fine cambric, silk jaquards and upholstery left overs. Some “special” pieces include the 80s inspired floral printed suits with velvet trimmings,the geometry printed ankle length pants and the wide-wale corduroy suit.

Scores of floral-printed silhouettes both done in soft tailoring as well as soft elongated silhouettes make for potent imagery which continues to strengthen the tailoring tradition narrative from the menswear to the reintroduced womenswear. What will be on display is what I refer to as a “Relaxed Tailoring Trend”,engulfed with innate sensuality that diminishes the boundaries between the womenswear and the men’s collection. I am hopeful that after multiple seasons of hanging around in trackpants and tees, a new story of relaxed and comfortable tailoring will offer a fresh way to dress.