The year designers added new chapters to the India fashion story

This was the year of too many fashion trends but none shining brightest. Ample instances signalled Indian designers’ resolution to ensure the world considers India a hub of design and innovation rather than a manufacturing centre—global collaborations like Barbie x Anita Dongre, H&M x Anamika Khanna and Rahul Mishra x Tod’s; red carpet appearances such as Alia Bhatt and Sabyasachi Mukherjee during the Met Gala; and the expansion plans of independent brands with the likes of Gaurav Gupta being available at multi-designer store Neiman Marcus in the US. STAR COLLABORATIONS View Full Image The Barbie Diwali Doll, designed by Anita Dongre This was perhaps the first year the Indian fashion industry had a long series of big-ticket collaborations. View Full Image Part of Tod’s T-Factory project, the collaboration marks Indian couturier Rahul Mishra’s first international outing in the accessories space Even independent names, including Vaishali S., Gaurav Gupta, Anita Dongre and Lovebirds, continued their international march, either opening international retail stores or joining hands with multi-designer stores in the US, Japan, the UK and West Asia. View Full Image Actor Ananya Panday with the late designer Rohit Bal during the grand finale of Lakme Fashion Week, in New Delhi, on 13 October “No archives mean that it is difficult to trace the development of a designer, their trajectory over time and their place in the history of fashion," Divia Patel, senior curator at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, told Lounge in 2022.