Joy division

Kanika Goyal is making fashion fun again. Jacob Collier has worn her electric-neon pants. Bollywood loves her Chardi Kala T-shirts. Fashionistas are wishlisting from her Disney collab. How does the 35-year-old turn playful into profitable so smoothly?

- Noor Anand Chawla

Kanika Goyal says she wishes she wasn’t so ambitious. She doesn’t mean it. That her business is booming is evident from the incessant activity at her four-floor studio in Faridabad. There are craftspeople working on sequinned Mickey Mouse figures for grungy T-shirts and shirt dresses. Master tailors are cutting sheaths of denim to artistically attach to the softest Chinese cotton for her signature hybrid pants. Embroiderers and patchwork experts are bringing to life playful collages. Stockkeepers are overseeing mounds of fabric The Indian market has evolved. Earlier, they would never pay ₹25,000 for a pair of jeans, but now they do. My clients range in age from 20s to their 60s and 70s that will be stashed away to be recycled creatively later. Goyal’s ambition is everywhere.

In the fashion world, Goyal is everywhere too. The 35-year-old designer is prolific, even among her Millennial peers who are creating looks for the red carpet and real life. In the last year alone, Goyal has showed her collection at London Fashion Week – presenting creased taffeta shirts, and accessories made from surplus leather, laminated crushed leather and cracked bonded taffeta. She’s had a special fashion showcase in her hometown of Chandigarh, and did a themed look-book with the art collective Excise Dept, inspired by her roots in rural Punjab. She’s also dropped a line of 114 pieces with Disney, which draws on her memories of watching animated classics and visiting Disneyland in Paris as a 10-year-old. The skirts, dresses and shirts feature hand embroidery and sequinned lungi checks; the denims bear endless loops of Mickey Mouse ears. It’s aimed at the grown-up who prefers nostalgia with a bit of edge.