Ashish has been on the London Fashion Week scene for almost ten years so he’s a complete master when it comes to balancing cool factor, craftsmanship and talkability. Take his most recent spring/summer 2015 collection for example, which included a grey sweatshirt emblazoned with a sequinned portrait of a loved-up Kimye and a pair of slouchy rolled-up boyfriend jeans covered in the faces of One Direction. Oh, and a sweatshirt decorated with Miley Cyrus in classic tongue stuck out pose. ‘I thought it would be cute to do something you would wear to a concert if you were obsessed,’ Ashish explains as we sit down to chat in his surprisingly neat studio in Hackney, Madonna’s Material Girl playing in the background.
It was actually the sight of artists creating ‘kitsch but cool’ celebrity portraits in Leicester Square which got the Delhi-born designer thinking about the lost-art of fanzines and the way that we now use Instagram to pay tribute to the celebrities we love. ‘People live their lives online and it’s really sweet how they post their fan art as part of a real obsession,’ he analyses.
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It seems that Kanye - fashion lover that he is - was pretty chuffed to see himself in sequin form on the sweatshirt. ‘He rang me after the show actually,’ Ashish laughs. 'He was so nice. I'd spoken to him a few times before. I was worried because I didn't want anyone to take it the wrong way - it was meant sincerely. He was really sweet and said thank you.' Watch this space to see if the exercise goes completely meta with Kim or Kanye actually wearing their own fan jumper.
Celebrity obsession wasn’t the only issue on Ashish’s mind this season. He also decided to use only black models in his show. ‘I didn't start out trying to be political,’ he explains. ‘I always have diverse castings and I'm conscious to the fact that there's not enough representation in the industry. That needs to change, people need to be more open minded’. His decision came in the wake of letters sent to the organisers of all four major fashion weeks by The Diversity Coalition - which includes supermodels Naomi Campbell and Imam - calling for a more representative mix of models on the catwalks.
‘It's fascinating really because if I'd used all white girls, nobody would come to me and ask why,’ Ashish points out, leading me for a moment to question why exactly I’ve raised the question. A world in which an all-black catwalk doesn't attract attention is, sadly, unimaginable. 'It just shows that there’s an issue. I thought it would be interesting to have that dialogue.'
Something he perhaps didn’t bargain for is the abuse he got online as a result. ‘I couldn't believe so many people were trolling me on blogs and social media. It was shocking.' If a positive and well-meaning statement on race by a fashion designer attracts vitriol then that seems like sad proof of just how ingrained racist attitudes still are.
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Ashish might have a reputation for putting on madly fun shows with OTT styling but his clothes are also astonishingly successful. He’s worked with Topshop on an amazing ten collaborations over his career - remember those LED Buffallo Boots from earlier this year?He is also one of the top selling designers at boutiques like Browns where they cannot restock his pieces fast enough. Meanwhile, he’s only been on Net-a-Portera week but lots has already sold out, including a £2,145 tulle ballgown and £1,270 sequin splashed jeans.
You may have worked out by now that sequins are Ashish’s thing. He uses them to embellish jumpers and denim, make minidresses and even to lend serious luxe to trackie bottoms. Everything is made by hand in his Delhi workshop where he spends three months a year working on new techniques. 'When I started my label I wanted everything to be done by humans,' he says. 'It's romantic to think that 12 grown men worked on those jeans for a week. That's why fashion's expensive.' He leaves all his clothes unlined so that the intricate handiwork can be admired by customers.
So how does a girl pull off jeans with '300,000 sequins' all over them? 'Denim works with everything,' enthuses Ashish. 'You can wear them to parties with a T-shirt or grey cashmere jumper and it works. With trainers even they're super special and with heels they're REALLY dressed up.' He sums up his philosophy like this: ‘You always have to do the most fucking amazing version of whatever it is you’re doing. In my world what would the denim my girl wears be like? Extravagant!' Being an Ashish girl sounds pretty fun, doesn’t it?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.