Exclusive: Gaurav Gupta’s Paris Fashion Week show saw all three—catharsis, crying and couture

Throughout history, designers have celebrated their muses in their designs and concepts. Think of Amanda Harlech for Karl Lagerfeld and Audrey Hepburn for Givenchy. In the Indian context, we can now associate Sodhi with Gupta, too. And while they’ve been mislabelled as husband and wife in popular media, the designer reveals that their relationship defies definition. “I am gay and she is straight, but we’ve been living together for 25 years. We met in high school and fell in love, so we decided to be each other’s primary life partners,” revealed Gupta.

Their connection not only speaks to unconventional forms of love but also serves as the root of their interspersed life-partner and designer-muse dynamics. On the personal front, after the incident, Gupta realised what it meant to be a true caregiver, “I would hold her hands while the dressing was done daily, it was the most painful and traumatic thing for her every day. She’s my twin flame, that’s the least I could do,” he added.

After countless prayers and spiritual healing sessions, the duo channelled their heart and physical ache into something creative on the professional side. “I’ve been in a state of shock and haven’t really had time to process anything because I’ve had to immediately dive back into work. But the thought process behind this collection and the response make it worth it. So many people reached out sharing their accidents and relating to the suffering, it’s much bigger than us now. We’ve become examples of hope,” he said.

Fresh off his show, Vogue India connected with the designer live from Paris and talked about everything between catharsis, crying and couture. Ahead, read excerpts from the interview.

Vogue India: Was there anything you were nervous about before the show?

Gaurav Gupta: Navki’s itching fits. Between the chaos of getting all the models ready, my focus was still on her comfort, so I had my best friends keep an eye on her. Since she has to wear compression garments at all times, we decided to only remove them and get her dressed ten minutes before everyone was seated including Megan Thee Stallion. Luckily, everything went amazingly right from the moment she stepped out.

VI: What was the energy like post-show backstage?