INTERVIEW: Aparna Dasgupta, Designer and Fashion Activist

Aparna Dasgupta is a Fashion Activist. She believes in quality tailoring and the curves of the female body. She knows there is a masculine and feminine side to every person and is not afraid to mix those design elements in her line, Dasgupta. She believes in vinyl ball gowns and daily admiration for the Empire State building. Aparna thinks clothing should accurately represent the soul, and her clothing is made to make women feel strong and extraordinary. I had the pleasure of sitting down with her to learn more about Dasgupta, see her studio and witness a Fashion Activist at work.

You interned for intimate apparel brands Wacoal and Flora Nikrooz. How did you start off in intimate apparel? How has it influenced your work both technically and aesthetically?

I ended up in intimate apparel by a fluke. We had to pick specializations at FIT by the end of our first year. I tried to get into eveningwear because I had a taste for the opulent and the fancy. My second choice was the very avant garde specialization, and intimate apparel was my third choice. As with most things, I did not get my first or second choice and I ended up in intimate apparel.

 I found out about the intimate apparel field of study because I took a job at a pajama company when I first moved to the city. I was working the week of the NYC blackouts during summer of 2003. I was new to the city and wasn’t going to walk three hours from 32nd Street to Brooklyn at the age of 18 alone. So I went home with one of the assistant designers and had to stay at her place in Queens for three days. She was a former intimate apparel major and showed me all of her work during those 72 hours. I was pretty much sold at that point. I believe that things happen for a reason, that you get guided into your path as you go. Nothing is wrong as it happens.

 The fact that I pay so much attention to fit comes directly from intimate apparel. For three years at FIT, I focused on fitting the body the way it actually is instead of putting clothes on it to change its appearance. I am so much more conscious of the female figure itself. I saw the beauty of both the body and the clothes that go on it. Females have curves and it’s time someone made clothes that enhance them. Just because I want to wear a men’s jacket doesn’t mean it has to fit like a men’s jacket (laughs). So that’s where the intimate apparel really helped - the fitting for me is second nature, it’s intuitive now. The way I show off the curves comes through aesthetically as well.

Dasgupta is "curiously futuristic and romantically neo-vintage." When you look at your line, what vintage elements have inspired you? What about your line is futuristic?

The vintage aspect to me is in the physical garments and not so much the design. You can see it in my workmanship and the fabrics I choose. Clothing isn’t made the way it used to be with the emergence of cheaply manufactured “fast fashion.” My line is made in New York City and I only produce about 10 pieces of each style to maintain the craftsmanship. And I don’t scrimp on the details that make a garment special. From antique finishes to gorgeous, expensive buttons, I will spend money on manufacturing because that’s what makes the clothing gorgeous.

 The futuristic element is in the seaming because it’s very body conscious. Most standard seams and measurements used today were developed to get a better yield at the factory. Rather than following these mass-production standards, I examine the human body and place the seams in a way I feel the body should be addressed. The seams in Dasgupta garments are made to work with the body as opposed to against it.

Growing up, I loved sci-fi films and crazy costume ideas that came out of the fantasy genre. So on a completely different note, those aesthetics have inspired the futuristic elements as well.

That idea of futuristic seaming is so amazing. It’s also very interesting that you draw inspiration from fantasy and sci-fi media. What films or art in that genre have inspired you?

The Matrix was a big one for the use of very structured garments. When it first came out, there was an article about how they used vinyl for Trinity’s outfit, and I have the cutout from the magazine to this day. This article talking about PVC costumes was riveting to me at that young age, so I started designing a lot of garments with this fabrication. The idea of a vinyl ball gown was not, and still is not strange to me at all.

I also draw a lot of inspiration for that futuristic, fantasy look from music. In the Japanese metal music scene, they wear crazy costumes that can be described as a blend of gothic, cyber-glam and punk styling. I’m influenced by Japanese animation too, lots of nerdy places (laughs). I envision what the world should look like in 50 or 100 years and draw from it what I want to.

 I don’t think those things are nerdy at all! What else inspires you? Are there specific artists or other fashion designers?

I have a relatively photographic memory, so I don’t trust that I won’t accidently design something I’ve seen in the past. Because of that, I do not inundate myself with visuals to get inspiration. I draw primarily from music because the histories of music, art and fashion all walked the same path. You listen to baroque music and see corsets and big skirts. I listen to music and let it dictate the flow of the clothing I design.

Do you listen to all types of music or do you lean towards certain genres?

I listen to a very large range. I love the ambient, shoegaze movement and otherworldly electronica. I am a big fan of neoclassical. This past year I started listening to calmer music because of the large amounts of stress I was under. Trip hop is and was a huge influence in my designs as well.

Prior to trip hop, I listened almost predominantly to Japanese metal and European Industrial music. I loved it. It was loud and melodic and sounded like people were banging weird, spacey instruments together. I love the electric guitar, so the rock into metal scene was a big inspiration for me. That’s where the edge, the hardware, on the clothing comes from.

Sometimes when you think of metal, you immediately associate the genre with obnoxious trench coats and oversized combat boots, yet your designs contain nothing of the sort. How did you filter out the existing fashion in these music genres to create your own mood?

For me, it was always a fashionable take on the gothic music. What mattered was that the music itself spoke to me, and I distilled from it when I wanted to because that’s how I am with everything in life and my designs - I will take what I like and use it and everything else is pushed to the side. My hair used to be bright blue, and I didn’t do it to rebel. I sincerely wanted it to be blue. I work as a senior brand manager at a corporate design firm for my day job, and I still have blue streaks in my hair. That to me is fashion activism.

Funny you mention that because in you bio it says you’re a “Fashion Activist.” I was wondering what this means for your craft and the clothing you design?

For me, Fashion Activism is about taking a good, hard look at what people think is the purpose and value of clothes and how they’re made. I want to break through some of the red tape and boundaries that exist in clothing manufacturing. It’s a mentality rooted in wanting to do things a new way. I want to make the clothes differently, think about them differently, and I want consumers to think about them differently too.

Activism is a fight for a cause, and one of my causes is fit. The masses dictate everything, but there are exceptions to the  norm – people who want clothing that actually fits like it was custom made. Clothing must accurately represent the soul, and I don’t find clothes I like a lot of the time. There is something missing and there must be someone else out there who thinks that too. And a big part of it is the gender and archetypes definition. A frill is girlie, a hard line is masculine. Put them together, and you get something that addresses both genders because someone may be girlie but have masculine traits too.

I noticed you use both masculine and feminine elements in your clothing, structured pieces mixed with ruffles and softer lines. So does this difference in aesthetic describe two different sides of you and two different ways you like to dress?

Yes, except it’s not two different ways it’s actually just one way. I want it all at once, and I can’t find it shopping in most stores.  No one wants to be all frills or all hard lines because you instantly get boxed into a certain style. I don’t find the perfect combination, which is why I said ‘someone has to do it.’ That’s the Fashion Activism at work.

Fashion Activism is an amazing and powerful conviction. Do you find it difficult to keep your line up with this very strong vision and mentality you have?

Not at all, that’s actually the least challenging part for me. I have a treasure trove of sketches from when I decided I wanted to be a fashion designer at nine years old until now. There were garments I designed in grade school that contain similar characteristics of fashion sketches I have done recently. Although my skill has greatly developed and evolved, I see cohesiveness in the designs I’ve done all throughout my life. But it took me years to realize it. Designing a collection I considered cohesive was my biggest hang-up before, during and immediately after school. It took a good, hard look at my designs and a few really close, creative friends to convince me that my collections have always been unified.

You can learn more about Dasgupta and shop the line at AparnaDasgupta.com.