21st Century Indian Fashion: Sabyasachi, Manish Arora, Rahul Mishra & Global Brands

Indian fashion in the 21st century has become a story of designers who took traditional craft to global runways and international retailers who set up shop across Indian malls and high streets. From bridal couture rooted in centuries-old embroidery techniques to fast fashion racks stocked with European labels, the last two decades have reshaped how India dresses and how the world sees Indian design. Here’s a closer look at the designers and brands driving this transformation.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee: King of Indian wedding fashion 🔗

Sabyasachi Mukherjee trained at the National Institute of Fashion Technology before building what is today considered one of India’s most influential design houses. His work is instantly recognisable: heavy use of traditional Indian textiles, intricate hand embroidery, and a visual language that feels both old-world and distinct from anything else on the runway.

His costume work for the Bollywood film Black earned him the National Award for Best Costume Design in 2005, a milestone that established him as a serious name beyond bridal wear. Over the years, he has also designed costumes for several other Hindi films, adding a cinematic dimension to his fashion career.

Save The Sari and craft revival 🔗

Beyond the runway, Mukherjee has been vocal about protecting India’s handloom heritage. He launched the Save The Sari project, retailing hand-woven saris and channelling proceeds back to weaver communities, with the stated goal of making Indians more aware of the country’s own textile resources. The initiative has since grown into a broader craft-preservation effort: Mukherjee’s house employs over 3,000 craftsmen across craft clusters spanning states including Kashmir, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

What started as a fashion label has since expanded well beyond clothing. The Sabyasachi brand today extends into wedding jewellery, lifestyle products and even interior design collaborations, reflecting a shift among top Indian designers from being pure fashion houses to full lifestyle brands.

Manish Arora: India’s colour ambassador on global runways 🔗

If Sabyasachi represents heritage-rooted luxury, Manish Arora represents the maximalist, avant-garde side of Indian design. An alumnus of NIFT Delhi, Arora launched his namesake label in 1997 after graduating and taking part in India’s first-ever fashion week.

Arora’s international breakthrough came through a series of firsts. He made his international debut in London in 2005 and began showing at Paris Fashion Week in 2007, becoming one of the earliest Indian designers to consistently show on that calendar. His standing in French fashion circles grew further when he was inducted into the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers in 2009, a body that governs French ready-to-wear fashion.

Creative director at Paco Rabanne 🔗

In one of the most significant appointments for an Indian designer at a European house, Arora was named creative director of Paco Rabanne in early 2011, taking charge of the French label’s womenswear line. He remains widely recognised on the global stage, having been featured among the world’s most influential designers on the Business of Fashion 500 list, which tracks the people shaping the global fashion industry.

Rahul Mishra: The International Woolmark Award winner 🔗

Rahul Mishra’s path into fashion is unusual: he studied physics before pursuing apparel design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. That grounding in craft and material science shows in his work, which is built around sustainable, hand-embroidered textiles.

Mishra’s defining moment came in 2014, when he became the first Indian designer to win the International Woolmark Prize, an award with a history of honouring designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent. The recognition placed him firmly on the international map; he was soon named to the Business of Fashion 500, and remains, as of writing, the only Indian designer to have won the Woolmark Prize.

A regular at global fashion weeks 🔗

Mishra began showing at Paris Fashion Week from 2015, and has gone on to present collections at fashion weeks in London, Dubai and Australia as well. He later became the first Indian designer to be invited to showcase at Paris Haute Couture Week, cementing his position among a small group of non-European names on that exclusive calendar.

Gaurav Gupta: Sculptural couture with international acclaim 🔗

Gaurav Gupta studied at NIFT Delhi before heading to Central Saint Martins in London, one of the world’s most respected fashion schools. His graduate collection there earned him “The Future of Couture” trophy at Rome Couture Fashion Week, an early sign of the direction his career would take.

Gupta’s design language, described as sculptural and future-facing, was shaped in part by his time working with British avant-garde designer Hussein Chalayan following his graduate collection. This experience fed directly into the construction-heavy, form-driven aesthetic that now defines his eponymous label. His early work also drew attention outside India, with his collections debuting in markets such as Japan and Russia alongside his home launch at India Fashion Week.

Global fashion brands making India home 🔗

While Indian designers were building international reputations, the reverse movement was also underway: international fashion retailers steadily entering the Indian market. Fast fashion names such as H&M from Sweden, Zara and Mango from Spain, Forever 21 from the United States, Vero Moda from Denmark, and Promod from France have all built a visible retail presence across Indian cities, tapping into a young, increasingly brand-aware consumer base.

This is not a one-time wave but a continuing trend. Market analysis has pointed to over 300 new stores from international brands expected in India in the years ahead, and more recent industry tracking shows the pace accelerating further. 27 global brands entered the Indian market in 2024 alone, nearly double the pre-pandemic average, according to data cited by the India Brand Equity Foundation.

Why India is attractive to international retailers 🔗

The appeal is straightforward: a large, young population with rising disposable incomes and growing exposure to global trends through social media and e-commerce. As consumption slows in more saturated markets like Europe, the United States and China, brands are increasingly viewing India’s expanding middle class as one of the few genuine growth stories left in global retail. This has pushed several international names to move beyond simple retail partnerships and explore local manufacturing to serve Indian demand more efficiently.

Together, these two forces, homegrown couturiers earning global recognition and international brands setting up in India, sum up what makes 21st century Indian fashion distinct. It is no longer a closed, domestic industry looking outward for validation. It is an industry that exports talent to Paris and London runways while importing global retail formats to its own high streets, often at the same time.

What do you think? Do you think Indian designers like Sabyasachi and Rahul Mishra have succeeded globally by staying rooted in Indian craft, or by adapting to international tastes? And as more global brands enter India, will they end up shaping Indian fashion trends, or will Indian consumers push these brands to adapt to local preferences instead?

References

1. https://www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/the-sari-warrior-1.459420
2. https://www.borderandfall.com/karigar/designer-sabyasachi-mukherjee-craft/
3. https://fdci.org/member/sabyasachi-mukherjee/
4. https://fashionexhibitionmaking.arts.ac.uk/manish-arora-exhibition-life-is-beautiful/
5. https://www.businessoffashion.com/people/manish-arora/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahul_Mishra
7. https://www.businessoffashion.com/people/rahul-mishra/
8. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/lifestyle/fashion/rahul-mishra-how-he-won-the-west
9. http://beopenfuture.com/community/gaurav-gupta/
10. https://fdci.org/participant/gaurav-gupta-15/
11. https://www.iiad.edu.in/the-circle/international-fashion-and-india/
12. https://www.ibef.org/news/the-world-s-top-fashion-brands-are-redrawing-their-maps-around-india