The First South Asian Beauty Awards Arrive in London.
Aarti Pal
A landmark new event for British beauty will take place in London this September as the South Asian Beauty Collective launches the inaugural South Asian Beauty Awards, the first event of its kind in the UK dedicated to recognising the brands, retailers, founders, creators and industry leaders helping to create a more inclusive and culturally informed future for beauty. Taking place at The May Fair Hotel in London on the 21st of September 2026, the awards will bring together influential figures from beauty, retail, media, entertainment, business and culture for an evening celebrating achievement, representation and progress.
ITV Good Morning Britain presenter Ranvir Singh will host the ceremony, with 13-time Grammy nominated musician, composer and activist, Anoushka Shankar, and BBC Radio London presenter Shay Kaur Grewal presenting awards on stage. The evening will also feature a live performance by singer and songwriter Sonna Rele, who is currently appearing on ITV’s The Voice.
The inaugural awards arrive at an important moment for the British beauty industry. South Asian consumers, founders, creatives and cultural influences have long played a significant role in shaping beauty in the UK, from hair and skincare rituals to wellness, fragrance, make up and entrepreneurship. Yet representation within the mainstream industry has not always reflected the scale of that contribution. The South Asian Beauty Awards have been created to recognise the people and organisations changing that picture while encouraging the industry to build deeper and more meaningful relationships with the communities it serves.
The awards are an extension of the work of the South Asian Beauty Collective, founded by Aarti Pal in 2024. The Collective brings communities and industry together, champions emerging talent and founders, encourages greater cultural understanding and works with businesses seeking to engage South Asian consumers in an authentic and sustained way. Rather than focusing on representation as a single campaign or moment, the organisation is seeking to create lasting connections between consumers, entrepreneurs, creatives, retailers, brands and industry decision makers.
Presented by Modern Space and supported by the British Beauty Council, the inaugural awards mark the next stage in that ambition. They will celebrate those already driving progress across the sector while providing a platform designed to encourage further action, investment and opportunity.
Divya Thani
Aarti Pal, Founder of the South Asian Beauty Collective, stated, “when I founded the South Asian Beauty Collective, the ambition was never simply to create greater visibility for the South Asian community. It was to help create meaningful, lasting change within the British beauty industry, opening doors, creating opportunities and ensuring that a community which has contributed so much culturally and commercially to beauty has a meaningful voice within it. For me, this has always been about building something that extends beyond any one event or moment. I want the Collective to contribute to a British beauty industry that is more representative, more culturally informed and more accessible to the next generation, and to make sure the progress we create today becomes something they can build upon tomorrow.”
That focus on lasting industry change is reflected in the organisations supporting the first awards. Official Partners include Sephora, Armani Beauty, Kama Ayurveda and Qatar Duty Free. Supporting Partners include L’Oréal Paris, Tatcha, Fable & Mane and Nirvana Brands, with Bags of Ethics serving as the Beauty Sustainability Partner. The British Beauty Council is also supporting the inaugural event as part of its wider commitment to representation and inclusion across the sector.
Millie Kendall OBE, CEO of the British Beauty Council, stated, “representation and inclusion are vital to building a beauty industry that reflects the communities it serves. We are proud to support the inaugural South Asian Beauty Collective Awards and celebrate the people and businesses driving meaningful change across British beauty.”
Jonathan Dickinson, CEO of Modern Space, stated, “At Modern Space, we believe the future of beauty retail is built through innovation, insight and creating experiences that truly reflect today’s consumers. We are proud to support the inaugural South Asian Beauty Collective Awards, recognising the brands and leaders driving meaningful progress in representation, cultural relevance and inclusion across the UK beauty industry. “Together, we have an opportunity to help shape a more connected, representative future for beauty.”
At the heart of the event are 13 awards designed to recognise excellence across multiple areas of the beauty industry. Categories include the Retail Excellence Award, Digital Engagement Award, Inclusive Beauty Award, Community Engagement Award, Holistic Wellbeing Award, South Asian Beauty Excellence Award and South Asian Beauty Service Award. Two People’s Choice categories will put the spotlight directly on South Asian entrepreneurship and digital influence, recognising a South Asian Founded Beauty Brand and a South Asian Beauty Creator.
The Rising Star Mentorship Award will focus on emerging talent and the importance of creating pathways into the industry for the next generation, while the Breaking Barriers Award will recognise those challenging conventional beauty standards. Completing the 13 categories are The Collective Award and the Beauty Icon Award, celebrating individuals whose influence and contribution have helped shape beauty and culture. Together, the categories have been designed to recognise the breadth of the modern beauty landscape. They encompass established industry leadership and commercial excellence alongside community impact, entrepreneurship, creativity, services, digital influence and emerging talent.
The winners will be selected with the involvement of a cross industry judging panel bringing together expertise from beauty, retail, media, culture, advocacy and creative leadership. The panel includes Aarti Pal, Dame Meera Syal, Divia Thani, Rahi Chadda, Anoushka Shankar, Ria Chauhan, Sindhu Vee, Smruti Sriram OBE, Anita Bhagwandas, Sabina Ellahi, Mansha Anand, Jasroop Kaur Singh, Sonia Haria, Harpreet Chohan Basra, Jazz K Sohal, Humeara Mohamed and Sandy Kular. The breadth of the judging panel reflects the Collective’s intention to look at beauty through a wider cultural and commercial lens. The awards are not simply about products. They are also about the people, ideas, businesses and communities influencing how beauty is understood, created, marketed and experienced in Britain today.
Meera Syal
Beyond the judging panel, the South Asian Beauty Collective has established a wider network of ambassadors and advocates spanning entertainment, publishing, beauty, retail and business. Leading voices within the network include Dame Meera Syal, Divia Thani, Sujata Assomull, Ranvir Singh, Akash Mehta, Eshita Kabra Davies and Vanita Parti MBE, alongside many others. Their involvement reflects an increasingly important conversation within beauty about what meaningful inclusion looks like in practice.
For the South Asian Beauty Collective, cultural relevance goes beyond representation in advertising or the occasional campaign. It means understanding consumers and their experiences, recognising cultural knowledge and traditions, supporting founders and talent, and ensuring that people from South Asian backgrounds have opportunities to participate in the industry at every level. It also means recognising South Asian consumers as a significant and diverse audience rather than treating the community as a single demographic.
Beauty has particular cultural resonance across South Asian communities. Haircare, skincare, fragrance, make up and wellness traditions are often passed between generations, while ingredients, rituals and approaches with roots in South Asian culture have increasingly entered the global beauty mainstream. The inaugural awards will create a dedicated platform for acknowledging that influence while celebrating the individuals and businesses helping to move the industry forward.
That intersection between beauty and culture is central to the South Asian Beauty Collective’s approach. The organisation aims to create a space where established global businesses can sit alongside emerging founders, where industry leaders can connect with creators and communities, and where conversations about representation can translate into practical opportunities. The first South Asian Beauty Awards therefore represent more than the launch of another industry ceremony. They are intended to establish a new platform within the British beauty calendar and to recognise a community whose influence can be seen across beauty, fashion, wellness, retail and popular culture. For emerging entrepreneurs and creators in particular, visibility at an industry level can play an important role in opening doors to investment, retail relationships, mentorship, collaboration and wider recognition. For established businesses, the awards provide an opportunity to recognise what meaningful engagement with South Asian consumers can look like and to celebrate examples of progress already taking place across the sector. For the wider industry, the message is equally clear. Inclusion is not simply about who appears in a campaign. It is about who has a voice, who has access to opportunity, whose cultural knowledge is recognised and who participates in shaping the future of the industry.
Anoushka Shanker
On the 21st of September, those conversations will take centre stage at The May Fair Hotel in London, as the South Asian Beauty Collective brings together some of the most influential names across beauty, media, retail, entertainment and culture. The inaugural South Asian Beauty Awards will celebrate achievement, but their ambitions extend well beyond one evening. By recognising the people already creating change, championing the next generation and bringing communities and industry into the same room, the Collective hopes to help build a British beauty landscape that is more representative, more culturally informed and better equipped to understand the consumers it serves. The first awards will mark a significant milestone in that journey and, for the South Asian Beauty Collective, the beginning of what it hopes will become an enduring fixture in the British beauty industry.
For further information visit: https://southasianbeautycollective.com/
