Faced with pandemic challenges, here's how Malaysian fashion designer Syomirizwa Gupta, who has worked with the likes of Deborah Henry, Marion Caunter and even Malaysian royalty, is staying in the game
Syomirizwa Gupta lost eight friends in the span of months since the pandemic began. The designer likened the past year to “a perpetual limbo with no closure. It got to the point where I was just numbed with grief,” he shares. “No final good-byes, no more future plans or meet-ups... What a year, right? It made me rethink my priorities, both as a designer as well as a person.”
Recognising that fashion can be used to reflect the times, Gupta took care to double down on his roots and aimed to celebrate inspirations close to home, including its people. From his first-ever menswear line with Naza Group’s joint group executive chairman Datuk Wira SM Faisal, to releasing various homeware products, the designer had been reaching out to various people in the local scene on collaborations.
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“For designers, one of the many challenges the pandemic poses is how to remain emotionally in touch with reality while running a business,” he explains. “People are undeniably more careful about what they spend their money on these days. Which is why now is the time to start reflecting on ourselves [as designers] as well as our business practices, where we start creating things that actually click with people’s current priorities instead of shoving trend after trend down their throats.”
