As anticipation builds for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week 2025, the air hums with creativity and quiet expectation. This year’s showcase promises to be more than a visual spectacle. It is set to become a conversation about identity, craftsmanship, and consciousness. The runway, a meeting point between heritage and innovation, will bring together designers whose work transcends trend and speaks instead to authenticity. Across regions, from Assam to Colombo, Bhutan to Pondicherry, this season’s participants are united by a vision of fashion as narrative, each collection a meditation on belonging, memory, and the modern world.
Among those drawing the most attention is Pranita Choudhury, whose label GAACH, meaning “tree” in Bengali, embodies rootedness and renewal. Her collection Recalling is a poetic return to her hometown in Assam, woven through natural fabrics such as eri, Chanderi, and Pashmina silk. Kantha stitches resemble fading memories, crewel embroidery maps the silhouettes of dried leaves, and block prints in Bengali script whisper forgotten stories. GAACH reflects what Choudhury calls silent luxury, an ethos that unites empathy and elegance while reinterpreting the soul of Indian craft for the present day.
The Delhi-based duo Drishti Modi and Rashmick Bose, founders of Lafaani, approach design as testimony, garments as records of memory and care. Their upcoming collection explores the intersection of emotion and ethics, marrying biodegradable fabrics with hand embroidery and inclusive silhouettes. Lafaani’s restrained, architectural shapes mirror its philosophy of sustainability as empathy, an idea that feels both urgent and timeless. Their work reminds audiences that fashion can be an act of quiet resistance, carrying moral clarity without sacrificing beauty.
From Bangladesh, Afsana Ferdousi brings the rhythm of water to the stage. Her collection, inspired by the rivers of her homeland, translates nature’s resilience and fragility into design. Nakshi Kantha embroidery depicts waves, boats, and water lilies in natural dyes of indigo and madder red on handloom cotton and linen. Ferdousi’s garments ripple with motion, balancing art and activism. Each piece is a tribute to the delicate equilibrium between humanity and the environment, turning fashion into a form of prayer.
Chandrika Tamang of CDK GYENCHA will represent Bhutan with In Between Present, a collection that celebrates the serenity of transformation. Her work explores identity in flux, expressed through soft textures and muted tones that honour fragility as strength. Collaborating with rural artisans, Tamang preserves ancestral weaving while crafting silhouettes that feel both ancient and modern. CDK GYENCHA transforms traditional craft into contemporary language, bridging mindfulness and materiality with remarkable restraint.
Adding a dose of play and colour, Ishanee Mukherjee of Poochki invites audiences to rediscover joy through design. Her hand-painted and block-printed textiles, inspired by Delhi’s vibrant streets, celebrate individuality and imperfection. The collection’s fluid silhouettes, and exuberant palette prove that sustainability can be joyful. Poochki’s pieces are wearable art, playful yet profound, reviving Indian handcraft traditions through a lens of spontaneity and freedom.
Arshna Raj’s Stoïque will take a more introspective turn with Keepsake, a collection exploring femininity, memory, and transformation. Through crushed silk, quilting, and meticulous hand-stitching, Raj captures emotion in texture. Her minimal, tactile garments allow the body to shape the fabric rather than conform to it. Stoïque’s aesthetic is poetic in its quietude, reminding audiences that subtlety can be as commanding as boldness.
For Somya Lochan, founder of Quarter, fashion becomes emotional architecture. Her collection Cushion continues a narrative of vulnerability and healing, combining layered quilting, repurposed brass buttons, and handwoven silks into soft yet deliberate forms. Quarter’s name reflects its ethos of shared creation, every artisan, designer, and wearer contributing their quarter. Lochan’s garments feel protective, turning craft into comfort and design into reflection.
Naushad Ali’s collection Between Shores will bring a breath of coastal ease to the week. Inspired by Pondicherry and Sri Lanka, Ali’s designs channel the tranquillity of seaside life. Breezy drapes, coral and sand-toned hues, and sun-faded textures define his aesthetic. Crafted in handwoven cottons and silks, his garments merge Tamil and French influences into silhouettes that move like water. Ali’s label represents harmony between craft and comfort, simplicity and sophistication.
Mayank Bhutra, the creative force behind Erode Clothing, draws inspiration from Tamil Nadu’s Chola dynasty. His collection interprets temple architecture and sculptural form through earthy palettes and meticulous detailing. For Bhutra, erosion is preservation, each design a dialogue between permanence and passage. His pieces are imbued with reverence, reminding the industry that true modernity often lies in looking back.
Karishma Shahani Khan of Ka-Sha will unveil Sunhera, a collection shimmering with metallic appliqué and embroidery fashioned from repurposed fabrics. Chanderi and cotton merge into radiant, tactile compositions that celebrate craft as care. Ka-Sha’s clothing feels alive, reflecting Khan’s belief that sustainability begins with empathy. Her work illuminates the runway not with excess but with warmth, the glow of artisanship made visible.
In Sri Lanka, Nawoda Bandara’s label NAO turns the island’s energy into movement. Her designs draw from daily life, tuk-tuks, fishermen, and market rhythms, expressed through bold batik prints and imperfect seams that reveal rather than conceal process. NAO’s philosophy embraces imperfection as beauty, turning chaos into poetry. Bandara’s garments pulse with vitality, redefining luxury as deeply human and joyfully imperfect.
One of Sri Lanka’s most beloved design houses, Barefoot, continues its legacy under Sophia Sansoni. Known for vibrant handwoven textiles, Barefoot will revisit its origins with shades of indigo and turmeric, inspired by the landscapes of Jaffna’s dry zone. Slow-dyed, air-dried, and handwoven silks and cottons celebrate Barbara Sansoni’s vision of colour and craft as cultural expression. Barefoot remains proof that heritage, when nurtured, never fades, it evolves.
Shavindi Wijesooriya, the creative mind behind SHAVI, transforms fragility into form. Inspired by porcelain and ceramics, her upcoming collection captures the balance between vulnerability and strength. Silhouettes flow like clay vessels, while delicate embroidery reflects the sheen of porcelain. SHAVI’s message, that beauty and fragility can coexist, offers a poignant reflection on resilience in a changing world.
The season will culminate in a pastel dream with Dimitra Sahabandu of Studio Dimitra. Her collection Bombai Muttai, named after the bubblegum-pink candy of childhood, translates nostalgia into motion. Vibrant embroidery, patchwork, and hand-sewn embellishments transform Colombo’s streets into wearable poetry. Studio Dimitra, powered by an all-woman team, turns fashion into storytelling, where every stitch holds emotion and memory.
Together, these designers form the beating heart of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week 2025. They prove that fashion’s future is not defined by speed or spectacle but by sincerity and soul. As the lights rise on the runway, audiences will witness a movement that honours craft, champions sustainability, and celebrates the human hand behind every creation. The event promises more than style, it promises stories, woven with purpose and alive with beauty.
