Indian Designers Make Their Mark at Paris Couture Week
Indian fashion is having a landmark moment in Paris, with celebrated Bollywood costume designer Manish Malhotra making his debut at Haute Couture Week after 35 years in the industry, and Indian embroidery artisans stepping into the global couture spotlight through Paris-facing ateliers. The appearances reflect a growing recognition of India's centuries-old textile and craft traditions within the world's most rarefied fashion circles, and signal an ambitious new chapter for Indian design on the international stage.
🎬 Indian Embroidery Atelier Creations By Shanagar Steps into the Paris Couture Spotlight
A video feature distributed by FCCE and published on Yahoo on August 11 turned the lens on the Desai family, described as the masterminds behind the prestigious embroidery atelier Creations By Shanagar. The feature offered viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the intersection of Paris couture and Indian craftsmanship through the Desai family's work, exploring how their atelier contributes to the production of intricately crafted garments that serve one of the world's most demanding fashion markets. The Desai family's embroidery practice, carried through the Creations By Shanagar label, represents a tradition of Indian artisanal skill that has found a growing platform within international haute couture, where hand-embroidered detailing is among the most valued and labour-intensive elements of high-end garment production. Ateliers with deep roots in Indian embroidery techniques have increasingly become sought-after partners for couture houses seeking the quality and distinctiveness that meticulous handwork provides. The feature on Creations By Shanagar places the Desai family's story within this larger arc — Indian craftspeople whose expertise positions them as essential contributors at the highest level of global fashion. As Indian designers and artisans continue to build their presence within the Paris couture ecosystem, the visibility of ateliers like Creations By Shanagar helps establish that Indian craftsmanship is not peripheral to international haute couture but central to it. [2]
🎬 Manish Malhotra on His Paris Haute Couture Debut and 35 Years in Indian Fashion
In an exclusive interview with journalist Shradha Agarwal published by t2ONLINE on August 9, Manish Malhotra reflected on his recently completed debut at Haute Couture Week in Paris — a milestone that caps a career spanning 35 years in Indian costume design and fashion. Malhotra's trajectory, as recounted in the piece, began when he was the preeminent costume designer in Bollywood at a time when Indian film directly set the fashion agenda for an entire generation, long before the age of social media and digital mood boards. Over subsequent decades his label evolved from a designer clothing venture into what observers now characterize as an emerging luxury house. Along the way he also launched Stage5 Production, a platform dedicated to nurturing new artistic voices in Indian cinema. His Paris couture debut was described in the interview as deeply personal — a characterization that suggests it represents not merely a commercial expansion but an artistic statement about where Indian fashion now stands in relation to the global industry. The journalist, who first spoke with Malhotra in December 2004 when he had just launched his label, describes spending an evening with him in Paris shortly before the interview was published, capturing a man whose warmth, simplicity, and dedication to his craft have remained consistent even as the scale of his ambitions has grown dramatically. His Paris appearance signals a wider moment of confidence for Indian fashion on the world stage. [3]