So much for British creativity. Ashish Gupta entrusted the art direction of this lookbook to former Fashion East-ers James Theseus Buck and Luke Brooks of Rottingdean Bazaar, along with the photographer Annie Collinge. This is the same trio that won this year’s Grammy for best recording package.
However they seemed to be phoning it in on this project. The designer was too diplomatic to dwell. He explained that after enduring some gut-wrenching business turbulence following the demise of Matches Fashion he decided to leave London for India, where his family and factories are based, and cloister himself in design.
“It was very therapeutic, actually. Because making the clothes is the best part of this for me. And the workshop in India was like an ideas lab: we tried something new every day.
” Revived, he returned to England with this collection: “And trying all these new techniques had made me think of the power of audacity, experimentation and lightness. These are the same attributes that I think you need to survive as an independent in this industry, especially in the UK right now. So that’s why I wanted some lightness in this shoot.
” Oh well. The banal, generic casting was just one disappointment: there was no life here at all. And while this was a golden opportunity to showcase the sex in Sussex, the Hollywood in Hangleton and the raunch in Rottingdean, the final imagery was entirely bereft of glamor.
The Boulder Brighton climbing wall is no substitute for the Wal.