Is the sequin perhaps the most glamorous product of evolutionary biology? Psychologists say humans are drawn to things that sparkle because once our ancestors searched for light reflecting on rivers in their search for water. Now we search for sparkle elsewhere – a diamond ring, a disco ball – and find new meaning in it beyond survival. Like glamour, or value, or – in the case of Ashish Gupta, a fashion designer renowned for his artistry with sequins – freedom.
This month sees Ashish’s first retrospective, showcasing 20 years of his label’s hand-embroidered sequined clothes, like the dressing gown in zardozi, a south Asian embroidery method using gold thread, and the pink T-shirt with the slogan “Fall in love and be more tender”, and sparkling pieces worn by stars such as Beyoncé, Rihanna and Debbie Harry. Walking into his London home feels like stepping backstage – he’s replaced his front-door panels with red glass, so we stand bathed for a calm minute in dark light. He designed the kitchen countertops to house huge planters, and lush trees grow up towards the glass roof. There are stone busts, Indian glass paintings and piles of books, but not a single sequin. They’re all, presumably, on the work currently being hung at the William Morris Gallery in east London. “The curator said,” Gupta grins, “‘This is really interesting for me, because it’s the first time I’ve ever worked with a living artist.’ And I said, ‘Well, we’ve still got three months, you never know what might happen!’” Revisiting his archive at the age of 47 has been a strange experience, “a little bit surreal, actually. You kind of time travel. In some ways it feels as if a lifetime has gone by quite quickly.”
