A Silver Soirée: 25 Years of Lakmē Fashion Week x FDCI Unfold in Couture, Culture, and Collective Memory
An Evening Where Icons Returned, Legacies Reignited, and the Future of Indian Fashion Took Center Stage
There are celebrations—and then there are milestones that transcend the fabric of time. The 25th anniversary of Lakmē Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI, in collaboration with Reliance Brands, unfolded as a luminous love letter to Indian fashion. Not merely a gala, it was a couture crescendo that gathered visionaries, muses, craftsmen, and storytellers—past, present, and emerging.
From the very first note, it was clear: this was not a show, it was a story. One sewn with threads of tradition and tinged with the glow of reinvention. The evening opened with a reverent nod to the pioneers—designers like Rajesh Pratap Singh, JJ Valaya, Namrata Joshipura, Manish Malhotra, Tarun Tahiliani, Varun Bahl, and Ashish Soni, who offered signature creations that glided down the runway like moving poetry. They were more than garments—they were memories in motion.
Commanding the stage with effortless elegance, Kal Penn—actor, producer, cultural force—steered the narrative with wit and warmth. His presence added an international dimension to an evening rooted deeply in Indian identity, showing the world that fashion, when authentic, speaks all languages.
And then, she appeared.
Kareena Kapoor Khan, muse eternal, muse evolving. Opening the show with a reflective monologue, she spoke not only to the audience, but to the years, the designers, and the mirror that has watched her grow with the runway. Draped in white and nostalgia, she was both past and present—timeless.
Over 30 celebrated designers—from couture giants to avant-garde trailblazers—returned to the runway, each look a statement, each silhouette a signature. The collections didn’t merely showcase; they testified. To endurance. To reinvention. To beauty stitched with purpose. To fashion as a living, breathing archive.
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Icons returned. Lisa Ray, Lisa Haydon, Indrani Dasgupta, Sarah Jane Dias, Shimona Nath, and Archana Akil Kumar—faces who once defined Lakmē’s visual vocabulary—graced the runway again, this time with the quiet power of legacy. These weren’t just walks. These were homecomings.
At the heart of the celebration was a beautifully balanced tension—between looking back and stepping forward. Between reverence and rebellion. Between a chanderi past and a jersey-clad future.
The Gala Red Carpet, hosted by supermodel Ujjwala Raut and fashion insider Jessel Tank, shimmered with understated glamour. It was a procession of personalities who have shaped, challenged, and redefined what it means to belong in the world of Indian fashion.
The night also danced with curated live acts—auditory odes to the senses that elevated the evening into a multi-sensory experience.
In his address, Sunil Sethi, Chairman of FDCI, captured the soul of the evening:
“The growth of fashion mirrors the curves of culture and craft. Tonight, we don’t just celebrate 25 years—we toast the resilience and rhythm of design that has stayed rooted while reaching for the sky.”
Sunanda Khaitan, Vice President of Lakmē India, echoed the sentiment:
“Lakmē was never just a brand. It was always a movement. And Lakmē Fashion Week became the canvas where beauty and fashion collided, co-created, and curated the India of tomorrow.”
Jaspreet Chandok, Group Vice President of Reliance Brands, looked ahead:
“This was a celebration of potential—a convergence of the brilliant minds and hearts that will shape Indian fashion’s next chapter. A future that’s bold, intentional, and deeply inclusive.”
Among the designers who took part in this unforgettable tribute were fashion luminaries including:
Tarun Tahiliani, Gauri & Nainika, Ritu Beri, Varun Bahl, Monisha Jaising, Ashish N Soni, Falguni Shane Peacock, Narendra Kumar, Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Raw Mango, Pankaj & Nidhi, Alpana & Neeraj, Namrata Joshipura, Shantnu & Nikhil, Bibhu Mohapatra, Rina Dhaka, Amit Aggarwal, Rahul Mishra, Anshu Arora, Bodice, Gaurav Gupta, Anamika Khanna, Suneet Varma, Malini Ramani, Manish Malhotra, Anita Dongre, JJ Valaya, Ritu Kumar, and Rohit Bal.
Fashion, when done right, holds memory. And this night—stitched in silk, woven with legacy, embroidered with sentiment—was nothing short of unforgettable.
Photo : Perfect Shadows / FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week / RISE Worldwid
