LFW: Ashish AW17

By Erina Nadzira 

From white bandanas to Planned Parenthood badges to David Bowie’s “This Is Not America”, NYFW saw designers using their catwalk as a way to express their opinion on current events. Dehli-born Ashish Gupta carried the trend on into LFW in his signature spangly twist when presented his about AW17 collection. His collection last season was self-described as “celebration of Indian culture in this country”, an expression of his heartbreak surrounding Brexit. This season Ashish is back to take on Trump, this time, with more gusto (and definitely more glitter) and the results were nothing short of uplifting.

With an echoing choral rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, the show opens with one model walking down the sparkling gold –Follow the yellow brick road!– runway in a sequined rainbow mini dress paired with a matching jacket (and matching mules). Rainbow hues are a recurring theme in Ashish’s AW17 show – from jumpsuits to jumpers to co-ords, near every piece is vibrant and bedazzled.

In the spirit of Ashish’s support of LGBT rights, the standout moment of the show was when the audience burst into spontaneous applause as the bear-esque –considerably stockier than you’d see on the runway– street-cast model Frankie walked out in a blue (unsurprisingly) sequined tee with the slogan “Why be blue when you can be gay?” paired with black leather knee-high boots and matching gloves.

LGBT Pride aside, Ashish AW17 showed solidarity with Mexico with their cast of racially diverse models whose faces were made up to look like Lucha Libre (a Mexican form of professional wrestling) fighters. Within the AW17 collection itself were also pieces more directly aimed at the PoTUS, particularly against his misogyny. This included slogan tees reading “Nasty Woman” and “Pussy grabs back!” in reference to his comments against Hillary Clinton in the final debate and an older video of him controversially telling a journalist to “Grab ‘em by the pussy” respectively.

Ashish tackles all forms of inclusivity from LGBT rights to immigration to feminism, but his protest against Trump is not an angry one. The show closes with the model’s dancing to Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family” and that should say it all.  With statement tees that read “You are much lovelier than you think” and “as often as possible, be gentle and kind” paired with varsity team jackets with the words “UNFINISHED BUSINESS” down the sleeves – Ashish’s take on the Americana this season is one that inspires unity, positivity and self-love no matter who you are.

Photo credits to www.vogue.com