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The discovery of fire by the homo erectus some two million years ago sparked our evolution and the early beginnings of human civilisation. In many ways, fire is foundational to our existence, revered and deified within India and across the globe. And yet, it is a symbol of mass destruction, bringing chaos to everything it touches, impossible to hold, and out of our control. This complex balance of death and rebirth and the transformation it brings is at the core of renowned designer Gaurav Gupta’s latest collection, ‘Across the Flame’.
Eight months ago, when a candle fell and caused a fire accident in Gupta’s atelier, his life and relationship were forever altered. His wife, poet Navkirat Sodhi, suffered severe burns on over half her body, landing her in the ICU for almost three months with just a 50% chance of survival. Gupta himself also retained injuries from trying to douse the flame with his body. The traumatic incident was the beginning of the couple’s transformation, in not just a physical, but emotional and spiritual sense.
The couple had always considered each other “twin flames”– a term coined by Plato in his iconic text ‘The Symposium’, to represent two halves of a single, shared soul and being. However, after the fire accident, Sodhi said they bonded, “beyond the physical dimension.” This transcendence brings us ‘Across the Flame’ on several levels: through pain, through healing, and through their love.
Gupta channelled this harrowing but transformative experience into his art and brought it to the global stage at Paris Haute Couture Week. The show opened with Sodhi performing an original poem as she walked down the runway in a corseted sheer cream gown and cape, the burn scars on her arms and legs proudly on display. Her moving performance led into a collection of looks that masterfully played with colour, form, and texture to represent the journey Sodhi and Gupta endured as a result of the accident.
“I am thunder, I am a tectonic plate, I am the wishing and the rain. I am the leftover, I am the main, the whole of being that is yours to claim. Taller than you, your mind. Smaller than you, your pain. Corrupt your soul to believe you stand only to gain.”
Navkirat Sodhi at Gaurav Gupta’s SS25 Paris Fashion Week Show
In one look, a model’s torso and half her face are encased in melded gold, her arms and legs hidden under a dark fabric in what seems like a representation of the fire’s power and aftermath on Sodhi’s body. Others have grand, swooping silhouettes that resemble engulfing flames and offer stark contrasts between bright tones and black to represent charred remains. In some instances, fabric is tied and wrapped like the bandages that covered the majority of Sodhi’s body during her recovery.
Though the entire collection is gorgeous, two looks stand out in particular. In the first, two models walk down the runway with their arms around each other, draped in a vibrant orange fabric that ties the two together to represent the twin flames of Gupta and Sodhi. Then there’s the closing look, where the model, entirely bejewelled over her arms and torso, resembles the universe itself. Her gown extends above and encircles her, like the centre of a galaxy. She is transcendent.
Gupta’s work is the best that fashion has to offer. It’s art; it’s storytelling; it’s profound vulnerability and resilience brought to the global stage.
Learn more about the ‘Across the Flame’ collection here.
