Raw Mango Debuts at London Fashion Week with It’s Not About The Flower Collection

At its first show on an international stage, Raw Mango presented its Fall Winter 2026 collection It’s Not About The Flower at London Fashion Week. Drawing inspiration from the garland, a common element of everyday life in South Asia, the collection explored the relationship between decoration and the decorated. The concept shifted attention from individual motifs to arrangements, and from surface engagement to deeper reflections on value and beauty.

Talking about the inspiration and emotional core behind the collection, designer and founder Sanjay Garg says, “Flowers remain an important part of South-East Asia and South Asia. But we don’t really have a culture of giving one individual flower to someone, like, say, a rose on Valentine’s Day.” He continues, “As a culture, we are a country of garlands. Whether it’s a death, a birth, a wedding or a religious ritual, you see garlands, irrespective of the religion. It’s not about one individual flower; it’s about the plurality.”

With the show in London, the brand presented an indigenous idea of fashion that aimed to challenge convention and move away from stereotypes. “There is still a strong association between Indian fashion and a certain kind of aesthetic — heavy gold embroidery, and maximalist ensembles that overwhelm the eye and the body with ‘bling’,” says Sanjay. “Indian fashion is too often quantified – it’s not seen for its innate aesthetic value, but the number of hours it took a weaver to create a garment. It’s a surface-level engagement that sometimes drowns out the beauty of the weave itself.”

The garments and silhouettes offered interpretations of how a garland sits on the body. The flowers were constructed in non-traditional and silk-like fabrics, assembled or rolled by hand, and arranged on lightly embroidered brocades, rib-knit cottons, quilted rayon and wool felt. The presentation was attended by figures from fashion, business, entertainment and culture including Anoushka Shankar, Akshata Murthy, Gurinder Chadha, Saim Ali, Cyrill Ibrahim, Lubna Chowdhary, Rahi Chadda, Suhair Khan, Aarti Lohia, Tarini Malik, Nikhil Mansata and Arooj Aftab. It’s Not About The Flower invited audiences to engage with the work on its own terms.

Speaking to the significance of presenting at London Fashion Week, Sanjay responds, “Presenting here is as good as presenting in Kanpur for me. At the end of the day, it is the work being presented that matters. And that doesn’t change according to who is viewing it, or where. I’m less interested in defining my audience and more interested in further exploring and articulating my design language that can cater to different audiences that transcends borders and seasons.”

This focus on the work rather than fashion calendar conventions has defined Raw Mango’s approach to textile and culture for eighteen years. The brand builds on century-old skills to shape an aesthetic vocabulary that is contemporary and rooted in local histories.

For this presentation, Raw Mango was presented by De Beers Group, with Forevermark Diamond Jewellery as jewellery partner. Commenting on the partnership, Shweta Harit, Global Senior Vice President at De Beers Group and CEO of Forevermark, said: “As the jewellery partner, Forevermark Diamond Jewellery came together with Raw Mango through a shared commitment to authenticity, craftsmanship, and personal expression. Natural diamonds - rare creations of the earth, each inherently unique - reflected the same sense of individuality expressed through Raw Mango’s design language. Presented by De Beers Group, the collaboration came together as a meeting of heritage, provenance, and contemporary creativity, where adornment felt like a true extension of identity.”