Beyond the West: How Indian Designers Are Redefining Global Fashion

At the start of November, last year, in the tony Selfridges Private Lounge, in London A—an intimate haven for clients who prefer to preorder couture—Manish Malhotra’s Inaya World Collection unfolded like a quiet declaration. The room was full, the mood unmistakably international, and there was a certain elegance in how his clothes held their own against the storied luxury houses surrounding them. Glamorous, assured, unmistakably Indian, they did not ask for space; they occupied it. His handbags, conceived in India and crafted in Italy, were endlessly photographed. One inspired by a lehenga, with its frill unfolding into the perfect clutch, captured the essence of the Indian design story rooted in India and refined everywhere else. Just a few weeks earlier at The Dorchester, Rahul Mishra hosted a gathering that was large, lively, and impeccably attended. London’s tastemakers arrived draped in his work, each outfit a testament to how deeply his vocabulary has travelled. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, radiant in red, commanded the room, yet the centre of gravity remained the designers behind the brand: Rahul Mishra and Divya Mishra. Not long after, Gaurav Gupta swept into the city for a collaboration with Chivas Regal for limited-edition bottles.

Meanwhile, the U.S. saw the opening of Anita Dongre’s Beverly Hills store in LA. Co-hosted by actors Mindy Kaling and Poorna Jagannathan, the event drew the city’s cultural vanguard. On the East Coast, April 2025 marked the launch of menswear label Kartik Research’s standalone store. Beyond the rave reviews his collection received, it is worth noting that his clothing is now stocked in some of the world’s most influential retail destinations from Liberty London to Dover Street Market stores in Paris and Tokyo. And we cannot forget that Sabyasachi’s 5,800-square-foot showroom in New York’s West Village has firmly established itself as an essential landmark for fashion and design. While this flurry of openings suggests a clear Indian takeover, what is equally evident is that despite their vastly different aesthetics, all these brands share a commitment to artisanal artistry. Simply put, India is trending—and trending hard.

If the Indian fashion industry’s global takeover sounds like a hectic travel itinerary, it is not far from the truth. Expansion has been both physical (with an impressive and growing retail footprint) and literal. Every week, there is news of international celebrities including Shakira, Cardi B, Beyoncé, and Jennifer Lopez in Indian couture. Our designers are seen at major international events from the Met Gala to Vogue World (think Manish Malhotra and Sabyasachi Mukherjee walking the red carpet at the 2025 Met Gala, wearing their own creations). What once felt extraordinary has become inevitable: Indian fashion is no longer asking to be seen—it is shaping the frame. 

What makes this moment different is not the applause, but the alignment. The world is moving towards India just as Indian designers step outward. This is not export, it is exchange; not aspiration, but arrival. If I had to pinpoint the tipping point, I think it would be Dior’s monumental pre-fall 2023 show at the Gateway of India that acknowledged the lineage of craft shaped by Chanakya International and the Chanakya School of Craft. After that, it felt as if a dam had burst, and the world was recognising India as a market that was no longer sending fashion out into the world; instead, it was drawing the world in.

The world is awakening to India’s soft power: cinema, music, food, festivals, colour, vibrancy. But the deeper shift is in how Indianness is finally being understood. For too long, it was flattened into costume: colour, embellishment, or exuberance. That was the criticism levelled at us by our international licensees, during my days in the magazine business, as they tried to make us more bland, more western, more homogeneous. Today, Indianness is recognised as a method: a system of making, guided by craft, community, slowness, and sustainability. It would be a mistake to overlook a population that the world is now so eager to court.

As India takes its place on the global stage, it’s important to remember our foundation. A Kanjeevaram-inspired gown may dazzle abroad, but it is the traditional weave that carries the truth: the fall of the silk, the weight of the border, the motifs that breathe history. If we are to move forward with confidence, we must remain deeply rooted in where we come from. Innovation without memory is amnesia. A quote that has continued to haunt me is from Sri Lankan author A. Sivanandan’s brilliant novel When Memory Dies (1997): “When memory dies, a people die.”

India’s most powerful luxury audience, however, is at home. Young, confident, culturally fluent, this new generation is shaping global tastes, while firmly sitting in their own identity. These are not trends; they are inheritances held in the hands of generations who value their heritage. So, let’s stop asking why India doesn’t have its own luxury brands like Louis Vuitton or Dior. Instead, let’s question whether that model is even relevant to us.

Western maisons emerged from their industrial and cultural histories. India is forging its own path. Our luxury is older, deeper, more intimate. Muga silk predates every European house we revere. Chanderi, Kanjeevaram, Paithani: these are not textiles; they are living archives.

The next chapter will be defined not by geography but by authorship, in terms of who owns the story. For decades, Indian craft fuelled global luxury from behind the scenes.

Today, Indian designers finally stand at the front of their own work, with the chance to build ateliers, archives, systems, and vocabularies that belong entirely to them. A case in point is Ritwik Khanna’s show at Mayo College, Ajmer. The alumnus showcased his label Rkivecity on campus, resurrecting and reinterpreting the school uniform as he sent out students, models, teachers, and alumni on the ramp to the score of a brass band. It was a luminous reminder that fashion’s future is brightest when it is anchored in what only India can offer.

The world’s attention is generous, but it is also fleeting; what endures is ownership. And Indian designers are uniquely placed to claim it —not by emulating the West, but by offering an alternative to it. A slower, deeper, more rooted luxury that feels increasingly relevant in a world exhausted by speed.

This is India’s moment —not because the world has noticed us, but because we have, finally, noticed ourselves.