Fashion designer Anamika Khanna has pushed the boundaries of traditional Indian fashion through her skilled blend of traditional Indian techniques and fabrics and Western shapes and styles. A panelist at the Untitled Art Fair in Miami in December, she spoke about how Indian elements of fashion are impacting the art and fashion scenes and conversations across the globe, and took the time to talk with us about her own roots, ideas, and what she had in mind going into the panel last month.

How would you describe your own personal style?
My personal style is understated, classic and bohemian. I can go completely experimental and I like to transition from one to the other, usually it comes very easily to me. The most important thing is just to feel myself and just be easy about the way and that’s what always works for me.

Before becoming a designer, you were a classical dancer and a painter; what inspired your transition into the fashion industry?
Fashion plan it happened by chance, but the day I experimented with the clothes for first time, I immediately know this is what I was meant to do all my life.

What has your biggest goal been since you decided to pursue this career path?
I realised my love for India arts craft textiles and the heritage from very early times. I was exposed to it enough, but I also realise that Indian fashion had remained to the level of costume and never become high fashion in international space. This for me experimenting with Indian shapes, craft and making the irrelevant to present times bringing in marrying or the contemporary and the heritage and also at all times being aware that Indian fashion can be completely non-contemporary modern and experimental is what I’ve been doing since I started.

What inspires your design process when creating a new piece?
I think the inspiration comes from various sources sometimes it’s just about a feeling sometimes it’s also about a beautiful textile that one has come across. It could just be the the chaos to deliver and understanding what the needs are at the moment of a certain client or what occasion is where inspiration can come form, it does from various resources in my opinion.

What have been some of the most personally significant milestones in your career thus far?
Biggest milestones- Bvlgari Collaboration and Show, H&M Global Collaboration and Paris Fashion Week as one of my firsts and India’s first designers.

Have you faced challenges as a woman of color in the fashion world, and how have you navigated them?
Not exactly as a woman of colour but a country where fashion was not named stay and always being associated for place which was always considered a sourcing hub so to be able to bring awareness to the high fashion quotient coming from India has been a challenge. Just being persistent, constantly learning and evolving.

Bvlgari collaboration with Anamika Khanna

What was the attitude surrounding South Asian influences in global fashion spheres around the beginning of your career?
At the beginning of my career I don’t think Fashion was taken seriously. Just a few awareness with little experiment and the whole industry in India was not organised. There was no Fashion council there were no Fashion weeks. We were actually just doing whatever we thought we should do or what was right so that was one of the things that we had to navigate for a long time.

How has this attitude shifted since then, if at all?
I see South Asia actually as a powerhouse of Fashion across the world we cannot be ignored we cannot be bypassed and I think the product is coming out of India is like a experimentation that’s happening the kind is unmatched. It’s being very easily accepted all over the world, really heartwarming and great to see the Fashion from this side of the world is not considered just as costumes and is becoming serious Fashion.

Are there any specific elements of Indian fashion and culture that you strive to highlight in your designs?
There are certain shapes in Indian traditional dress which we’ve already experimented with and they have become highlights of something that we’ve done too! I also feel that the embroideries and the handcraft that India has to offer I don’t think it exists anywhere.

What are you most excited to speak about at Art Basel this year? Is there anything in particular that you are hoping to stress?
Art Basel was about art and fashion, and the fact that India in contemporary art and fashion has come a long way. The journey that the country had from being one of the most rich in culture and artistic place to now it actually getting the light it deserves.

In your opinion, how do platforms such as Art Basel create opportunities to amplify different cultures and ideas?
Platforms like Art Basel act as pots for creative exchange, where diverse cultures, traditions, and ideas come together to be reimagined through contemporary art. By offering global visibility these platforms create a space for nuanced narratives and cross-disciplinary innovation, encouraging a deeper appreciation of cultural richness and its evolution.

In what ways do you see yourself continuing to evolve as a designer going forward? What do you think is next for you?
International growth, jewellery, bags, accessories, planning to get into all of it.

Trends by Logan Dutra, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Robin Chou, Graphic Design Intern, PhotoBook Magazine
*Images courtesy of Anamika Khanna

Anamika Khanna: Pushing Boundaries