Surreal designs

I am a fashion designer,but my works are most inspired not by another designer but by a painter,the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte. I cant single out a specific painting by him as the best; I like all his works. I remember a Magritte painting in which birds are flying; in that work,the texture of the birds blends with the texture of the sky,thus challenging the human eye. Magritte had rightly said about his works that what you see is not what it is. He challenges our notions.

The most striking aspect of his surrealism is that it is simple and direct. I think that has made his works stay on with me since 2001,when I was first exposed to them. I was a student at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London,and I saw images of his works in our library. I was lost in them.

My fashions philosophy has been inspired by Magrittes surrealism,right from my first collection which questioned why a jacket must just be a jacket. Why cant a dress be a jacket and vice versa?

I like contradictions the way Magritte did and you can see them in my designs.

– As Told by Gaurav Gupta