While the latest edition of FDCI India Couture Week (@fdciofficial) was underway, we brought together four new talents in the fashion and textile design space for a round-table discussion to dissect the current couture scene’s challenges and consider the solutions to make it more robust beyond bridal and occasion wear. A combination of consumer demands — themselves byproducts of sociocultural expectations, co-option of local heritage by wider global trends and in-your-face social media marketing — and pandemic-induced setbacks have lent the fairly young but oversaturated fashion segment a homogenous hue. However, Yash Patil (@that.antiquepiece), @anmol_venkatesh, @somyalochan and Tanay Arora (@thepaperbonsai) see potential for the sector to be reinvigorated through a more explicit recognition of the intergenerational practices and artisanal communities that intuitively cradle the core values of couture: artistry, handmade, bespoke. “I think we are still at a place where we are finding and exploring a language. Couture Week has only been around for 15 years,” says fashion designer Patil. “Perhaps I come from a bubble where people are more aware about fashion, but I’m very optimistic about the kind of demands that consumers will eventually put forward as their base grows,” says Venkatesh, assistant designer at Péro. “There are young designers cropping up everywhere, and they are readily experimenting. And there are established ones who are opening up their horizons to newer things too. And this process is going to come together to generate multiple diverse languages,” says Lochan, textile designer at @raw_mango. “I hope that the organised structure of a professional fashion house, a concept that is still new here, develops and comes to co-exist with the age-old crafts in the Indian landscape. I hope to see a broader clientele emerge, one that buys garments that are manufactured in India for an Indian audience,” says Arora, design consultant at Aranya Naturals and Athulya Paper Studio. Read the full conversation at the link in bio. Moderation and photography: @scriptedartist __ #FDCI #IndiaCoutureWeek #TextileIndustry #IndianCrafts #CoutureDesign