KANIKA GOYAL: VIBING WITH THE WORLD

For her eponymous brand's second presentation at New York Fashion Week, designer KANIKA GOYAL tapped into our cosmic origins and channeled their divine energy into clothes that make up the SS23 collection, Starseed. Her biggest takeaway, though, was learning that she wants to be more than an Indian designer showcasing at a global fashion week; she wants to be a global designer.

- Ashwini Arun Kumar

Human beings are old souls who are invincible," says Kanika Goyal. She doesn't drop these profound lines H into our conversation simply to sound woke (which is not to say that she isn't); the designer truly believes in cosmic concepts such as source energy and angel numbers. So much so that she has made them the premise of her SS23 collection, Starseed. "This collection is heavily based on the feelings of divine energy coursing within the finite bodies of our present current incarnations," she writes in the collection note accompanying the presentation. But this collection is also about introspecting and creating clothes that reflect a cultural mood. After two years, when the world is finally in the space to create again, Kanika doesn't want to indulge in meaningless fashion.

Even though Starseed encompasses everything that the Kanika Goyal Label (KGL) stands for - fun, euphoric, provocative, giving off a very tomboy sexy vibe - what the clothes also do is subvert trends and deliver utilitarian classics rejigged with a slant of Kanika's Gen Z-friendly aesthetics. "The '70s have stuck with me since COVID," says the designer, who, like the rest of us, was looking toward fashion from the era to battle the virus-induced macabre; she continued to be inspired by it even while designing this collection. "It started with tie-dye, progressed into the psychedelic phase, and even drew from the flower power time," she explains. There are crochet cropped tops with retro bell sleeves and dresses with the house's signature sneaks cord' details on the sides. Anti-fit dresses and tops made with super stretch spandex are printed with blown-up sketches of the poppy, the label's flower du jour, to add the vintage appeal.

They are also embroidered on jackets and trench coats to inject them with a feminine touch.