How Vogue’s recent profile maps a broader, more varied South Asian presence in fashion

The useful part

Vogue India South Asian representation in fashion is no longer confined to the margins of the industry. Across the pages, covers, runways and social feeds of the world's most influential fashion publications, a new generation of South Asian talent is increasingly impossible to overlook. Manish Malhotra, Rashmika Mandanna, Simone Ashley, Natasha Poonawalla, Dhruv Kapoor and Jaya Raheja.

How it works

• He first became widely known through his work as a Bollywood costume designer before establishing his eponymous label in 2005.
• View this post on Instagram His work has long occupied the space between cinema, celebrity and couture, bringing Indian embroidery, embellishment and traditional silhouettes into the vocabulary of...
• His couture collection drew heavily on Indian craftsmanship, including zardozi, resham, crystal work and hand embroidery, while experimenting with ways to take traditionally Indian techniques into an...
• Mandanna's presence in fashion reflects the increasing visibility of Indian popular culture internationally, while also demonstrating how celebrity style can become a form of cultural representation.
• Her fashion choices also demonstrate how South Asian heritage can operate within global luxury without necessarily being presented as costume or nostalgia.

What to take from it

That matters because South Asian representation is no longer a story that can be told through a handful of established names. Those elements remain enormously important, but they are no longer the whole story. Vogue 's recent coverage of the region's fashion landscape has highlighted precisely this shift: younger designers are taking local craft and heritage and placing them into silhouettes and ideas that speak to a global contemporary audience.

Example or evidence

• View this post on Instagram Manish Malhotra Few names demonstrate the evolution of Indian fashion on the global stage quite like Manish Malhotra.
• In 2026, that journey reached another significant milestone when Malhotra made his debut on the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar.
• View this post on Instagram Her career has moved across India's regional film industries and languages, making her part of a new generation of Indian stars whose audiences are increasingly national and global.
• Vogue India recently described her as someone who has had to navigate different languages, industries and ideas of regional identity throughout her career.

Details worth keeping

She represents an India that is multilingual, regional and global all at once. Simone Ashley Few contemporary actors have become as closely associated with a new generation of South Asian representation in Western popular culture as Simone Ashley. View this post on Instagram Her breakout role as Kate Sharma in Bridgerton placed a British Indian woman at the centre of one of the world's biggest television franchises.

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