India’s AK|OK Anamika Khanna makes LFW debut

Indian designer Anamika Khanna took over the iconic toy store Hamleys on Regent Street in London to make her London Fashion Week debut for her label AK|OK, which launched in 2021 and has been slowly expanding globally, including launching in Saks Fifth Avenue in the US last year.

Khanna is a well-known designer in her native country, renowned for her couture, custom-made outfits for Bollywood stars and celebrities, including Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone and Jennifer Lopez, and her ready-to-wear line, AK|OK, aims to offer a new direction in Indian fashion.

The label was set up as a 60:40 joint venture with Reliance Brands Limited, India’s largest luxury retailer, part of Reliance Industries Limited, which acquired Hamleys earlier this year. When the brand launched, Reliance said the move was to offer “a unique design philosophy to Indian and global consumers,” encapsulating India’s rich craftsmanship and nuances, while offering silhouettes “that transcend geographies”.

For spring/summer 2026, Khanna was driven by nostalgia, Indian heritage, as well as a fusion between India and London to offer a contemporary and modern take on traditional Indian attire, stripped of ceremony and reworked with jeans, skirts, and boots. Khanna reworked an Angarkha, a traditional outer robe typically worn by men, into new and modern silhouettes, while Chikankari embroidery, long revered as delicate and formal, transformed coats styled over slouchy pants.

The collection offered subtle Indian details tailored for a Western audience to drive the reach of the brand. It wasn’t overwhelmed by craft or embroidery, but rather a contemporary layering of styles, from tailored oversized blazers to floaty dresses, transparent detailing, striking metallic embroidery bralettes and saris emboldened with graphic prints inspired by Indian mythology and astrology.

“This is not about guarding tradition, nor abandoning it. It is about transformation, allowing heritage to breathe in the present moment. It is about finding ease, removing layers, letting one piece shine on its own. It is about freedom within the frame of memory,” explains the label in the show notes.

The collection also challenged the assumption that Indian silver jewellery is “too ethnic” or “too formal,” pairing jewellery and chainmail details in a modern context with silhouettes that floated around Hamley’s shelves filled with toy cars, Barbie dolls and Lego sets.

Khanna added: “For so many years, eastern culture has been perceived as costume, not wearable in everyday life. But whenever I use jewellery, people want to wear it with jeans. It’s about looking at these elements in a modern way, whether they belong today.

“Our brand bridges the gap between how dressing in India has always been perceived and the reality, that it is very modern.”

AK|OK Anamika Khanna showcases SS26 collection during London Fashion Week

To find out more about AK|OK’s vision and global ambitions, FashionUnited chatted to Khanna about her creative process, the collection and show venue, what sustainability means to her and what her plans are for AK|OK.

What inspired you to launch a fashion label with no formal training?

For me, it actually happened by chance. I won a design competition, and when I actually had to make my first outfit, I realised that I was perhaps just born for this. So, training or not, I've been through various stages in life that have been as good as formal training or informal training. Now, I feel like I just live for this.

How do you begin your creative process?

The creative process has different forms. Sometimes it could be inspired by something little, like a piece of fabric, a colour, or just an emotion. Sometimes the inspiration comes from the desperation of a deadline, and you’ve got to deliver. Other times, it comes from keeping parameters in mind as to who your client is and what season you're working with.

What’s the inspiration behind your spring/summer 2026 collection?

This is a collection very close to my heart. We started with this journey of a cool London city girl who has her roots in India, with an Indian grandmother living in Rajasthan. She goes there, and she finds these special, precious pieces in her trunk, and brings them back to London, and that's the starting point of the collection.

It is about nostalgia, about rediscovering what we have back home in more modern, contemporary ways, and it's about preserving and cherishing something that we've always had.

Why did you want to showcase during London Fashion Week?

AK|OK has always had global ambitions. That's how the brand had started, and London came naturally, because I find it very, very receptive and open to new ideas and very acceptable to different kinds of communities and people. London allows you to be who you are.

What was behind your decision to showcase at Hamley?

There is this feeling of nostalgia in the collection. This girl goes back to her grandmother’s home after many years, and it evokes these childhood memories. The same feeling comes when you enter Hamleys; everyone is transported back. It felt like the right emotional connection.

How would you describe your brand’s aesthetic?

Easy and versatile. My brand is all about just being comfortable with who you are, and being almost fearless in wearing the clothes like you want to. It does not have any age boundaries or limitations; it's basically building a way of life, and that way of life is that everything is okay.

What does sustainability in fashion mean to you, and how do you implement sustainable practices into your designs?

Sustainability, for me, is a realisation that it's not all about quality, or producing things that have multiple uses or a life-after-use, but that the pieces go beyond time and can be passed on for generations. There is also the consciousness of how we produce, what materials we use, and how we think about our collections, such as the emotions that we want to pass down, which I also think is a very important aspect of sustainability.

What’s next for AK|OK? What are the goals for your label in the next 12 months?

AK|OK has started its global footprint. We are expanding our base in India and also looking to expand internationally in different parts of the world. AK|OK will also launch at least three new categories in the next 12 months.

What are the biggest challenges facing your business?

Challenges come every day - from deadlines to designing for the customer, and expectations, as well as managing the kind of collections we make for different parts of the world and tariff changes. They're all challenges, but they're good challenges. I think every challenge makes you stronger and better.

Last year, you collaborated with H&M - what did you learn from that experience?

My biggest learning with H&M was the power of planning and pre-planning and planning again, and pre-planning again. Just being ready before everything, ensuring that not a drop of wastage through sustainability, and being ready and precise, was a game-changer.

One piece of advice you’d give a student fashion designer starting out?

Find your roots and stay true to yourself. That's the only way you'll make it. That's what works for us, I'm not scared to say where I come from and what I'm proud of, and that's what makes AK|OK standout.