In the Studio with Indian Couturier and Artist Gaurav Gupta

In January, Gaurav Gupta presented “Across the Flame,” his spring/summer 2025 couture collection in Paris. The show was a triumph after a tragedy that involved the designer and his life partner, Navkirat Sodhi, burned by fire in a terrible accident. The event caused him to cancel his previous show, as she underwent eight operations and faced a survival rate of just 55 percent.

A poet, Sodhi opened the show—showing her scars to the world—leading a message of resilience, love, and bravery. When we visited Gupta in the days leading up to the couture collection’s debut, so beautifully named in tribute, he shared that he and his life partner, who he’s lived with for over 20 years, have known each other 3,000 years, they like to say. The series of sweeping gowns and garments that defy gravity was a celebration of miracles and the scars left behind. These are things not to hide in shame, but to wear proudly, knowing you became a better version of yourself after it all, Gupta explained.

The swathing of fabric and ethereal fabrics that Gupta is known for took inspiration from bandages, healers, colors in space, crystals, spiritual chakras, kundalini, and the otherworldly. “She and I are twin flames,” Gupta said. “We have literally crossed the fire. It’s as simple as that.”

After the revelatory show during couture week, we caught up with the designer to learn more about his process and studio, and how couture is as much about the process as the final form.

WHITEWALL: You said that you went to Benares recently. Can you tell us about that? How did that trip and experience influence the concept behind the collection?

GAURAV GUPTA: Benares is a city where time collapses, the physical and the metaphysical coexist, where rituals, devotion, and energy flow seamlessly. Walking through its ghats, witnessing the eternal flames of Manikarnika, and immersing ourselves in its sacred chants made us reflect on destruction as a form of renewal. Those very chants held a deeper resonance for us—they were what Navkirat and I would listen to when she was in the hospital, a grounding force in moments of uncertainty. I wanted to embed that essence into Across the Flame, allowing it to carry both the weight of endings and the promise of beginnings. It pushed us to explore textures that feel charred yet reborn, silhouettes that move like rising embers, and layers that echo the spirit of transcendence.

WW: You also said that one of your brocades has the śloka. Can you tell us more about its significance?

GG: One of our Banarasi brocades carries a śloka from the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 47: “You have the right to perform your duty (karma) only, but never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction.” Woven into the fabric, this verse becomes more than just text—it becomes energy, a philosophy you can wear. It speaks of surrender—of creating without attachment to outcome. Couture, for us, is exactly that, a devotion to craft, where the process holds as much meaning as the final form. By embedding this śloka into the weave, we wanted the textile itself to carry intention—to become a reflection of resilience, transformation, and the power of action.    

This verse from the Bhagavad Gita resonates deeply with us. It speaks to the essence of creation—without expectation—surrendering to the process rather than the outcome. Couture, in its purest form, is that kind of offering. We pour our energy into sculpting every piece, every stitch, every detail, knowing that the impact is beyond our control. This collection—more than any before—was about surrender and letting the fire guide us.

Gaurav Gupta Sees Fashion as Power

WW: You’ve said that you don’t think in 2D—you think in 3D or 5D—considering your wearer’s feelings, vulnerabilities, thoughts, and confidence. What, in your mind, is the wearer of this collection feeling and thinking,?

GG: The wearer is stepping into their power. They are embracing their scars, their transformations, and their own evolution. There’s a quiet confidence in knowing that every challenge they’ve faced has shaped them—that strength isn’t just about armor but also about fluidity. They are feeling untethered, elevated, and aware of the energy they carry.

“There’s a quiet confidence in knowing that every challenge they’ve faced has shaped them,”

—Gaurav Gupta

WW: You’ve said that you draw your inspiration in shape from the elements—like clouds, wind, and water. What elements inspired you this season?

GG: Fire, undoubtedly—the way it consumes, purifies, and then gives way to something new. The accident was our moment of destruction, but it also became the spark for transformation. We channeled that duality into silhouettes that flicker like flames, molten surfaces that feel raw yet fluid, and layered energy fields that wrap the body—each piece capturing the tension between devastation and rebirth, just as we experienced it.

WW: How do you like to find these shapes—is it sketches, photography, draping, letting the material speak?

GG: It usually begins with a feeling, an energy I want to channel. From there, I sketch but more often, I sculpt directly on the form. Draping is a dialogue, the fabric tells me how it wants to move. Sometimes, we create structures first, casting metals or shaping materials to hold a certain energy before even considering how they’ll sit on the body. It’s instinctive, an organic process of discovery. I relay these thoughts to my team through sketches, references, and conversations, but a lot of it happens in real-time, hands-on, as we refine each piece together.

Dressing Couture Up or Down

WW: For your Fall 2024 collection, you said that you took to heart the desire from clients to wear something they can dress up or down. How do you see your work in conversation with your clients?

GG: Couture has always been about individuality. We’ve seen our clients take sculpted gowns and style them with combat boots or layer embroidered jackets over denim. That excites us—when couture lives beyond the runway. With Across the Flame, we pushed versatility further. The structured denim corsetry, the detachable draped chains, and the embroidered pieces, they allow for fluid interpretation, where the wearer makes them their own.

“Couture has always been about individuality,”

—Gaurav Gupta

WW: You’ve been described as a rule breaker and said that you don’t fit into a box. How do you maintain that sense of freedom in your work?

GG: By never settling. The moment something feels predictable, we move in a different direction. Couture is our playground. Whether it’s casting metal into wearability, embedding sound into fabric, or fusing Indian tribal jewellery, we constantly challenge what’s possible. Freedom comes from not being afraid to destroy what we’ve built before.

WW: How do you hope to inspire freedom for your clients?

GG: By making them feel limitless. When you wear something that challenges gravity, that feels like an extension of your energy, it shifts how you move, how you carry yourself. We want our clients to feel that, whether it’s through fluid draping, metal breastplates, or the energy embedded in each detail.

WW: You said that early on, growing up, your creativity came from daydreaming, drawing, imagining, getting lost in flowers and clouds. How did those daydreams lead you to fashion?

GG: Fashion, for me, was never just about clothing; it was about creating worlds. Those daydreams, those moments of staring at moving clouds or tracing patterns in water, shaped how I see design today. The idea that form is never static, that it’s always evolving, directly feeds into our couture.

WW: Drawn to designers like Comme des Garçons, Vivienne Westwood, and Alexander McQueen, you went to Central Saint Martins. You said coming back to India in the mid-2000s had its challenges, but that it was a moment when India was ready for a cultural shift. What has it been like to be at the forefront of that revolution?

GG: It’s been exhilarating. When we returned, the conversation around Indian fashion was largely about tradition. But India has always been more than that; it’s also innovation, philosophy—a collision of the ancient and the futuristic. Our work has been about amplifying that duality—taking Indian craftsmanship into a new dimension. Seeing the global landscape now embracing that perspective is incredibly rewarding.

Gaurav Gupta Breaks the Binaries of Indian Design

WW: In the past almost two decades, what about this cultural shift has excited you?

GG: The breaking of binaries. Indian design is no longer confined to nostalgia; it’s expansive, rebellious, futuristic. The fact that a draped sari-gown can exist alongside sculpted metal couture and both feel equally Indian—that is the shift we’ve been waiting for.

WW: You have such a vision for fantasy and the future. How would you describe your own fantasy of the future? What does it look like, what does it feel like?

GG: A world where form is fluid, where the boundaries between fashion, art, and energy dissolve. Clothing that interacts with the body’s emotions, that shifts with mood, that carries meaning beyond ornamentation. A future where couture is not just worn but lived.

“A future where couture is not just worn but lived,”

—Gaurav Gupta

WW: You describe this concept of “future primitive.” How do you see the traditions of India as a vehicle for imagining the future?

GG: India is one of the few places where the past and the future coexist seamlessly. Rituals from thousands of years ago are still part of daily life, and yet innovation thrives. That’s what “future primitive” is—honoring the depth of where we come from while catapulting it forward. Whether it’s embedding ślokas into textiles or reimagining tribal jewelry into couture, it’s about evolution, not nostalgia.

WW: What is the future you’d like to see?

GG: One where design is intuitive, where it connects to something deeper. Where fashion is not just about how it looks but how it makes you feel, how it moves with you, how it shapes your presence in the world. And as for the brand, we want our physical footprint to increase globally, bringing our vision of couture to more spaces, more cultures, and more people while continuing to push the boundaries of craftsmanship and innovation.

WW: How do you maintain your own sense of freedom and ability to daydream?

GG: By staying curious. By being okay with unlearning and relearning. By letting myself be moved—whether that’s by nature, by poetry, by a single line of a śloka. The moment we stop feeling, we stop creating. That’s why we dream.