OCTOBER 3, 2023
2023 is the year of fashion for India and the growing presence of Indian designers and models at Paris Fashion Week only confirms that Indian high fashion is being served haute, worldwide! Paris Fashion Week is a powerful and dominant player in the haute couture stakes that determines and forecasts fashion industry trends. Fashion shows have been taking place in Paris since 1945, but Paris Fashion Week was only launched in October 1973 by the French Fashion Federation.
2023 commenced with The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode Paris (FHCM) inviting Indian designer, Gaurav Gupta to the Paris haute couture calendar, where he showcased Shunya, his SS23 debut showing at Paris Haute Couture Week at the Palais de Tokyo on India’s Republic Day. The collection, with the deep indigo blues and stark blacks, whites and grey, had the world lauding his genius that’s intrinsically Indian, yet imaginatively international in style and spirit. And he followed it up with his AW24 showing, Hiranyagarbha with a fresh, popping green in Paris in July.
Dior marched into India with a majestic Pre Fall 2023 show, an ode to the exquisite hand artistries and the rich textiles and colours of India by Dior’s Creative Director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, at the Gateway of India on March 30. The show’s scale, grandeur and execution in India were unparalleled, and in step with Dior’s new landmark energy, with FRF flying in for one of the biggest shows to be held in India, including Delphine Arnault, who made her first appearance in Mumbai after being appointed Dior’s Chairwoman and CEO in February, 2023.
The launch of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) on the first day of April in Mumbai was a veritable runway, showcasing the best of Indian fashion and Indian designers for three straight days. Almost everyone at the launch wore an Indian designer, but it was Gigi Hadid in an Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla sari who was the cynosure of all eyes with her ‘Golden Goddess in India’ energy.
August has got to be the most important month this year for Indian design with Beyonce wearing Gaurav Gupta thrice on her highest grossing Renaissance tour. She wore a bespoke Infinity Crystal Bodysuit in North Carolina, the Athena Sari gown in Atlanta and the Moondust Crystal Orbit gown in Atlanta again on August 15th, both of which were from his AW 24 Hiranyagarbha collection. Beyonce is releasing a film, Renaissance World Tour, that hits theatres on December 1st, documenting her ‘very liberating’ tour from its beginnings in Stockholm, Sweden on May 10th, 2023 to its conclusion on October 1st, 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri. It goes without saying that Gupta’s designs will be watched on the big screen by another pool of Beyonce fans, making fashion history not just for himself, but for the Indian design and craftsmanship fraternity. He is the only Indian designer that has been accepted by the world for his modern Indian and Western silhouettes. Who’d have thought Beyonce would wear a Gaurav Gupta sari gown on tour? No one, yet she did. Indian representation at its finest!
Beyoncé (wearing Gaurav Gupta) performs onstage during the “RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR” at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on August 11, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood)
Indian designers have been expanding their businesses with prominent Indian investors like Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) and opening more stores across the country and overseas. And those that are not opening internationally are retailing through department stores around the world. The first quarter of the year saw Anita Dongre opening her largest store in Mumbai in Kala Ghoda on February 4th, followed by Gaurav Gupta on March 3rd, Shantanu and Nikhil on March 17th and Sabyasachi on April 16th – all in the Kala Ghoda district. Anita Dongre was the first Indian designer to open a flagship store in New York in May 2018, which was followed by her first store in Dubai this March and a second one on West Broadway in New York in May. Manish Malhotra is set to open his first international store in Dubai in December. The Middle East can’t get enough of him after Rekha’s fire and desire Vogue Arabia cover, a first for an Indian, looking resplendent and ethereal wearing his designs and jewellery. It’s a historical Indian cover and a collectible at that, given she did one after 15 years. Never has an Indian actor on the cover of a foreign fashion magazine created such a blitzkrieg around the world with the clothes, the quintessential Kanjeevarams, styling and jewellery. And, her flawless face! You can’t read her even if you know every language in the world because Rekha only speaks Rekha, but you could see the Rekha you wanted to in the majestic Indian clothes, as could the world.
And as Indian designers seek foreign presence, international luxury brands are reciprocating the fervour by vying for real estate to mark their presence in India, with Parisian department store, Galeries Lafayette, scoring a great location in Fort, Mumbai. Lafayette is being brought to Mumbai by the Aditya Birla group and hopes to open in the city 2024. The Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) has also incorporated a new company in partnership with Christian Louboutin SAS (CL) in India, making it a fantastic addition to their fashion portfolio in the country.
From the days of Gandhi giving us khadi, Indian designers have moved into the haute couture era of Indian fashion around the world with exquisite and incomparable Indian craftsmanship and handiwork. Every luxury brand is handmade in India, but Made In India is never mentioned on the labels. Well, the time has come when Indians do not need the validation of a mere label because Indian designers are telling the world what Made In India stands for in design, vision, aesthetic and craftsmanship. And they are are being worn around the globe.
All the talk of millennials and zillennials will come to nought if they are not bought, but I see Indian designers turning their millions into billions very soon.
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Rubina A Khan 