Do Designers Ever Introspect?

Manish Malhotra recently showed a few pieces from his archives but it was far from an insightful 'retrospective'

- Pooja Singh

Designer Manish Malhotra ensured his return to India couture week after more than five years was a night to remember. His "Couture Cocktail Evening" on 26 July had all the ingredients of a memorable fashion party—flashy guests, a 10ft eagle made of mirrors, clips from Malhotra's past shows projected on the walls, a live DJ, and a runway show closed by Brazilian supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio.

In a room across the hall, Malhotra had an interesting exhibit—mannequins displaying 10 of his designs from the last three decades, including the Parsi gara gown entrepreneur Natasha Poonawalla wore to the 2025 Met Gala, and Kajol's green lehenga from the song Mehndi lagake rakhna in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). Some guests, misleadingly, called it a "retrospective"—a word social media repeated the next morning.