Anamika Khanna on AK-OK’s debut at London Fashion Week
The Kolkata-based designer on showcasing at the London Fashion Week, finding design inspiration in Rajasthan and how she reinterprets 'rebel chic'
Designer Anamika Khanna made her debut at the London Fashion Week with her label AK-OK on 22 September. Her spring/summer 2026 collection explored themes of nostalgia and heritage, weaving together memories from a young woman’s return to her grandmother’s home in Rajasthan.
The collection offered a fresh take on traditional styles and embroideries, such as the angarkha and chikankari, fit for a contemporary closet. From hand-embroidered skirts to antique silver jewellery and mythology-inspired prints, each ensemble seemed like a love letter to the joy and wonder of childhood and challenged the perception of Indian fashion as being either too ethnic or formal.
When asked the starting point of the collection, Kolkata-based Khanna said: “How do I represent India in a way that feels modern, contemporary, and not boxed in by ethnicity? I kept going back to my roots in Rajasthan. In my head, there’s this super cool London girl with a grandmother back home. She stumbles upon an old angarkha or a hand-embroidered piece in a trunk and reinvents it for her own world. That’s where it began. I did travel back to Rajasthan, it is, after all, home for me, and that sense of rediscovery found its way into the collection."
For the showcase, the designer stripped things down and looked at them through a fresh lens. For example, what would someone who isn’t Indian do with an angarkha? "That question guided us to cleaner silhouettes that still carry the essence. With embroidery, we’ve moved away from heavy colours and motifs, instead highlighting just one accent or simplifying the craft, so it feels lighter, more modern, and wearable on an international stage," she says.
In an interview with Lounge, the designer talks about the London showcase and how she reinterprets “rebel chic". Edited excerpts:
Nostalgia is quite popular in fashion. How much does looking back inform your creative process?
Yes, absolutely. Nostalgia was a very conscious part of this show. Prints in the collection borrow from mythology but are reimagined in playful, almost childlike ways. For me personally, nostalgia isn’t about looking back with sentimentality but it’s about rooting yourself in memory and then pushing it forward into something relevant today.
Despite some Indian design names becoming global fashion houses, there’s still a perception of Indian aesthetic being synonymous with ethnicity. Does that perception bother you?
It used to. Early on, whenever I showcased internationally, Indian aesthetics were seen as “ethnic" or even “costume". But India is modern and our clothes should reflect that. So over the years, it’s become a conscious effort to present Indian craft in a way that feels global, sharp and relevant. I don’t see us as limited to ethnicity at all, and that’s exactly what I hope this collection demonstrates.
You’ve time and again reinterpreted Indian soft grunge in your handwriting, and London has always been synonymous with rebel chic. Did you see this showcase as an ideal coming together of these two sensibilities?
Yes, I think London has that energy of rebellion, of not being afraid to experiment, and that really resonates with the AK-OK spirit. Our clothes have always had this raw ease, a certain irreverence, where it’s okay not to be perfect, to mix things up. So really showing in London almost felt instinctive, like the perfect collision of soft Indian grunge with that rebel chic vibe the city is known for.
What’s the pièce de résistance of the showcase?
Honestly, it’s hard to choose. This is one of those rare collections where I want to wear every single piece myself. Every garment has been through months of thought, questioning, and refinement, it’s not about counting hours but about living with the collection until it feels right.
Who’s the AK-OK woman?
She’s free-spirited, unbothered and effortless. She could be anywhere, London, New York, Jaipur and she’ll still wear her individuality lightly. She doesn’t dress to fit in but she dresses only for herself. Her style is easy, versatile, playful, sometimes rebellious but always authentic. She embodies the idea that it’s okay to be okay and it’s okay not to be perfect.
