Kartik Research embraced maximalism at it’s Paris debut

In a moment that felt both electric and deeply overdue, Kartik Research made its runway debut at Paris Men’s Fashion Week this season, unveiling its Spring/Summer 2026 collection in a show that was equal parts vibrant manifesto and joyful rebellion.

Titled ‘How To Make In India’, the collection is a kaleidoscopic love letter to Kartik Kumra’s homeland—a country of instinctive dressing, unexpected clashes, and sartorial exuberance that resists the quiet, tasteful minimalism dominating global fashion today. Kumra, the 27-year-old founder and creative director, has always approached design like an anthropologist with a Leica—traveling across India, collecting textures, colours, and the everyday eccentricities that define its streets. This season, that approach bloomed into its most complete expression yet. The collection showcased a larger-than-ever selection of womenswear, a clear nod to the brand’s fast-growing female fan base, who have been clamoring for more.

At the Union de la Jeunesse Internationale, an experimental cultural centre in Paris, Kumra presented pieces that read more like living stories than garments. Embroidered jackets bordering on couture-level detail sat alongside voluminous shirts in wild prints and dyed cottons that looked as though they’d been lifted from vintage bazaars in Jaipur. The collection leaned deeply into maximalism: layering, embroidery, and unapologetic colour. In a world where “quiet luxury” has become the tired uniform of the global elite, Kumra dares to ask: What if we dressed loudly, instinctively, and above all, joyfully? As the models strut across a runway covered by Jaipur Rugs, it was a pleasant surprise that the lineup went beyond menswear. Mixed prints, textures, and silhouettes elevated classic styles.

The show notes hammered this home, reading simply: “How To Make In India.” It wasn’t just a title; it was a statement of intent. While the Western fashion world continues to gaze east, eager to borrow motifs and techniques, Kartik Research flipped the narrative, inviting the world to see India not as a reference point, but as the main act—the source. Alongside this unapologetic celebration of craft, the SS26 presentation included the brand’s anticipated collaboration with Converse. The footwear lineup felt like a natural extension of Kumra’s ethos: playful, rooted in craft, and brimming with personality. It also signals a growing global footprint, following on the heels of Kartik Research’s New York boutique opening and hints at further international retail expansion. Since founding the brand in 2021 with $5,000 saved from flipping Yeezys while at university, Kumra has carefully built Kartik Research into a quiet powerhouse, stocked in top stores from Dover Street Market in Tokyo to Selfridges in London, and worn by everyone from Paul Mescal to Damson Idris.

But this collection felt like a graduation. It marked a shift from being an indie darling with cult-favorite kantha jackets to becoming a house with the confidence (and the craft vocabulary) to command the world’s stage. In Kumra’s universe, clothing isn’t just fabric and thread; it’s a living archive of human hands, community, and instinct. And this Paris debut wasn’t merely a runway moment—it was an invitation to dress with soul, to celebrate the beautifully chaotic poetry of India, and to do it loudly.

Lead image: Getty Images
 

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