Designers Celebrate PRIDE In Their Vocabulary

Pride means different things to different people. Inclusivity. Acceptance. Self-expression. Breaking barriers. The colours of the rainbow are steeped in emotions and symbolism. Moreover, in today's socio-political climate, observing and celebrating Pride Month is more imperative than ever before. The  LGBTQIA+ community across the world has always been under some form of attack. Battling all the odds in human history, Pride has emerged as a significant synonym for unquestioning acceptance and a whole-hearted embrace of diversity. Since the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City, PRIDE has come a long way evolving into an annual series of events rooting for visibility, equality, and the ongoing fight for LGBTQIA+ rights around the world.

Indian designers and homegrown labels have time and again essayed these emotions in their own design handwriting—from casting models from the LGBTQIA+ community to participating in Pride marches to initiating a series of cultural dialogues garnering support of LGBTQIA+ communities through their clothing, runway presentations and campaigns.

With Indian fashion being an important and powerful tool to ignite thinking and fuel freedom of expression, we got some of our loved and celebrated designers to illustrate what Pride means to them in their own vocabulary.  

Urvashi Kaur

Pride, to me, is the freedom to be unapologetically yourself. Your identity, your story, your truth - celebrated in all its colours and textures. Pride is honouring authenticity. In my work, I’ve always leaned towards fluidity - soft structures, silhouettes without restriction and clothes that celebrate the wearer, not the box they’re placed in. Designing fluidly - without gender in mind has taught me that the most meaningful style is the one that reflects the true self - soulfully, freely and unapologetically.

Randhir Singh, Founder & Creative Director, Subculture 

Bondage and discipline are the exploration of power dynamics and sexual submission that can only be established through a solid bedrock of consent and trust. 

Rudraksh Dwivedi 

Pride to me is knowing that my sexuality is a part of me and not the headline of my life. It’s about embracing every part of who I am without letting one aspect limit or label me.

Suneet Varma

In my world of flamboyant couture, every sequin, every drape, is a celebration of love in its truest, most fearless form. Queer love is powerful—it’s bold, beautiful, and unapologetically authentic. To wear what you love is to be who you are. Embrace self-love like the finest embroidery—layered, detailed, radiant. Spread your wings, live your truth with dignity, and dance in the light of your pride. Because love—any love, your love—is couture at its finest: custom-made, limitless, and absolutely divine. Let the world see you. In colour, in confidence, in all your glorious truth.

Aniket Satam, Founder - Pinkporcupines 

Pride for me personally is about breaking from your own shackles of societal expectation and freeing oneself from the perceived expectation of gender discourse. It's all about embracing oneself honestly and in totality firstly rather than expecting others to do that first. The deconstructed shirt stands for the societal construct of gender and the free bird in its symbolic rainbow hues is out the acceptance of one's true self.

Mayyur Girotra 

Pride, for me, is about honouring the colours we carry within our stories, our identities, our truths. Fashion is my language of self-expression, and Pride is a celebration of that freedom in every form and every heartbeat.

Ashdeen Lilaowala, Founder & Creative Director, Ashdeen

Pride means fully stepping into your power, owning your story and inhabiting your truth. Pride to me means real authenticity, the kind that brings together the past, present and the future.

Deepit Chugh, Line Outline

Pride just like identity, is layered, intentional, sometimes messy, always evolving. This Pride Month, we honour the many ways people choose to be seen — with grace, with edge, with fire. Because to live in your truth is the most radical design of all.