Luxury Special: India’s next fashion frontier lies beyond the red carpet, says New York Fashion Week founder Fern Mallis

HAVING WATCHED INDIAN FASHION evolve since the 1990s, I find the transformation particularly exciting today. For years, Indian designers were largely celebrated within the country, but that is changing. Many of India’s leading designers have finally moved to Europe and America, earning recognition on some of the world’s most famous red carpets. Several have also opened world-class boutiques, both in India and overseas. To me, this represents something significant: Indian talent is finally receiving the international recognition it has long deserved. The question, of course, is whether Indian designers are ready to achieve the kind of global scale that icons such as Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake, and Kenzo Ikeda achieved. I’m not sure if we are seeing Indian fashion houses reach the extraordinary global reach of Comme des Garçons or Issey Miyake yet. But they are making genuine inroads, and that is important. Global fashion is a long game, and establishing a presence in influential markets is the first step. Having created New York Fashion Week (NYFW), I have always understood the power of fashion weeks as platforms for visibility. They can generate enormous publicity, attract attention and build followers on the all-important social media platforms. But I am less convinced about their commercial importance. A fashion show can create noise, but noise does not necessarily translate into sales. For Indian designers looking to establish themselves internationally, I would therefore place greater emphasis on the physical retail experience. Opening a boutique in Europe or the U.S., supported by the right PR team and a clear brand message, can be more powerful than simply participating in a major fashion week. There is something uniquely persuasive about getting customers into a store, allowing them to see and touch the clothes, try them on and, ultimately, walk out having made a purchase. A boutique also allows a designer to tell a much bigger story. It becomes a physical expression of the brand — the designer’s passion, experience, aesthetic, and philosophy. Customers are not simply buying a garment; they are entering the designer’s world. The next challenge for Indian fashion is to broaden that world commercially. Indian designers have extraordinary strengths in couture, bridal, eveningwear, and festive dressing, but global success will require a more diverse wardrobe. I would like to see more commercial, daytime, and genuinely wearable clothing. Designers need to create collections that can become part of a woman’s or man’s everyday wardrobe, rather than being restricted primarily to weddings, celebrations, and red-carpet moments. Perhaps Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s recent show for NYFW is a perfect example. The show opened with Supermodel Christy Turlington in a denim shirt, jeans and a trench coat, with Sabyasachi’s gorgeous jewellery in the perfect backdrop — a bare, white, minimal space. The collection had just the right amount of trim, beads, embroidery and borders without overwhelming the clothes. A stunning collection for the Western market, loved by everyone who attended. That commercial evolution needs to be supported by creative social media and carefully targeted events in the right markets. Designers should introduce themselves and their collections to tastemakers, influencers and, most importantly, people who have the potential to become customers. Visibility matters, but ultimately fashion is a business built on people wanting to buy and wear clothes. This is also why I remain somewhat sceptical about the obsession with influencers. I would like to see the data demonstrating that they actually make a meaningful difference to sales. Influence, reach, and engagement are useful metrics, but the ultimate measure for a fashion brand is conversion. The same pragmatic view applies to the popular Indian tradition of having a celebrity walk the runway as the final ‘showstopper’. I don't think it's necessary for a show to end with a celebrity taking the final walk. In the West, celebrities are more often part of the audience than the runway. But if this is what the Indian press expects and generates coverage, there is nothing inherently wrong with it, but provided the celebrity is genuinely a loyal client of the designer and not simply a famous name attached to the show. What is particularly encouraging is the growing number of Indian designers who are beginning to establish their credentials internationally. Sabyasachi has clearly achieved a remarkable level of global recognition, with his signature boutique in New York and, more recently, his groundbreaking jewellery collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rahul Mishra has made a significant breakthrough with his exquisite couture presentations in Paris, while Gaurav Gupta has successfully conquered Hollywood’s red carpets. Manish Malhotra is making his own inroads through Met Gala dressing and appearances, while Falguni Shane Peacock has also created an impact in the U.S. Perhaps the most fascinating development is the increasingly visible Indian influence at the Met Gala each season. It signals that Indian fashion is no longer simply looking outward for validation. It is beginning to participate in the global fashion conversation on its own terms. India may not yet have produced a fashion house with the global scale of Comme des Garçons or Issey Miyake, but the foundations are being laid. The next phase will be about converting visibility into commercial success, red-carpet recognition into lasting brand equity, and exceptional Indian craftsmanship into a truly global fashion business. That, ultimately, is where I believe India’s greatest opportunity lies. (Views are personal.)

Luxury Special: India’s next fashion frontier lies beyond the red carpet, says New York Fashion Week founder Fern Mallis

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