Season after season, Kanika Goyal Label or KGL has made its distinctive presence felt on global runways. Established in 2014, the design house has time and again reimagined cerebral chic, statement neo-luxury, while deconstructing rigid perceptions of tailoring and gender stereotypes. Chandigarh-born Kanika founded the design house upon completing illustrious placements at Prada, Marchesa, and Adidas Group. A graduate of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, India, and Parsons, New York, she harboured an obsession with quality and detail, cultivating a compact design philosophy that saw the birth of the brand.
KGL recently opened its newest flagship store in New Delhi’s tony Dhanmill, embodying the brand language and Kanika’s penchant for brutalist architecture and surrealist art. Designed in collaboration with architect and interior designer Aayushi Malik, the space stands as a bold extension of KGL’s aesthetic universe — angular mirrors, fluid shelving, and rock textures all coexist in harmony, much like the brand’s own play between structure and spontaneity.
Talking to Robb Report India, the designer shares, “The idea was not to just make it like look like a cliche industrial space but also have authentic elements that do narrate the brand ethos. The store has this brand library, a curated nook that displays books, art, and design objects that have been a part of KGL’s creative journey. We did our own interpretation of the classic Chandigarh chair and a bench in the middle of the store.”
Also worth mentioning is the brand’s Spring Summer 26 collection, titled Afterselves, which reimagines reincarnation as a spectacle of ego- a sarcastic ode to vanity, memory, and multiplicity. Drawing from the Hindu philosophy where reincarnation is often imagined as an ascent toward liberation, Afterselves isn’t just what comes after, but what stays behind.
RR: With KGL X Disney collab collection recently unveiled, how did you align your core aesthetic with the Disney codes?
KGL: It was very easy, honestly, because we both are very childlike. We do tap into the very sort of silliness, the playfulness in each collection. Here, it was already present, and we just had to elevate that in a more mature, grungy way. So, it was about creating a product that resonates across generations. All in all, the idea was to just weave a fresh narrative of how people perceive Disney.
RR: You've been showcasing at New York and London Fashion Weeks. How's been the whole experience of taking the brand's aesthetic across a global audience?
KGL: With my background in Italian tailoring, I pushed it into a more experimental space besides recontextualising denim. So even if we've been doing it since day one, I think that really kind of expanded post that. And I think New York gave us that platform in terms of reach to such a large audience, honestly. I remember our Fall-Winter 22 season, which was our first sponsored show featuring new Gen eight designers, who were shortlisted. That was incredible because the kind of stores we got placed in during that time, the scale of visibility we garnered, we understood the magnitude of it, and analysed where it could go.
RR: Kanika, in terms of aesthetics, you've always experimented with unexpected materials like textures like Perspex, mesh, vinyl, so how do you create an interplay of these? Is there a method to your design process when you're conceptualising a collection?
KGL: I think we're just surrounded by so much abundance, so I feel like that just subconsciously trickles down in the work. I mix denim with different fabrics, mash up embroideries, or throw in different sorts of acetate layers, so I think that texture adds drama to the garments.
RR: A lot of designers are indulging in self-reflection, looking inwards. Do you have those moments?
KGL: I just had one of those moments this morning. I’m contemplating doing more title drops going forward and being mindful of what we're creating and selling. There's a lot of pressure from within the industry also. Like when we talk about the new channels, there's a lot of pressure to release collections on time. I do think that at the end of the day, it's a business, we have to follow the format to actually make it to the market at the right time. But I often think, why can't we just skip a season? However, I’ve realised that I want to do title drops, not very expensive lines, and focus on tailored looks and innovative prints.
