Anamika Khanna Takes Over London With AK|OK’s London Fashion Week Debut

For someone who has staged countless shows, Anamika Khanna still gets butterflies before every presentation. “Everyone knows, don’t go near Anamika,” she laughs, admitting that the nerves never quite go away. Those jitters carry a new kind of weight as her label AK|OK Anamika Khanna is showing for the first time at London Fashion Week on September 22. 

London feels like a fitting stage for AK|OK Anamika Khanna, a label born from Khanna’s instinct to play with tradition while loosening its formality. The Spring/Summer 2026 collection—conceived as a nostalgic journey is steeped in memory, yet refracted through a thoroughly modern lens. “This collection is quintessential AK|OK Anamika Khanna,” she says. “We stand for fashion that derives from India, from craft and textile traditions, but we have fun with it. It’s playful, light, easy, versatile.”

“The story unfolds around a London ‘cool girl’ who carries her heritage with her. She pulls a chikankari blouse from her grandmother’s trunk, pairs it with trousers in the city, and makes it her own,” is how Khanna describes this collection. Angarkha silhouettes are reimagined, churidars morph into trousers (“because why not!,” she exclaims), and embroidery techniques are stripped back and reworked for a cleaner, contemporary edge. Antique silver jewellery and mythological prints sit alongside pared-down separates, creating a wardrobe that moves seamlessly between cultural memory and present-day relevance.

Khanna describes the perspective almost as childlike, approaching Indian elements with curiosity, as though seeing them for the first time. “If a foreigner saw an Angarkha, what would they do with it? How would they wear it?” she muses. That sense of playful experimentation anchors the collection. Even techniques like Chikankari are given a fresh eye, not always colourful or ornate, but reinterpreted with a modern, restrained touch. 

Beyond silhouettes, the collection leans on storytelling. Khanna has been drawing from Indian mythology and even texts like the Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata—not to present literal references, but to channel the emotional worlds within them. Paired with astronomy-inspired motifs and prints, the collection’s details carry a quiet poetry that ties back to her ongoing interest in how India’s storytelling traditions might evolve for a modern audience.

For Khanna, the challenge was one of subtraction. “In India, we’re comfortable with layering—one more colour, one more something else. But the rest of the world is simpler. The process was to take away, to present pieces that feel modern and relevant, without feeling like costume,” she explains. This shift in approach, however, does not dilute the Indian essence. 

What Khanna hopes to bring to London is more than clothing. It is a moment to pause in a world that often rushes forward. “Everything is becoming mechanised, digitised, AI-driven. People don’t have time to stop and feel the beauty of anything anymore. For me, this collection is about nostalgia, about asking people to just stop for a minute and breathe,” she says.

It’s also personal. Her sons, Vishesh and Viraj, are her fiercest critics, questioning every cut and detail. Vishesh, a design student at Central Saint Martins, often asks her whether she would wear a piece when she was 20. If the answer is no, it goes back to the drawing board. “It’s like getting into the fire every day,” she admits, though she’s grateful for the honesty that keeps her restless, evolving.

Pre-show rituals remain her anchor. A silver coin from her mother always finds its way to her, no matter which city she’s showing in, while she quietly recites the Namokar Mantra before the lights go up. “This time,” she smiles, “I’m hoping I’ll just enjoy myself, let everyone else do the job, and chill. Let’s see.” Still, she admits, she’s not entirely confident about being so relaxed before the show.

Beyond the runway, what excites her most about this collection is its wearability. “Sometimes you make a collection and you love it, but you can’t actually wear it. This time I feel like I want to wear every piece—it’s just from my soul,” she says. That balance of emotional storytelling and everyday relevance may well be the thread that connects AKOK to a global audience.

The show is only the beginning of a larger vision for AK|OK Anamika Khanna. A new Mumbai store is on the horizon, along with the expansion of the brand’s recently launched bags. International growth is firmly in the works, too. “For AK|OK Anamika Khanna, the world is the oyster and we’ve just started,” Khanna says.

Her journey from Indian couture to a global platform has been long, but her energy remains fresh, almost impatient. Each day is a reset, a chance to start again. And in London this week, AK|OK Anamika Khanna begins a new chapter—rooted in heritage, and wide open to the world.

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