As the latest cohort of fashion students converged on Central Saint Martins (CSM) last week, navigating the bustling halls and crowded corridors of the iconic London institution, they shared their space with a familiar face from the past. Ashish Gupta, the visionary designer behind the eponymous label Ashish, was found roaming the studios, library, and lecture halls of his alma mater. However, he was not there for a retrospective lecture or a nostalgic tour; he was hard at work, utilizing the college’s creative ecosystem to photograph his latest spring lookbook. The setting was more than a mere backdrop—it was a homecoming that underscored a quarter-century of creative defiance.
“It’s been 25 years since I started,” Gupta reflected while overseeing the shoot. “So I thought: let’s do 25 looks, one for each year, with messages.” The resulting collection serves as a commemorative milestone, marking a career defined by an unwavering commitment to optimism, craftsmanship, and biting social commentary.
The choice of Central Saint Martins as a location for this milestone is deeply symbolic. Gupta’s trajectory is inextricably linked to the rigorous, avant-garde environment of the college, where he graduated from the MA Fashion course in 2000. He famously honed his craft under the legendary Professor Louise Wilson OBE, a figure known for pushing her students to the brink of their creative potential. It is a testament to the enduring bonds of the CSM community that Fabio Piras, the current MA tutor, welcomed Gupta back to utilize the studio space, effectively bridging the gap between the fashion industry’s established masters and the next generation of aspiring designers.
Yet, Gupta’s journey could have taken a radically different path. Before he became a staple of London Fashion Week, known for his intricate, hand-sequined designs, he was an aspiring writer. “I studied advertising in India. First of all, I thought I wanted to write,” Gupta revealed. It is a fascinating revelation that provides the missing key to understanding his design DNA. For years, the fashion world has admired his ability to marry high-glamour, labor-intensive couture techniques with provocative, slogan-heavy streetwear. With this context, his uncanny knack for crafting pithy, memorable slogans on his garments becomes clear: he is a copywriter at heart, using clothing as his medium rather than billboards or print ads.
This season, the slogans shifted from the chest of a T-shirt to the stark, tactile medium of hand-written placards. The transition from wearable slogans to protest signage mirrors the collection’s thematic shift toward activism and political urgency. The placards feel visceral and immediate, serving as a salute to the global wave of student protests and grassroots movements that have defined the current sociopolitical climate.
The messaging is as eclectic as it is pointed. Among the slogans captured in the lookbook are “Libraries Not Data Centres,” “Put Smart People in Charge,” and the cheeky, socially biting, “One of my best friends is Straight.” Another, “It’s a Dress Not a Yes,” offers a sharp, feminist critique on consent and bodily autonomy. These are not just fashion statements; they are declarations of intent, reflecting Gupta’s concern for the direction of the modern world.
“I feel like globally there’s been such a move towards fascism,” Gupta explained. “And I just think it’s a dark time, and it doesn’t feel like a particularly hopeful time.” This pervasive gloom is precisely what Gupta aims to combat. His work has long been celebrated for its ability to inject levity into the fashion landscape, and this collection is no exception. He confronts the rise of the far-right in Britain with the clever, quintessentially British pun, “UK Garage Not UK Farage,” a phrase that is both an homage to the country’s vibrant musical heritage and a sharp rebuke of contemporary xenophobic politics.
While some of his references are designed to be immediate, others are deeply coded, requiring a degree of cultural literacy to fully decode. Gupta noted that the collection is peppered with historical and political allusions. “It’s very coded,” he said. “There’s a leopard trouser suit that stands for Jane Fonda, when she was protesting against the Vietnam war, for example.” Similarly, images of models carrying pots and pans serve as a direct nod to the history of street protests, where the rhythmic clatter of cookware has long been used as a tool for collective noise and disruption.
This strategy of “raising a laugh in the darkness” has become the hallmark of the Ashish brand. For 25 years, Gupta has provided a multicolored, sequin-spangled antidote to the cynicism of the industry. There is a palpable sense that the darker the geopolitical climate becomes, the more the public craves the joyful defiance inherent in his collections. His work offers a form of escapism that does not shy away from reality, but rather attempts to process and reframe it through a lens of beauty and humor.
What remains perhaps most impressive about Gupta’s longevity is his commitment to the integrity of his craft. Despite the global success of his brand, his work is not manufactured in mass-market facilities. Everything, from the most intricate sequin patterns to what appears to be simple crochet or argyle knit, is painstakingly created by the artisans in the Ashish atelier in New Delhi. This commitment to traditional, handmade craftsmanship in an era of fast fashion and mass production is a political act in itself. It is a defense of the human hand against the encroaching tide of automation and soulless industrialization.
“So,” Gupta said, referencing the labor behind his creations, “that is why I wrote this one: ‘A Handmade Tale.’”
As the shoot concluded, the echoes of his career seemed to linger in the halls of CSM. By returning to the site of his academic beginnings, Gupta highlighted the cyclical nature of fashion and the enduring power of creative education. He remains an outlier—a designer who can command the global stage with high-fashion sequin work while maintaining the soul of a writer and the heart of an activist.
As the new students of Central Saint Martins begin their own journeys, they are witnessing a designer who has managed to survive and thrive for a quarter-century without compromising his identity. Gupta’s lookbook is not just a showcase of spring fashion; it is a document of a career spent navigating the tension between the personal and the political. It is a reminder that in a world that often feels increasingly fractured, the most radical thing one can do is to continue to create with both hands, with intention, and with a voice that refuses to be silenced. Whether through the glitter of a sequin or the ink on a protest placard, Ashish Gupta continues to challenge, to provoke, and, above all, to shine.