印度设计师 Gaurav Gupta 在巴黎开设永久高级定制工作室

October 5, 2026

Photo: Courtesy of Gaurav Gupta

While India’s growing crop of global fashion brands are absent from the Paris Fashion Week schedule this season, Gaurav Gupta is using the moment to highlight a different milestone. Nestled in the city’s 8th arrondissement, the Delhi-born designer’s new by-appointment couture atelier, which sits just two minutes from the Grand Palais, soft-launched on October 2.

While Gupta is a returning fixture on the Paris calendar, ever since his debut in 2023 at Palais de Tokyo, the opening marks his presence in the fashion capital not just during the week, but permanently. Fellow Indian couturier Vaishali S opened a location on Boulevard Saint-Germain in 2024; Sabyasachi and Anita Dongre have stores in New York, and Manish Malhotra has one in Dubai. But Gupta has taken an alternative approach: no shopfront and no footfall to chase.

For an independent label that specializes in couture, the 300-square-meter appointment-only location is built around the VICs who are already asking to meet him in the French capital. “The idea was really born out of that demand,” Gupta says. “It allows us to offer the complete couture service, from viewing and trying the pieces to customization and purchase, in a much more intimate environment.”

Gupta is known for sculptural, surreal couture and occasionwear that often draws on the logic of the sari, accented with hand-embellished details, and reads as wearable architecture, making him a favorite for celebrity dressing — from Beyoncé and Cardi B, to Alia Bhatt and Xin Liu. Beyond the couture business, the ready-to-wear line has about 25 retail partners, including Harrods in London (with which he is partnering on a special Diwali event later this month), Vakko in Türkiye, Bergdorf Goodman in the US, and Bloomingdale’s in Dubai, plus five flagship stores in India. The Paris atelier is intended primarily for couture clients.

Despite the retail reach, Hema Bose, founder and director of brand consultancy Maison Bose, who works with the house on developing its global footprint, says the new atelier answers a different need. “There is also an important distinction between being stocked internationally and having your own physical environment,” she says. A standalone atelier, she explains, lets the house control “the entire experience”, from the space and the presentation of the collections to the service and the storytelling.

From New Delhi to the world, via Paris

Opening during Paris Fashion Week, when editors and stylists are in town, and around four months before Haute Couture Week in January, means the atelier will have established itself before Gupta’s next Paris showing. “The atelier allows us to continue that conversation beyond Paris Couture Week and more importantly to work with our global couture clients throughout the year,” the designer says. “It becomes a permanent extension of what we do in Paris already.”

Unlike Sabyasachi and Rahul Mishra, Gaurav Gupta is entirely self-funded. “Independence has been a very deliberate part of how we have built the brand so far,” Gupta says, adding that he currently intends to remain independent, building the business organically, with the atelier as the next step in that journey.

Gaurav Gupta’s annual turnover is approximately $9.5 million, according to the company — 85% of which is generated in India, while the remaining 15% comes from international markets, including the US, Europe, the Middle East and the UK. Gupta is betting big on Paris. He expects the atelier to add approximately $2-2.5 million in annual revenue, and says international markets will contribute upwards of 20% to overall sales. It’s the first step toward establishing “a more direct physical presence internationally”, he adds.

The space, located in close proximity to many of Europe’s leading couture houses, is run by a dedicated Paris team. Jean-Paul Cornut, who previously worked at Georges Hobeika as director of strategy and development, and at Givenchy and Dolce & Gabbana in retail roles, heads up the team. Gupta plans to spend more time in the city, five to six trips a year, which he says will help him understand the market and work more closely with his international couture clients. Design and production will remain in India, with Paris as the client-facing side of the business.

Will others follow?

When it comes to couture, Paris is still the capital. Charles Yueh, founder of Golden Lotus 1916, a New York and Paris-based fashion consultancy, says the advantage of a space like Gupta’s is control. “When you have a dedicated couture space, you can curate every single look, from the shoes and accessories to the outfit, and allow the client to experience the designer's vision from head to toe,” he explains. Clients, Yueh adds, are flying to Paris for that kind of service, which is itself part of the luxury.

For stylists, the gain is access. Rhia Kapoor, a Paris-based stylist who works with celebrities and on editorial projects, has sourced from Gupta for Marie Claire Arabia, Elle Baltic and Harper’s Bazaar Arabia. “There was one New York-based magazine I wanted a look from him for, but the tight deadline made it impossible,” she says. “Having a Paris-based atelier would allow me to see his collections more frequently, and it would be wonderful for my private clients who travel to Paris specifically to shop. I absolutely think Indian designers should consider a base in Paris.”

With many designers from India counting couture as their speciality, this is a route worth watching, though Bose says it will not suit everyone. Her test is whether the brand already has an international clientele, whether demand is sustained, and whether the business can service that market. “A permanent Paris presence needs to be earned by the business — and more importantly supported by a long-term strategy,” she flags.

If the demand Gupta describes holds, the atelier could show that an independent house from India — or, perhaps, anywhere in the Global South — can establish a fruitful global presence.

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