From new-age designers reinventing fashion to centuries-old handlooms, textiles, and design systems, it's an epicenter for everything.
Image courtesy of Swadesh Online
text by Parrie Chhajed
The Western fashion industry is increasingly recognizing the importance of sustainability, inclusivity, and individuality, values that India has prioritized for centuries. Here, each region has a fabric, a drape, and an aesthetic of its own. It is through the balance of this diversity that we establish harmony.
India has been one of the origins of the slow fashion movement, where every household has sarees and garments that are decades old but still worn with pride. There are over 2,000 documented craft clusters, and 70% of India’s textile production is handwoven or artisanal. India isn’t adapting to sustainability; it’s returning to its roots.
“India never needed to be taught sustainability. It was always our way of life. We just need to remember what we already know.” — Bandana Tewari (Editor of Vogue India).
In recent years, Indian voices have not just entered but are actively shaping the global fashion dialogue.
With global ambassadors like Alia Bhatt for Gucci, Priyanka Chopra for Bulgari, Deepika Padukone for Cartier and Louis Vuitton, Sonam Kapoor for Dior, Ananya Panday for Chanel, Gauravi Kumari for Jimmy Choo, and recently KL Rahul, one of India's top cricketers, named brand ambassador for Paul & Shark are helping spotlight India on world stages.
Indian celebrities with growing online platforms are expanding India’s visibility as a cultural capital. The film and fashion narrative has been shaped exclusively by the West, and this signals a long-overdue dismantling of Western-centric fashion hierarchies, making space for Eastern and Global South narratives.
In addition, Indian designers like Rahul Mishra at the Paris Haute Couture Week (the first Indian designer), Gaurav Gupta’s sculptural gowns on international red carpets, Falguni Shane Peacock’s edgy fusion shown at New York Fashion Week, as well as Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Manish Malhotra, Anita Dongre, and Tarun Tahiliani, are representing India’s style narrative on runways worldwide.
These designers are doing an exceptional job of showcasing fashion heritage from back home while seamlessly blending it with contemporary silhouettes. They have pulled out textiles and techniques from India's intense fashion archive, like brocade, aari, cording, and combined them with international garment construction techniques.
Beyond household names, India’s rising crop of indie labels—like Bodice’s minimalism, Dhruv Kapoor’s futuristic tailoring, or NorBlack NorWhite’s color-forward storytelling—are quietly redefining what global fashion can look like.
They are reinterpreting homegrown fashion aesthetics and styles to bring them to mainstream global fashion consumers. The stylistic identities are resonating deeply through the diaspora as more people are opting for sustainable fashion initiatives, slow fashion, and unique designs that help represent individuality and personality. Not a trend, but traditions reimagined.
In addition, online fashion platforms like Aza, Pernia's, and Ensemble are curating Indian designers for global discoverability and access.
We have also seen international celebrities adorning Indian designers—like Zendaya in Rahul Mishra’s moonlit sari gown at NMACC, which marked a defining moment in the mainstreaming of Indian couture; Naomi Campbell walking the ramp for designers like Manish Malhotra; Paris Hilton vocalizing her love for the subcontinent’s sartorial scene and wearing sarees by designers like Tarun Tahiliani and Papa Don’t Preach on numerous occasions; Beyoncé at Ambani’s Holi party; and the Kardashians at the Ambani wedding.
We’ve also seen Indian-inspired styles in Western pop culture—in Eat Pray Love, 27 Dresses, Sex and the City 2, and more.
This recent gain in media recognition marks a historic repositioning of Indian fashion as not only an anchor in current trend cycles, but a noteworthy innovator in contemporary couture. couture-worthy
Adding to this global momentum, India Weekend at Lincoln Center in New York this September, will be hosted by the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC), aiming to spotlight India's cultural and fashion prowess on a world stage. Featuring runway shows, textile exhibits, and performances, the event will not just be a celebration, but a statement of India’s influence on the global creative map.
India is not just an emerging market—it’s a global contender, a vibrant and rapidly growing sector, experiencing significant shifts in consumer behavior and technological advancements. With a surge in Gen Z and aspiring luxury buyers, the market has exponential potential.
It's a mix of traditional and modern fashion, influenced by both domestic and international trends.
With a projected growth from $102.8 billion in 2022 to $146.3 billion by 2032, India’s fashion market isn’t just expanding—it’s exploding with potential, driven by Gen Z consumers and conscious luxury buyers.
Western Luxury houses and premium prêt-à-porter brands are not just launching new stores in India; they are releasing their first original Indian collections.
India's handmade textiles are embedded in every aspect of its identity. The history of these fabrics dates back at least 6,000 years. Courtly splendor was proclaimed by sumptuous fabrics, while religious worship still finds expression through sacred cloths. Centuries of cross-continental trade have been shaped by the export of Indian textiles and patterns, from the Romans obsessing over cotton muslin to Chinese traders exchanging silks.
Furthermore, Indian textiles like Kutch embroidery and Banarasi are also recognized as UNESCO crafts. A fashion legacy woven in resistance, resilience, and reinvention.
With textiles like Kanchipuram, Madras checks, ikat, and Mysore silk in the South; to thicker wool and Mughal-inspired textiles like pashmina, phulkari, and kinnauri in the North; the West, being home to royals and the rich, has a lot of printed and embroidered textiles like leheriya, bandhani, gota patti, aari, ajrak, and paithani. In the East, intricate weaves like Baluchari from Bengal, Eri and Muga silk from Assam, and vibrant motifs from Odisha form the soul of indigenous luxury.
India’s fashion story is a living, breathing archive of its culture. This diversity serves as a platter of inspiration for not just Indian designers, but for all designers working within the legacy fashion capitals.
“India is the only country where they still make clothes by hand, and not only the embroidery. Everything is handmade: the weaving, the dyeing, the stitching.” — Karl Lagerfeld
Global designers have for years taken inspiration from India for their collections—like Jean Paul Gaultier’s SS2013 Haute Couture collection, often referred to as his ”Love Letter to India collection,” Dior’s 2023 India show at the Gateway of India, and Schiaparelli’s use of Indian embroidery techniques. These collaborations weren’t merely symbolic, but true partnerships with Indian artisans.
Today, India is also creating, exporting, and developing collections for many of these couture brands.
In this ever-evolving landscape, the pulse of Indian fashion beats to the rhythm of change, giving rise to myriad trends and innovations that are set to redefine the very essence of style. Indian fashion today is not just being seen—it’s being celebrated. In every drape, dye, and design, India is claiming its rightful space in global fashion history—not as an influence, but as an origin point.