\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tDan Finley with Ashish Gupta<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tFinley called 2025 \u201can ideal time\u201d to bring back Designers at Debenhams, a trailblazing initiative from the early 1990s that saw talents such as Julien Macdonald, Matthew Williamson, John Rocha, and Jasper Conran create dedicated collections for the store.<\/p>\n \n\tThe partnership enriched the department store\u2019s fashion credibility and provided a steady revenue stream for the designers, many of whom were able to keep their own brands afloat as a result.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think in these challenging economic times, it\u2019s all the more important that we can democratize style, break down barriers between catwalk and the closet, and make great designer-led products available at accessible price points,\u201d Finley added.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tSketches for the Ashish Designers at Debenhams debut collection.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Ashish\/Debenhams<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe executive described Ashish as \u201ca dynamic, energetic and exciting\u201d pick for the Designers at Debenhams\u2019 relaunch.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI couldn\u2019t think of anybody better. He\u2019s renowned for his unapologetic glamour, wit and creativity, and it sets the perfect tone for a bold new era for our brand and this initiative. There is so much more to come as we go forward. Designers at Debenhams has always been great at championing British design for both established designers and new and upcoming talent,\u201d said Finley.<\/p>\n \n\tFor Gupta, who launched his namesake label in 2001 after graduating from Central Saint Martins, working with Debenhams has been a rewarding experience for both parties.<\/p>\n \n\tHe first came across Designers at Debenhams in 1995, when he was doing a course at the London College of Fashion, whose Oxford Street campus was only a few blocks away from the Debenhams flagship.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMy earliest memory with it was walking past those massive advertisements outside the store when they were doing the collaborations. It was a time when I was forming my own impressions of what things were. So I guess I have always associated Debenhams with those collaborations. It\u2019s actually quite lovely that I\u2019m in that position doing that very same project now,\u201d said Gupta.<\/p>\n \n\tWith Boohoo Group\u2019s extensive global supply chain, Gupta said he didn\u2019t feel he had to compromise for the range.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThey\u2019ve got such a great team of people who have managed to do quite a lot in quite a short amount of time, without actually feeling like we\u2019ve had to cut corners or pull back. Just to be able to have the level of freedom within that has been really wonderful,\u201d said Gupta.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Debenhams range is manufactured by a network of factories across Asia. The designer\u2019s personal favorite in the collection, a multicolored, oversized faux fur coat, is made in China.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThey have this wonderful dialogue with the factory, where it\u2019s very collaborative. I think that\u2019s such a nice thing. Sometimes with factories, it can be difficult,\u201d said Gupta, whose main line often involves labor-intensive embroideries done by local artisans in India. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe have this fantasy of doing this coat with a graffiti effect, but we didn\u2019t quite know how to do it. The factory eventually came up with this new technique of digital spray paint on fake fur after many experiments. I think it\u2019s exciting to be able to make things like that and have them accessible to a whole new audience,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \n\tAt the same time, one can argue that the teams at Debenhams, as well as Boohoo Group, benefited from working with a well-known designer like Gupta, since he was able to produce an accessible collection with a unique voice by fine-tuning what\u2019s already in place.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tSketches for the Ashish Designers at Debenhams debut collection.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Ashish\/Debenhams<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe new Designers at Debenhams is different from Boohoo Group\u2019s previous fashion collaborations, which were more celebrity-led with the likes of Paris Hilton, Kourtney Kardashian, and Megan Fox working with the company.<\/p>\n \n\tGupta described the new range as \u201cfun, colorful, and sparkly.\u201d In addition to the faux fur coat, it includes new iterations of Ashish\u2019s signature sequin designs, as well as \u201cbeautiful knitwear that I\u2019m really pleased that we\u2019ve been able to do,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \n\tHe also expects those designs to work harmoniously with the pieces in his main line, the designer said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LONDON \u2014 Backed by current owner Boohoo Group, Debenhams is bringing back its popular Designers at Debenhams initiative, with Ashish Gupta, a master of camp, glamorous sequin creations as the debut talent. A small edit from the upcoming collaboration will be revealed as part of Ashish\u2019s spring 2026 show on Monday. The official campaign is set to be released on Oct. 1, while the range will be available to shop from Oct. 9 exclusively on Debenhams.com with prices ranging from 65 pounds to 195 pounds. Debenhams is a British retail institution, which had more than 178 physical stores at its peak and a robust beauty offer. Like many other U.K. retailers with large store estates, it fell on hard times. In 2021, the fast fashion giant Boohoo acquired it out of administration, and turned it into an online department store. According to the retailer\u2019s chief executive officer Dan Finley, Debenhams has grown into \u201ca profitable and highly cash-generating\u201d business with 650 million pounds-plus in gross merchandise volume and more than 15,000 brands in its ecosystem. Its customer base ranges from ages 17 to 70. Dan Finley with Ashish Gupta Finley called 2025 \u201can ideal time\u201d to bring back Designers at Debenhams, a trailblazing initiative from the early 1990s that saw talents such as Julien Macdonald, Matthew Williamson, John Rocha, and Jasper Conran create dedicated collections for the store. The partnership enriched the department store\u2019s fashion credibility and provided a steady revenue stream for the designers, many of whom were able to keep their own brands afloat as a result. \u201cI think in these challenging economic times, it\u2019s all the more important that we can democratize style, break down barriers between catwalk and the closet, and make great designer-led products available at accessible price points,\u201d Finley added. Sketches for the Ashish Designers at Debenhams debut collection. Courtesy of Ashish\/Debenhams The executive described Ashish as \u201ca dynamic, energetic and exciti…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6033"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wwd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Image-of-Dan-Finley-Ashish.jpeg?w=300\")
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