For designers, international fashion week appearances have to fit their ambitions

Increasingly, Indian designers are becoming part of that conversation. This season, Sabyasachi returns to the New York Fashion Week calendar after 14 years, Lovebirds makes its London debut, and Dhruv Kapoor continues to build a presence in Milan. In recent seasons, brands such as AK-OK and Raw Mango have taken their collections to international runways.

While an overseas show does not necessarily translate into immediate business, the visibility can significantly strengthen a brand’s cachet at home. The bigger opportunity, however, lies in having something distinctive to say: the international media and buyers are increasingly looking for an Indian perspective that feels authentic and relevant beyond the domestic market.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to choosing an international fashion week. The right one is not necessarily the biggest, but the one that aligns with a brand’s long-term ambitions and domestic strategy.

“Building a global brand from India should not require leaving India behind. It should strengthen the journey,” says Rahul Mishra. His international journey began in February 2014, when he presented a collection during Milan Fashion Week. In September 2014, he made his Paris Fashion Week debut.

For the next six years, he presented ready-to-wear in Paris each season before becoming the first Indian brand invited to show as a guest house on the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar. “Paris is perhaps the most international of the four in terms of the diversity of houses that participate and the concentration of global press, buyers and decision makers,” says Mishra, who showcased at the Paris couture week in July. “That also makes it the most competitive. A brand should not choose a fashion week simply because one city is considered more prestigious. It should depend on its product, customer, commercial market and stage of development.”

Finding a second home

For many Indian designers, the choice of fashion week comes down to finding a city where their brand can build a long-term relationship. London has attracted several Indian labels in recent years, with Raw Mango and AK-OK both showing there last year, while Lovebirds will make its debut this season.

For Lovebirds, London was the obvious choice. Co-founder Amrita Khanna lived in the city for a decade, and it was also where the label began its international retail journey, first with Matches Fashion, followed by Harvey Nichols and Liberty London.

“The city has a genuine appetite for contemporary design that functions as its own cultural centre of gravity,” says co-founder Gursy Singh. “We want this to generate a different kind of conversation, not just about the brand, but about Indian design and what it looks like today,” he says. “We’re actively steering away from the visual shorthand the West has historically expected when it comes to India.”

Dhruv Kapoor’s choice of Milan is also rooted in his relationship with the city. He began showing at Milan Fashion Week Men’s in 2019 and since 2025, has presented on the women’s calendar. A graduate of Istituto Marangoni in Milan, Kapoor also worked in the city early in his career. “I feel India has evolved from a heritage-only or traditional-craftsmanship tag to a nation that is part of the global conversation with a strong footprint,” says Kapoor.

“The way brands are built today has changed. Social media and digital platforms have made it much easier to introduce a brand to audiences across the world,” he says. More than 60% of his business now comes from international markets with South-East Asia and West Asia emerging as his strongest wholesale regions.

The show the industry will have its eye on, however, is Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s. His return to New York is highly anticipated, particularly given his longstanding relationship with the city. The designer retails through Bergdorf Goodman, opened his first New York flagship in 2022 and recently announced a long-term high jewellery collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 27-year-old brand remains one of the most important voices in Indian fashion to have sustained a global ambition over the decades. If successful, the return could encourage other Indian labels to look towards New York, particularly as some already have a presence at stores such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Indian designers are increasingly finding a place at Dubai Fashion Week (DFW), although it is not part of Fashion’s Big Four. Dubai is a major market for Indian fashion and in many ways an extension of the country’s luxury ecosystem, with its overlapping consumer tastes, climate and cultural affinities.

Manish Malhotra, who has a flagship store in Dubai Mall, has twice been a finale designer, and DFW appears to be looking to another Indian brand for its October edition. Other Indian names that have shown at DFW include Itrh and Kresha Bajaj. “Dubai felt like the most natural first step internationally,” says Bajaj. “It is geographically close to India, but the audience is genuinely global, with people from across the Middle East, Europe and Asia coming together in one place.”

As Indian fashion matures, expanding internationally is a natural next step. But Mishra cautions that it requires long-term, disciplined commitment. “The journey is rarely linear. There will be moments of acceptance, followed by rejection, followed by renewed interest,” he says. “Once a brand enters a global fashion week, it is competing for attention alongside some of the most established and well-funded houses in the world. Consistency and perseverance matter far more than immediate applause.”