Ashish N Soni

Fascinated with fashion since his teenage days.. Ashish N Soni had the good fortune of giving wings to his passion and worked under iconic fashion designer Rohit Bal while studying at the National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi. He was highly praised during his debut showing at New York Fashion Week and continues to be relevant on the global fashion map with his focus on sharp tailoring and subtle hand embellishment.

Few know Ashish N Soni's tryst with fashion began in his teenage years. Yes, he tailored his own school uniform before he turned sixteen and by his own admission has always been fascinated by patterns, fine fabrics and hand embroidery. The young man had the good fortune of giving wings to his passion and worked under iconic fashion designer Rohit Bal while studying at the National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi. 

He was part of a generation that pioneered fashion design in India. Right from the launch of his eponymous luxury label in 1992 Ashish Soni was focused on designing apparel that is comfortable and transcends beyond seasonal fashion. Per FDCI: ‘Propelled by intrinsic talent, the designer has achieved several firsts and has remained sincere to the exploration of the finest cuts, silhouettes,  innovative treatments, versatile fabrics, unusual textures all tied together beautifully with an underlying simplicity. The less is more philosophy has kept us glued to his innumerable collections which are global in nature...'

Ashish held his first exclusive menswear show in 1999. His experimentation with fabrics and combining them with unusual textures and textile treatments brought him the invaluable opportunity of conceiving embroideries for The House of Francois Lasage in Paris. Per Voice Of Fashion: 'He has been an integral part of the journey fashion has traced through the subcontinent. And remained calm in the midst of all its chaos. His fashion has followed suit, evolving from slick men’s separates in his first decade to embellished couture in the early 2000s, and finally building up to exactingly-tailored formalwear in exquisite wools more recently.'

Per Pernia's Pop Up: 'Ashish N Soni is among the few designers who can use wool stylishly and appealingly. It all started when the designer worked with French hairstylist Charlie Sellary and intensely studied and learned about this seed of unusual layering. He was considered by many as the designer ahead of his time.'

Ashish is a prolific Indian designer who has showcased at New York Fashion Week and exhibited his collections in prestigious stores across the world including Selfridges in London. What's more when he debuted at New York Fashion Week in September 2005 he was hailed as ‘one of New York’s new discoveries' by New York Times reporter Suzy Menkes. 

The designer celebrated 25 years in Fashion by showcasing the depth and versatility of a restricted black palette in his showing at Amazon India Fashion Week. Per Explosive Fashion: 'It is interesting how the designer has highlighted the potential of the colour by using thirty textured black fabrics so that nothing appears flat and boring! All fabrics are in tone on tone-engineered jacquards or have been hand worked to create a three-dimensional look… The designer started by looking at classics but redefined them with an artistic experimental approach.'

Post-pandemic Ashish Soni is giving a lot of weight to sustainability. The core team focuses on wasting less, buying less fabric and consuming it wisely. They are also trying to see where they can incorporate zero-waste production processes and have moved away from plastic packaging in favour of cloth bags. The designer is also consciously taking a step towards recycling with packaging.

Luxury label Ashish N Soni reframed Indian fashion, not only as a platform for self-expression but as an integral means to preserve, celebrate and evolve textile tradition, wisdom and craft. Of course, there's nothing unintentional about the yin and yang that formed the crux of his collections; this restrained side of his personality is the more interesting one.

New Delhi- based fashion designer Ashish N Soni merges futurism and heritage, a marriage that has become characteristic of his eponymous luxury fashion brand alongside sharp tailoring, traditional artistry and globally- relevant modern silhouettes.  His aesthetic is best described as the sleek uniform for the city-centric ma as he offers classics redefined with an artistic experimental approach. 

Ashish Soni retails occassionwear for men and women and his collections focus on sharp tailoring, experimental design and subtle hand embellishment. The perfect example is perhaps his Spring Summer 2017 collection new developments include Puddle Pant- per Explosive Fashion- "an adaptation of flared pants with dramatic silhouettes at the bottom, bringing in visual drama and a break from conventional menswear. But some of Soni's simpler propositions were the most appealing. As an example, the voluminous trousers with wider leg and longer length, that gives the appearance of gathered folds at the hem. It's certainly the solution to the modern man's need to stand out in an increasingly crowded fashion milieu."