River Island's latest Design Forum collaboration comes from London Fashion Week's playful and always sparkling Ashish creative director and founder, Ashish Gupta.

However, unlike previous participants Sibling, Eudon Choi and Zoe Jordan, who designed separate womenswear and menswear collections, Ashish has taken a fresh approach to the initiative by being the first to promote a gender-neutral collection.

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The 15-piece collection embraces a fun and playful quirkiness across loungewear, outerwear and dresses. Featuring Ashish's signature glamour in the form of sparkly slip dresses, fridge-magnet alphabet sweats and embroidered pyjamas with humorous slogans such as 'sick of all this chic' and 'good in bed', as well as over-sized sleeping bag puffa jackets.

Describing his collection as 'something lazy and a bit dreamy', Ashish wanted to inject a sense of humour yet deliver an easy-wear concept. He aimed to give shoppers 'something relaxed enough to slouch around the house in, yet stylish enough to be taken out'.

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No stranger to high-street collaborations and having previously designed with Topshop, Gupta said he was drawn to the project because 'they've given me creative freedom and all their resources, which allows me to make my work accessible to a much wider audience', adding, 'I think it's great to be able to bring a fashion point of view to a wider audience by being able to design and produce it for a more accessible price.'

Similarly to previous Design Forum launches, the Ashish x River Island collection will launch via a short film at London Fashion Week this September 2017.

The range will then go on sale exclusively on River Island's website, with prices ranging from £30 to £180.

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From: Harper's BAZAAR UK