India’s Creative Legacy Shapes Fashion Across Borders

T
o be on the vanguard of fashion means anticipating where the next significant look will emerge. The designer denim of the 1970s heralded the era of American fashion; the Paninaro subculture of the 1980s put Italian sportswear on the map; 1990s Cool Britannia thrust London front and centre. But as these might be conventional, even obvious birthplaces of seminal fashions, today’s trend-seekers should cast their gaze farther afield—and further back. Like, 700 years back. Which is what costume designer Julian Day did when he put Brad Pitt in an indigo-dyed Tangaliya shirt in F1: The Movie. Created in collaboration with Indian luxury label 11.11 / eleven eleven, Tangaliya is a handloom technique traditionally practised by shepherd weavers and was all but forgotten until recently. That’s partly thanks to a blockbuster movie starring a Hollywood heartthrob, but also thanks to the rising Indian fashion labels that are mining their culture’s heritage techniques to create a look that’s luxurious, authentic and, yes, incredibly cool.

Across India, a new generation of designers is reimagining craft for the modern consumer. Homegrown contemporary labels such as Bodice, Kartik Research and the aforementioned 11.11 / eleven eleven are redefining luxury by centring craftsmanship and storytelling, while blending modern aesthetics and technology.

Among those emerging names is New Delhi-based menswear label Kartik Research, founded by Kartik Kumra in 2021. With a mission to infuse humanity into every piece of clothing, the brand works exclusively with Indian handwoven textiles, from handloomed shirting and quilts dyed with plants and herbs, to intricate hand embroideries created by artisans. The brand also has contemporary bragging rights, including a semi-final finish at the 2023 LVMH Prize, and the patronage of notable tastemakers such as Kendrick Lamar, Steph Curry and Lewis Hamilton.

Kartik collaborates with around 50 different craft clusters across India, fully embracing the logistical complexity that comes with such a collaborative process. “One garment can go to four different artisan groups around the country before reaching the tailoring unit,” Kumra told Vogue Business. “One yarn might be dyed, woven, and then embroidered by different people.”

This commitment was on full display at the designer’s recent fall/winter collection, presented at Paris Men’s Fashion Week in June, where Kartik Research was the first Indian brand to be listed on the official calendar. The collection featured the label’s signature soft-tailored suiting and drew inspiration from iconic fashion moments, such as 1990s Yohji Yamamoto and early 2000s Comme des Garçons. Pieces were crafted from custom linens and wool handloom textiles produced by artisans in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, adorned with intricate embroideries that took weeks to complete. With international placements at leading fashion destinations, including Selfridges in London and Dover Street Market in Paris and Tokyo, the brand had cemented its spot in the fashion narrative.

Even more noteworthy is that the commitment to craft is paying off: in January, Kumra projected that the company would generate US $3 million in revenue, marking an 80 per cent increase over the previous year. Building on that momentum, the brand is set to launch its first women’s line for Bergdorf Goodman in March.

At Delhi-based luxury label 11.11 / eleven eleven, designers Shani Himanshu and Mia Morikawa also turn to local artisans for their contemporary womenswear and menswear made entirely from handwoven, naturally dyed indigenous cotton. Much like at Kartik Research, each 11.11 / eleven eleven garment passes through multiple artisans in rural areas—from weaving to stitching—before it is finished. The label ensures quality control by embedding an NFC microchip in every piece, which contains a unique serial number that records the details of everyone involved in its creation. “Many garments take, on average, around 100 to 120 days to complete, and more than four to five different hands are working on [each piece],” says Himanshu.

But the designers decided to take that tech one step further, into audience engagement. Now, each garment’s serial number can be scanned with a smartphone to unlock “Meet the Maker” video content, which chronicles the piece’s journey from Day 1. “The more the digital world reaches the rural space, the more potential the country will have,” Himanshu says. He predicts that in the next five years, “there will be a lot more aggressive growth within the contemporary fashion industry, and you will see a lot of names [coming] from India.”

It’s a sentiment supported by heritage fashion institutions, too. Earlier this year, the venerable Parisian luxury department store Galeries Lafayette opened its first location in Mumbai, India. Its arrival reflects the country’s growing momentum in the luxury market—India is projected to have the world’s fastest growth in ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the coming years—and reflects a broader shift toward integrating traditional techniques with modern design. A second location is slated to open in Delhi in 2026. “Globally, luxury is shifting toward authenticity and narrative-driven fashion, and Indian designers are uniquely positioned to lead that movement,” Valérie Miègeville, vice president, buying and merchandising at Galeries Lafayette, said to Harper’s Bazaar India.

The embrace of India’s rich craft heritage also coincides with a moment when consumers are craving something deeper than logos as symbols of luxury. “There’s a longing for a smaller scale of intimacy, of something human-to-human,” says Dr. Tara Mayer, a cultural historian specializing in colonized South Asia, materials and aesthetic exchange between India, Britain and France, and associate professor at the University of British Columbia. This shift aligns perfectly with what India has long offered the global fashion market: authentic, finely detailed, heirloom-quality textiles and garments, made by hand and refined over centuries.

India’s legacy of handicrafts is rooted in human touch, passed down through generations over thousands of years of craftsmanship. Handcrafted textile traditions vary widely from region to region, including weaving, embroidery, stitching, printing and dyeing. Among these are time-honoured methods such as kalamkari, the art of hand-painting or block-printing fabric using a pen-like tool called a kalam, and zardozi, a form of rich, metallic embroidery once favoured by royalty. One of the most revered, Banarasi silk, is among the world’s most luxurious fabrics, handwoven for centuries in the northern city of Varanasi from the finest silk threads.

Such rich traditions have not gone unnoticed. Western luxury fashion houses have long relied on Indian workmanship to inform their designs and inspire their creations, sometimes blurring the line between appreciation and appropriation. Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano have all incorporated Indian artistry and cultural references into their collections, including iconic moments such as Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy “saree gown” in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

More recently, Dior has entered a significant partnership with Mumbai’s Chanakya Atelier and School of Craft. Founded by Karishma Swali, the atelier trains and supports local artisans, while serving as a key supplier of exquisite embroidery and textiles to haute couture and ready-to-wear houses worldwide. For the Dior spring/summer 2025 Haute Couture show, Chanakya Atelier created a backdrop of large-scale embroidered textile panels titled The Flowers We Grew, inspired by the artwork of Mumbai-based artist Rithika Merchant.

Yet, true cultural recognition remains a work in progress. Prada, for instance, recently faced backlash after presenting a flat leather sandal that was almost a replica of the traditional Kolhapuri sandal—a design protected by its own GI mark of authenticity. This, notes Mayer, is part of a broader cultural reckoning: “It’s [the result] of the work that people have been doing in cultural history, looking at the damage of cultural appropriation, the disservice it does to communities and the dynamics of who is visible and who is invisible in the production of craft.”

As India’s legacy of creative skill and workmanship continues to gain global recognition, a new generation of contemporary designers is helping to amplify, celebrate and preserve the voices of its craftspeople.

Another participant in this movement is Bodice, a contemporary Delhi-based label that focuses on minimalist clothing for the modern woman, while honouring traditional techniques such as block printing. “A big part of our process is collaboration,” says founder and designer Ruchika Sachdeva, who launched Bodice in 2011. “We design and develop everything in-house, but we also work closely with artisan clusters across India, like Varanasi and Jaipur. We now have a core studio team of about 60 people and collaborate with several artisan groups, depending on the collection.”

Bodice’s aesthetic is characterized by midi dresses with clean lines, sharply pleated trousers and neutral tones. “Minimalism allows for a deeper kind of storytelling,” Sachdeva explains. “When you remove excess, you start to see the beauty in construction, in the texture of the fabric and in the subtle play of colour. India can be maximal in the most beautiful way, but there is also restraint and balance in our traditional garments—the way a sari drapes or the geometry of a dhoti. I am inspired by this understatement.”

Bodice is among a group of Indian designers carried in Galeries Lafayette, along with streetwear label Dhruv Kapoor, sustainable luxury brand Verandah and others. “Indian fashion is finally being appreciated on its own terms,” says Sachdeva. “The Galeries Lafayette store represents that shift. It is a platform that acknowledges India’s design talent as global, not niche.” Bodice’s collection for the retailer includes some of the label’s most finely crafted pieces, including its signature block-printed binding, where blocks are applied directly onto the binding.

This evolution gives Sachdeva hope for India’s future in luxury fashion. “For a long time, Indian craftsmanship was used as anonymous labour or aesthetic inspiration without acknowledgment. But today, conversations about authorship and credit are entering the mainstream,” she says. “There’s still a long way to go, but I do feel that Indian designers and artisans are being seen as equal voices rather than sources to be borrowed from.”