Abraham & Thakore, the trailblazing design trio affectionately known as the “Masters of Minimalism,” took Lakmē Fashion Week 2024 by storm with their highly anticipated Spring-Summer ’25 collection titled Finding Beauty. This collection, which made its debut in partnership with the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), pushed boundaries and challenged perceptions of what couture could be.
The collection, Finding Beauty, revolves around the idea of transforming discarded and forgotten materials into luxurious evening wear. David Abraham, Rakesh Thakore, and Kevin Nigli reimagine waste as treasure, collapsing binaries between old and new, and between what’s cast off and what’s deemed glamorous. Abraham described the collection as “a proposition for a new kind of couture that reflects on consumption and value in today’s world.” He added, “It’s about finding beauty in what society discards, and giving it a second life.”
Each garment in the collection carries a story of transformation. Delicate georgettes featured prints inspired by memories trapped in old film reels, while unspooled cassette tapes found a new lease on life as floral motifs woven into organza. These nostalgic elements created a sense of familiarity while breathing new life into materials that would otherwise be forgotten.
Perhaps the most striking pieces were dresses made from discarded chip wrappers, stitched together to form knee-length gowns that shimmered under the runway lights. “The chip wrapper dresses were a playful nod to the wild nights and cheeky indulgences we often forget,” shared Thakore, “They’re glamorous, but not in the way we’re used to.”
One of the most innovative aspects of the collection was the use of sequins laser-cut from discarded X-rays. These sequins added a glitzy, futuristic element to the garments, showcasing the potential of upcycling in high fashion. “The X-ray sequins were a revelation,” Nigli said, “We wanted to show that even something as clinical as an X-ray can be transformed into something beautiful and sparkling.”
The Finding Beauty collection also included gowns made from rice sacks, kitchen foil, and gunny bags, each material painstakingly recontextualized to create something luxurious and desirable. The trio’s genius lies in their ability to make the familiar feel gloriously strange, and the strange feel gloriously familiar. “We wanted to provoke thought,” Nigli explained, “and ask, what is beauty if not perspective?”
As the models strutted down the runway, there was an undeniable energy in the room. Each piece invited the audience to reflect on how we consume and what we value. Abraham, Thakore, and Nigli have long been known for their minimalist approach to fashion, but Finding Beauty felt bolder, more experimental, yet still true to their ethos.
The collection is not just a display of fashion; it’s a conversation starter. It urges us to reconsider how we define beauty in a world that’s constantly moving forward, often at the cost of leaving things behind. With Finding Beauty, Abraham & Thakore have once again proven that high fashion need not be pretentious or fancy, but instead can celebrate the artistry in the overlooked.
