The rise of worldbuilding among Indian fashion brands

From home lines to artist residencies, Indian fashion brands are pushing past the wardrobe and into the world. The move signals ambition yet also hints at something quieter beneath the surface. Is this expansion a calculated evolution or an early sign of fatigue with fashion’s usual vocabulary?

Besides utility, there are cues that shape why a label resonates with the wearer. A prairie dress can bring back a familiar cultural script. A hand-embellished tapestry can signal a commitment to craft. Even a pastry eaten inside a store can compress the brand’s worldview into a single gesture. Brands today are going beyond a singular vision to immerse consumers into a tactile and layered world. In India, Sabyasachi is the obvious early case study—the label’s store is akin to a plushly curated luxurious living space rather than a conventional retail one. 

More Indian designers are following suit in their own ways, where products aren’t created in isolation but in context; offerings that translate into brand affinity and intentional multiplicity draws a larger audience. While the trajectories of these expansions are still uncertain, the motivation lies in bringing together culture and  commerce. 

How Indian fashion brands create immersive spaces through home lines and design experiences 

Step inside any Péro pop-up and the impression is far from average retail. The brand, synonymous with candy cane stripes, vintage florals and life-sized Hello Kitties, operates more like an alternate universe than a shop floor. Its cottage-core dresses have built loyal customers, from India  to Japan. The aesthetic had long signalled an ambition that extended beyond clothing, making adjacent categories a logical step. The move into home décor in November 2025 reframes the textiles within domestic spaces rather than solely on the body.

For Péro’s founder Aneeth Arora, the idea took shape during the pandemic. “As a fashion brand, it's not considered cool if you repeat textiles or prints from the previous season,” says Arora. “Over the years we have collected a roster of archival textiles dating to our very first collection. I wanted to lease a second life to them, so after much thought, a home line seemed to be an ideal next step.” The assortment of Chanderi, rustic linens, and light  Jamdanis is finished with the brand’s quintessential hand-embroderies and lace trims. The use of archival textiles aligns with the label’s philosophy of slowness. Arora positions the home line as an heirloom-oriented extension intended to be valued with the same long-term sensibility as her clothing rather than being viewed as a seasonal purchase. Indian designer home lines of this nature deepen the emotional grammar of a brand while widening its ecosystem.

“Expansion allows designers to lift aspects of their core aesthetic and lend it to different mediums” - Tina Tahiliani Parikh

Elsewhere, Delhi-based resort wear brand Shivan and Narresh—which has outposts in Hyderabad, Goa, and Mumbai—introduced  their home decor line earlier this year. The napkin rings, tapestries, and wallpaper carry their distinct design identity of prints and stylised motifs inspired by their travels and an overall sense of escapism. “Today’s audiences engage with design as a holistic experience; they don’t see boundaries between what they wear, the spaces they inhabit, or the art they collect,” share Shivan Bhatiya and Narresh Kukreja, the designer duo behind the brand. “Extending into new mediums allows brands to stay relevant, deepen emotional connection, and create ecosystems where creativity and commerce coexist seamlessly. While fashion is inherently seasonal, the home segment allows for a more timeless and sustained relationship with our audience—from personal use to gifting,” they add. 

Their aim is to appeal beyond Tier-1 markets to Tier-2 and -3 cities where appetite for contemporary design is on the upswing. Targeted digital marketing and curated pop-ups enable this reach. This form of expansion is often assumed to increase revenue, although new mediums carry their own complexities. “While home textiles don't take as long as clothing to be produced, they require larger spaces to be made and displayed. We still treat our garments delicately, but homeware is more prone to wear and tear and may need refurbishing more often, which also offers a brand like ours a higher turnaround time,” says Arora. 

Nicobar, a brand that operates across clothing, homeware, and objects, offers a parallel perspective on how world-building takes shape among Indian labels. “From day one, we wanted to build a world—an entire way of living—not just a line of products,” says Aparna Chandra, Co–Creative Director at Nicobar. “Moreover, people live across categories—they  don’t just buy clothes or homeware in isolation.”

“As a fashion brand, it's not considered cool if you repeat textiles or prints from the previous season. I wanted to lease a second life to them, a home line seemed to be an ideal next step”  - Aneeth Arora  

Internationally, this shift has been underway for years. Luxury houses have treated home, hospitality, and objects as extensions of their identities, from Ralph Lauren’s interiors to Gucci cafés. Labels such as Jacquemus, Loewe, and Byredo have taken it further by building spatial ecosystems that sit beyond clothing. “Expansion allows designers to lift aspects of their core aesthetic and lend it to different mediums,” says Tina Tahiliani Parikh, founder of Ensemble. “While this strengthens identity, it has to possess a sound business structure to be financially rewarding or it might distract from the core offering of your brand.”

How Indian fashion brands turn everyday objects into cultural markers

In India, the pull into a brand’s world often begins with smaller, more accessible gestures. Just as keychains and wallets often serve as an entry point into luxury, independent brands are using objects to signal belonging to a specific community and culture, beyond the medium of clothes. 

Nor Black Nor White, a label at the intersection of craft and contemporary design,  extends its vocabulary through a curated giftshop. Shoppers encounter the brand’s sensibility through tie-dye scrunchies, heart-shaped bindis, or a limited edition incense holder created in collaboration with design studio Claymen. “The endeavour is to make you feel like you're visiting a well-curated gift shop at a museum, through thoughtful design objects that reflect the essence of a place. It makes experienced design fun and playful,” say founders Mriga Kapadiya and Amrit Kumar. It places the label within the wider landscape of Indian craft-led brands and Indian lifestyle brands, where design is treated as cultural expression rather than product. 

“Meaning matters more than ever,” says Chandra. “There’s too much product in the world. What people crave now is connection and context. When a brand builds meaning across touchpoints (from fashion to art, from objects to storytelling) it becomes part of someone’s life, not just their wardrobe.”

A similar mindset shapes Chorus, formerly Moonray. The label’s latest chapter introduces a new nomenclature and an expanded offer. Its three-storeyed outpost in Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda now brings ready-to-wear and metier collections together with handmade soaps, candles, and a cafe to dine at. The craft-forward label’s debut collection of raffia objects d’art, created at the Chanakya School of Craft, extends its vocabulary into the domestic sphere.  Multiple touch points within one setting show how the brand intends its world to be experienced. Curator and brand advisor Shruti Sitara Singh notes,  “Creative direction is no longer confined to a silhouette or a show; it’s about crafting a sense of belonging. It’s not about products anymore but about presence. The future of creative direction lies in building worlds, not wardrobes.” These choices position Chorus within the expanding universe of Indian fashion brands that are redefining what a label can articulate as they navigate the future of fashion retail experiences in India and the cultural expectations that come with it. 

The collaborative experiments redefining emerging Indian designers

Another form of expansion is more abstract. After a considerable hiatus from his clothing label Shift, Nimish Shah, designer and former Creative Director at streetwear brand Bhaane, decided to revive the brand in an unconventional manner. There are no clothes, yet. Instead, he announced the comeback through an artist residency held in the village of Ranasan in Gujarat at his family-owned fabric manufacturing unit. 

“Creative direction is no longer confined to a silhouette or a show; it’s about crafting a sense of belonging. It’s not about products anymore but about presence. The future of creative direction lies in building worlds, not wardrobes” - Shruti Sitara Singh 

Under the canopy of trees, away from the bustle of the city, Shah invited artists Garima Gupta, Julien Segard, and Kaamna Patel to explore their respective practices through the shared medium of screenprinting. “Resurfacing Shift, I wanted it to be a collective voice and not just mine. An artist residency was just my way of bringing together people who are not necessarily from design, textile, or fashion, bringing other parallel creatives to respond,” he shares. Guided by curator Veeranganakumari Solanki, these artists with varied perspectives worked in collaboration and yet in solitude in a format that veers away from traditional artist retreats. Shift’s residency isn't outcome-based. It values the beauty of work-in-progress and documenting discourse. After the 10-day residency, the artists leave with bodies of work owned fully by them, with Shift taking shape as a creative platform. This positions Shift as an outlier among Indian fashion brands, with a model that prioritises cultural cultivation over commercial output.

Shah is unequivocal about the financial dimension of the annual initiative. “There are none. This is an investment in creating a language—it's as good as a fashion campaign for me. There's no call to action, but it's cultivating culture,” he says. “We aren't selling anything but through conversation, we are appealing to a much larger community of enthusiasts beyond fashion. You never know if a writer may be inspired by this creative manifesto and how it can reflect in their own practice. This is open to everyone, and commerce isn't the intention.” His stance reflects a counter narrative within Indian fashion industry trends, where meaning is largely derived from creating and community building. 

Before it paused in 2018, Shift had built a loyal audience for his label organically. Shah realises that in a now pro-Instagram era, launching a clothing collection alone cannot create the same impact. Engagement now requires a different vocabulary aligned with an ever-evolving media landscape. He admits his sabbatical was possibly prompted by a sense of fashion fatigue. “We are in this space of creating product and content aggressively. Back then, I was excited when the platform High Heel Confidential actually critiqued clothing. Today, a quarter into the century, we can't all still be talking about organic cotton.”