Louis Vuitton's runway has found India — it must now lead the show

Indian Express

5 hours ago

Pharrell Williams's Louis Vuitton menswear spectacle in Paris on June 25 may be remembered less for its celebrities than for its compass. The collection — titled 'Paris to India' — scattered cricket stripes across silk suits, dangled elephant-trunk bags from models' hands and sent them striding over a snakes-and-ladders set conceived by architect Bijoy Jain. A Punjabi soundtrack co-produced by A R Rahman pulsed through the Louvre courtyard. In 30 brisk minutes, a French mega-brand declared that the world's most sumptuous fashion conversation now needs India in every sentence.
For decades, India has been the textile world's quiet workroom: An exporter of labour, motifs and moral mystique, rarely an equal partner. The Louis Vuitton show signals something subtler than simple 'inspiration'. Jain's name sat proudly beside Williams's on the show notes; Rahman's beats shared billing with hip-hop icons. A similar dignity surfaced last year when Dior embroidered its pre-fall collection with the Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai, crediting 300 artisans by name. In both cases, Indian creativity occupied the marquee, not the margins. That shift is the real headline.
Why now? The luxury industry is scrambling for authenticity in a climate-anxious, post-pandemic marketplace. Carbon budgets, digital passports, circular business models and Gen Z's sceptical gaze are pushing brands to swap generic glamour for grounded storytelling. India offers a reservoir of stories written in plant dyes, zero-waste weaves and 4,000-year-old techniques that emit less carbon than the average polyester tracksuit. As the world's most diverse living craft laboratory — housing 11 million artisans across 3,000 clusters — India can supply both narrative depth and sustainability data. In short, global fashion's search for purpose runs straight through Kutch, Varanasi and the looms of Assam.
The timing is auspicious at home too. The government's Rs 13,000-crore PM Vishwakarma scheme is rebuilding the artisan economy with credit, tools and market linkages; the Ministry of Textiles is fast-tracking Geographical Indication tags that protect regional identities; and the foreign office increasingly treats handloom gifts as soft-power artefacts. Louis Vuitton's Paris shout-out merely amplifies that trajectory.
Yet, opportunity and outcome are not synonymous. Most Indian craftworkers still earn less than three pounds a day. More than half remain outside formal supply chains, which means no pensions, no insurance, no intellectual-property protection. If the global luxury pivot stops at aesthetic applause, the wealth gap widens; but if it matures into equitable contracting, credit sharing and co-branding, both sides profit. Dior's Chanakya partnership paid fair wages and logged 35,000 artisan hours; the house later released a documentary naming every embroiderer. That template — transparency plus traceability — shows how homage can become joint ownership. Louis Vuitton, which already embraces digital product passports for leather goods, could extend the system to heritage textiles, listing cluster names, wage rates and environmental savings. Customers would pay a premium for that honesty; artisans would secure predictable orders and global visibility.
Indian designers and institutions must be ready to negotiate from strength. Design schools need incubation labs where students prototype with master karigars, proving that craft can be both couture and climate solution. State tourism boards could host 'Made With India' residencies, inviting foreign labels to spend a season in Kanchipuram or Bhuj, working shoulder-to-shoulder with local cooperatives. The private sector can sweeten the deal: Impact investors are already funding start-ups that marry blockchain provenance with natural-dye supply chains, rewarding clusters that meet biodiversity goals.
A new lexicon is required as well. For years, culture writers spoke of 'inspiration' and 'appropriation'— binary terms that trap debates in outrage. The more useful phrase today is 'co-creation.' It presumes dialogue, contracts, revenue share and continuous credit. Co-creation resists both tokenism and hollow celebration. When a luxury house commissions a Banarasi brocade lining and prints the weaver's QR-coded signature inside the jacket, the customer's admiration translates into artisan equity. That is collaboration at the speed of modern commerce.
Williams's show may not have reached that destination yet, but its direction is unmistakable. The fact that a monogram giant felt the need to celebrate Indian culture on global livestreams, accurately crediting Indian creative elites, marks the moment India's soft-power curve bent upward. The next bend — aligning that spotlight with the millions who keep the looms humming — is within reach if brands, policymakers and educators act in concert.
India's craft legacy has always been ready for its close-up; technology, policy and consumer mood have finally switched on the klieg lights. The runway has found India. It is time for India — loom by loom, dye vat by dye vat — to lead the runway.
The writer is assistant professor of design, IILM, Gurgaon