Over the past decade and more I have been reporting on India Fashion Week. In fact I had been doing it since the birth of India Fashion Week and have learnt that certain slots and ‘sponsored shows’ are for privileged ones. Designer Masaba Gupta seems to be one such privileged designer at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW).
Masaba opened the previous WIFW; Autumn-Winter 2013 fashion week and I know that the opening shows for a season are for the privileged designers. At WIFW autumn-winter 2013, Masaba made her debut as the Creative Director of Satya Paul and I must acknowledge the fact that I loved her debut collection for Satya Paul. She infused youthfulness in the brand.
At the Delhi Couture Week 2013 when the title sponsor – PCJ – decided to have a show, Masaba Gupta for Satya Paul was chosen for it. I was taken by surprise. Satya Paul is a hard-core Pret label and I was perplexed at their selection in Couture Week. Well one can’t comment much about a ‘sponsored show’ as the sponsor plays a major role in who they want as their designer. Anyway Satya Paul’s ‘Demi Couture’ ( a terminology I hadn’t heard before) collection by Masaba did not impress me much. In fact I found lot of similarities from Jason Wu and Prada’s spring-summer 2013 collection where black and white flowers were trending. Here is the link on that for you to see: http://www.accessoriesmagazine.com/56139/breaking-trends-spring-2013-black-and-white-flowers
The Spring-Summer 2014 edition of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week kicks-off today and Masaba Gupta is yet again the privileged one to open the week. Not only that, she is doing the ‘sponsored show’ for Nano. I hope her collection justifies the privileges she is enjoying.
Like her designs in the beginning. They were original. But now I find her work has become derivative of herself.
If we go by what you are saying ” opening shows for a season are for the privileged designers”, then how come she is also a finalist in Vogue’s Fashion Fund…..
Seems contradictory as VFF is for upcoming and gen next designers…
So Masaba is both a seasoned designer as well as an upcoming one… Good for her….
Oh well, Politics zindabad….
Dear Spade,
A ‘privileged designer’ may not be an established or seasoned designer. He/She can be upcoming too so I am not contradicting my point of view.
Yes you have all the right to disagree.
Thanks.
Dear Jack,
I agree with your point. I was just trying to understand the politics of Fashion. Guess you hit the nail by saying Privileged one.. 🙂
I dont really even believe in masaba as a designer. Doing prints on sarees and price points like 15-20,000 is not even designer to me.
When i say an opening show i wanna see a christian lacroix, giambattista valli, a lanvin, a mcqueen… some construction, some embellishment, some techniques, some draping skills…. not some tie and dye shit which is catered for every day wear…. thats not even designer to me.
Techniques like those have been there in indian fashion since our mother’s time. For the first show to kickstart a week we need something WOW ! Indian fashion week needs to get a bit serious more than just driven by popularity.
Jack,
It’s Beri sad that u removed the two posts about that Beri interesting expose on the Iran crude oil deal. At least tell us why and how you were forced to delete those entries??
I absolutely agree. I would rather look at talented designer who deserve s the oppenning the show . masaba s designs are horrable. bad silhouette s . no aesthetic . her mantor is known to do nothing but night dresses to sleepin . I dont know where is the creativity. where is the designer . why was he given a padamshree . lets make designers vote trust me 90% designer dont like either one of their work . it just doesn justify .