I’ve lost count of how many times this year someone has sent me a runway look with a message that just says “isn’t this…?” Isn’t this a Kolhapuri. Isn’t this bandhani. Isn’t this mukaish. Isn’t this my nani’s dupatta. And the answer, more often than not, is yes. Indian craft is everywhere in global fashion right now. On the runways, in luxury campaigns, on Pinterest boards labelled “boho summer”.
So people keep asking whether this is finally fashion’s Indian moment. I think it is. But I also think we need to be very clear about which kind of moment it is, because there are two happening at the same time, and they are not the same thing at all.
Moment one: Indian designers on the biggest stages
Let’s start with the part that genuinely makes me emotional. In July, Manish Malhotra showed on the official Paris Haute Couture calendar for the first time, becoming the fourth Indian designer there after Rahul Mishra, Gaurav Gupta and Vaishali S. Think about that list for a second. Couture week is the most elite space in fashion. It’s where Dior, Chanel and Schiaparelli show. And now four Indian names sit on that schedule in the same season.
Rahul Mishra, who first showed at Paris couture in 2020, hasn’t missed a season since. His work is museum-level embroidery that tells stories about nature and philosophy. Gaurav Gupta has dressed Beyoncé and Cardi B, and created custom couture for Lady Gaga and Doechii for their “Runway” music video. Vaishali S has a store in Paris. Sabyasachi has a store in New York. Anita Dongre opened in Beverly Hills. Raw Mango took its saris to London Fashion Week.
Malhotra himself told AFP the representation was overdue, given how long India has worked behind the scenes of the global industry. He’s completely right. And this part of the moment is ours. Indian designers telling Indian stories on their own terms, getting the credit, the press and the clients.
Moment two: Indian craft, without the Indians
And then there’s the other moment. The one where India’s craft shows up on a European runway with a new name and a new price, and the people who’ve been making it for centuries aren’t mentioned at all.
The most famous example is Prada. At its Spring/Summer 2026 menswear show in Milan in June 2025, models walked out in toe-ring leather sandals that were, very clearly, Kolhapuri chappals: a GI-protected craft from Maharashtra that artisans sell locally for a few hundred rupees. The show notes didn’t mention India. Fashion write-ups called them “leather flats”. Harper’s Bazaar India compared it to the turmeric latte treatment, and honestly, I can’t put it better.
Indian social media exploded. And to Prada’s credit (I do want to give credit where it’s due, since that’s the whole point) the brand acknowledged the Indian inspiration and then went further. It partnered with two state-backed leather organisations, LIDCOM and LIDKAR, to make Kolhapuri-inspired sandals in Maharashtra and Karnataka with local artisans, in a limited run of about 2,000 pairs. That’s a real step. It’s also worth noticing that it only happened after a very loud public backlash.
And Prada is just the headline. There have been dupattas sold as “Scandinavian scarves”. There was a bandhani-style skirt sold for well over a lakh with no mention of where the technique came from. Over and over, the pattern is the same: Indian origin, global rebrand, credit misplaced.
The secret that isn’t a secret
Here’s the part a lot of people outside the industry don’t know. India isn’t just inspiring European luxury. India is often making it. Many of the most beautiful embroideries on Western couture and ready-to-wear are hand-done in Indian ateliers by Indian karigars. Mumbai’s Chanakya, for example, has worked with Dior for years, and Dior has credited the atelier publicly, which is how it should be.
But for decades, a lot of this work was invisible. The label says Paris or Milan. The hands were in Mumbai, Lucknow or Delhi. So when people talk about Indian craft “arriving” in luxury fashion, I want to gently point out that it never left. It was just uncredited.
So is it borrowing, or is it appreciation?
I don’t think fashion should be a gated community. Designers have always looked at other cultures for ideas, and some of the most beautiful collections in history came from that kind of curiosity. I’m not asking for a world where nobody outside India can use a mirror or a block print. That would be boring and impossible.
What I’m asking for is simpler. Name it. Credit it. Pay the people. If your collection is inspired by Kolhapur, say Kolhapur. If your embroidery is made in India, say so with pride. If your brand is making millions from a technique, make sure some of that reaches the communities who kept the technique alive. That’s the difference between appreciation and extraction. One builds something. The other just takes.
Our part in this
I also want to turn the mirror around a bit, because this isn’t only about European houses. How often do we, as Indian consumers, ignore our own craft until a Western brand puts it on a runway? How many of us suddenly wanted Kolhapuris again after the Prada show, when they’d been sitting in our local markets the whole time? How many celebrities champion “vocal for local” on Instagram and then front campaigns for brands that never credit Indian artisans?
Real support looks less glamorous. It’s buying from the weaver directly. It’s paying properly for handwork instead of bargaining it down to nothing. It’s wearing Indian designers to the big events, not just to the wedding. It’s knowing the names of our crafts and saying them out loud. The global spotlight matters, but the moment will only last if it’s built on a strong home market that values its own.
My verdict
Is this fashion’s Indian moment? Yes. Without a doubt. Indian designers are more visible, more respected and more commercially successful globally than they have ever been, and that deserves to be celebrated loudly. And there’s a line of thinking in the Indian industry right now that I find really powerful: in the age of AI, India’s great export is the real thing. Art, craft, culture and the human hand. I think that’s absolutely right.
Is the West also borrowing again? Also yes. Both things are true at once. The difference now is that we’re watching, we’re vocal, and we have our own designers on the same stage. Borrowing without credit is getting harder to get away with. That, to me, is the most important shift of all. India isn’t just the world’s moodboard anymore. It’s in the room, and it’s taking notes.
Leave a Reply