Gold meets glamour in this exquisite House of Masaba creation, featuring intricate zardozi embroidery.

In the intricate tapestry of Masaba Gupta’s journey as a designer, there are threads of resilience woven alongside her eclectic designs. From her brand’s inception as the ‘House of Masaba,’ she encountered skepticism, with a senior designer’s scoff at her audacity to liken herself to the grandeur of Gucci. This skepticism echoes in the repetitive questioning about the racism she confronted in her upbringing, a narrative she’s often revisited in interviews.However, in my recent Zoom interview with Gupta coinciding with the digital release of Vogue India’s May-June cover featuring Simone Ashley in a bespoke House of Masaba creation, it’s Gupta the designer who commands the spotlight. Reflecting on her creative evolution, Gupta acknowledges the necessity of pivoting, despite past missteps, as she observes a shift in the Indian consumer’s openness to experimentation.

Gupta elucidates that her signature prints, once her hallmark, now take on a subtly subversive and intellectually nuanced form in Ashley’s three ensembles—a tutti frutti candy one-shoulder column dress, a gold bralette and skirt adorned with intricate zardozi embroidery (Gupta’s personal favorite), and a whimsical glass toffee kurta boasting eclectic motifs from geometric shapes to aquatic creatures and cameras.
The ethos of House of Masaba’s design philosophy, Gupta elucidates, has been shaped over a decade and a half of continual evolution, embracing and reinterpreting Indian aesthetics without being bound by convention. Her debut collection, “Kattran,” was a patchwork of narratives, laying the foundation for her departure from conventional interpretations of Indian fashion.With her upcoming collection, “Kinda Kooture,” slated for release on May 27, 2024, Gupta aims for timelessness, ensuring that pieces like the tutti frutti dress or the whimsical gold charms retain their contemporary appeal even in the future. Drawing inspiration from Henry Clarke’s iconic 1966 shoot with Veruschka in Rajasthan for US Vogue, Gupta emphasizes the cyclical nature of fashion history, albeit reimagined to resonate with the zeitgeist. Amidst the whirlwind of Ashley’s cover feature and the impending collection launch, Gupta is preparing for another significant milestone—motherhood. While she meticulously plans her days, Gupta acknowledges that motherhood will inevitably reshape her priorities. No longer drawn to the allure of parties, Gupta views motherhood not merely as a career shift but as a profound life transformation, anchoring her in a newfound sense of tranquility and purpose.