2025: The year when fashion became just a big performance

If there’s one word to sum up what fashion offered this year, it is “blah”. It had its moments: when Amit Aggarwal turned vintage Benaras brocade into dresses and corsets, when Diljit Dosanjh channelled maharaja vibes at the Met Gala, when robots hit the runway at a Falguni Shane Peacock show, when Nancy Tyagi owned the red carpet at Cannes in an embellished dress she designed herself, when Ishaan Khatter showed us how tailored suits should be worn. But such instances were rare, and none widened the imagination or vocabulary of fashion. Instead, much of fashion, from runway to red carpet, felt engineered for visibility. What mattered was not how a garment was created, but how quickly it circulated.

The year started with an extravagant fashion show in Mumbai. Over 600 people from around the world assembled to celebrate 25 years of couture brand Sabyasachi. On show were 150-odd looks that combined the old-world charm of Kolkata with global silhouettes, but none you hadn’t seen before. Sabyasachi Mukherjee, the designer, chose to follow existing trends, and showed bejewelled T-shirt-like tops with viral slogans such as “All Dressed Up Nowhere To Go”, “Dog dad”, and “Cat lady”. They went viral, as expected, and quickly became meme fodder. But it did nothing for fashion.

Three months later, another spectacle arrived—this time at Mumbai’s Gateway of India with British label Vivienne Westwood staging its first-ever show in India. Victorian era-inspired khadi dresses, Chanderi silk-shouldered coats and puff-sleeved kurtas were supposed to offer an extraordinary marriage of tradition, ready-to-wear, couture and punk. But the collection felt less like synthesis and more like a confused mix of ideas. The front row packed with Bollywood A-listers ensured the show was a big thing online. Again, social media: 1; Fashion: 0.

The appetite for spectacle now borders on the absurd—from carrying a grand piano on the red carpet to launching a pube thong (yes, a thong with faux pubic hair). A gimmick, extraordinary look or celebrity presence can propel a brand or an individual into the spotlight.

A case in point: Even in its 25th year, the Lakmé Fashion Week continued to generate headlines for the actor who closed a show and not for the clothes that were presented on the runway.

Lost in this noise were designers genuinely trying to push the design envelope (most didn’t have a celebrity showstopper)—particularly younger ones such as Sonam Khetan and Aseem Kapoor.

Consumers, too, continued to yearn for likes and comments through their fashion and style choices.

The super-wealthy openly flaunted ostentatious jewellery and couture for a child’s destination wedding on social media. So did Gen Z-ers while replicating an Instagram fad or regurgitating a runway look (there’s a hashtag dedicated to copying Indian model Bhavitha Mandava’s sweater-tee-jeans look for Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2026 in New York).

Unimaginative algorithms turned fashion into a boring dress-up game built to be photographed, shared and forgotten. That doesn’t just encourage unnecessary consumption, but also stalls the growth of fashion as an art and craft to be created, lived in and loved. Most of all, it promotes the idea that the only way to be visible is by following trends and being outrageous.

Fashion is not just a reflection of the world but also a medium for fantasy, discovery and celebrating who you are. Finding ways to style, say, a suede jacket by adding a pre-loved belt, or buying a massive flower-shaped ring slightly out of budget not because it’s trending but because it marks a moment or a memory, can offer a kind of joy and thrill no Instagram like or comment can match. Every wear and re-wear should bring you joy and reveal just a little of your unique personality.

In other words, when fashion liberates itself from the chaotic autocracy of the trend, it does what it was always meant to do: create clothes with intent and imagination—work that lingers long after the moment passes.