FDCI India Men’s Weekend 2025 showcases gender fluid fashion and rebellious streetwear

Men in tousled hair, kohl rimmed eyes, bold jewellery, and six pack abs wander around Jaipur’s graceful old Diggi Palace all day. We are at the influential FDCI India Men’s Weekend 2025 presented by Chivas Luxe Perfumes, for a glamorous peek into what men are wearing this year.

While ramp looks may seem unattainable, and even sometimes intimidatingly edgy, these ideas filter down to the high street and everyday wardrobes rather quickly, so it’s a useful glimpse into what is likely to influence your personal style. 

The weekend featured some of the 26 shows, from the country’s most established designers as well as bright new talent, including Rajesh Pratap Singh, JJ Valaya, Shantanu & Nikhil, Varun Bahl, Ashish N Soni, Bloni and more, showcasing innovative approaches and silhouettes to materials and techniques. 

Sunil Sethi, chairman, The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), explains how the organisation, which has about 400 members from the industry, works to further the business of fashion in India and ensure its sustainable growth. “We are giving people a platform to shine… And I am looking for people who want to experiment,” he says, adding that menswear has been getting more attention, drawing more young talent. “This year we also have four women designers who have an interesting range of men’s wear.”  

We watch the shows and meet the designers to find out what men will be wearing this year. 

Siddartha Tytler: A rebellious personal style  

Twilight meets Fifty Shades of Grey, and Gothic grunge meets precision tailoring at Siddartha Tytler’s show, where angular models with slicked back hair and aggressive silver face accessories walk around a roaring fire at the Diggi Palace courtyard, to Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’.

The moody colour palette, with deep black, teal, and navy is broken up with streaks of silver in tailored suits softened with drapes, oversized jumpers and fluid hakama pants. Look closer and there are clever surface embellishments making every texture more interesting: applique details, shimmering sequins, and crystal work, in addition to delicate ruffles at the wrist and unexpected zips.

“Every season, we try and do something different,” says Siddartha, adding that he used a versatile microfibre from Vietnam for the line. “It’s beautiful and it falls very well.”

The brooding, rather masculine collection features some unexpected twists, like corsets and sweeping skirts. “These are little elements to wake people up,” smiles the designer, adding, “I’m a child of the 80s and a student of the 90s: so it’s all about high fashion, glamour and sex.” 

Anter Agni by Ujwal Dubey: Gender fluid fashion 

Men in lace saunter down the runway in Anter-Agni’s exuberant collection titled Be Right Back. “It’s a small playful collection,” says Ujwal, “I’ve used more colour and added botanical prints, as well as abstract embroidery.”

In comparison to his dark monotones of the past, this collection is bright and hopeful, with clean cuts and jaunty surface work. “I used lace this time, but it’s very subtle. I like working with the most common elements, and taking a fresh look at them, like lace, pin tucks and pleats,” he says, adding “My clothes are a little feminine… I run away from standardisation.”

The collection features asymmetrical lines, and structure with fluidity, in ivory and earthy neutrals like caramel. As the male models walk: glittering jewellery, hints of feminine lace and embroidery come together with sleek masculine lines.  

Nitin Bal Chauhan: Street wear with personality  

Take armour, but make it chic. Nitin uses armour core to give his signature streetwear an edge.  

The designer, who is from Chamba, has been inspired by one of India’s oldest wooden mural temples, Devi Kothi dedicated to goddess Chamunda, for his 2025 collection. Nitin says, “I wanted to bring in that warrior element. To inspire people to fight for their dreams. It’s the spirit of a go-getter, a hustler, and streetwear needs that vibe.” 

Nitin cleverly manages to take the form of medieval armour and create contemporary silhouettes with intricate construction. Hoodies, jackets, bomber jackets, baggy pants and tapered cargo pants are given individuality with industrial washes, unexpected loops, rivets and zips.  

Miniature paintings of the Devi Kothi temple are then hand-painted onto hoodies using Air Ink — an ink made from collecting vehicular carbon emissions in Delhi and NCR, which the designer has been experimenting with. “If anything can help curb air pollution, we should try it,” says Nitin. “The most scarce pigment in the world is black. So it’s a beautiful window of opportunity.”  

Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna: Old world glamour and pearls  

As the music swells, the ramp lit by buttery, flickering candles, is filled with statuesque models swathed in lightweight, flowing silks and rippling pearls.  

The popular designers embrace quiet luxury, inspired by Rajasthan’s palaces with their inlaid marble and textured sandstone. The collection offers refined minimalism, but still feels extravagant, luxurious and contemporary with matador jackets, wide leg relaxed fit trousers and structured silhouettes. “We started 30 years ago,” says Rohit, adding, “At that time wives and mothers used to buy men clothes. Now, men know exactly what they want. They have become more experimental, and grooms don’t want to be overshadowed by the bride anymore.”

Rahul adds, “Inspired by Jaipur, we wanted to glam it up this year, so we added pearls, gemstones and chocolate colours. We chose pearls, because they are subtle. They shine, but not in an overpowering way.” 

VK by Vivek Karunakaran: Design that’s rooted in home 

The collection, which is a celebration of identity, features softly draped veshtis, fluid palazzos and embroidered Madras checks and is rooted in Tamil Nadu, specifically Chennai. “There is pride in owning where you are from,” says Vivek, who launched his label in Chennai 18 years ago.

His latest line is inspired by the Thirukkural, reimagined in natural fibres like silk organza, taffeta, linen and Egyptian cotton. The clothes are painstakingly embroidered, reflecting the craftsmanship of temple carvings, and repeating the motif of jasmine flowers. As models walk the ramp in ecru, vanilla, scarlet and crimson, intricate detailing is apparent: from jasmine flowers placed from wrist to elbow as felt applique, the way flower-sellers measure spools, to handstitched Madras checks created as a texture on the garments.  

Countrymade by Sushant Abrol: A softer take on military fashion  

With a palette steeped in deep greys and brown hues, this collection questions warfare, inspired by a charred piece of an aircraft’s fuselage. Designer Sushant Abrol describes the residual of war with his clothes, and although they are based on the combative forms of military clothing, from trench coats to bomber jackets, they also exude a sense of hope with thoughtful details like kantha stitches that run through the collection and metal-like buttons, crafted in a pottery studio with stoneware clay.

There are hand-tucked fabrics, craggy denim textures and intricate handmade textures in camouflage patterns. The collection also features frayed edges on shirts and jackets and prints drawn from the shape of molten metal.  Sushant says that they experimented with leather for the line, “We used pigments on undyed leather, then spray painted it and dried it till it became hard, and we got cracks like a spider web.”  

There are lots of accessories from molten metal buckles to rings and pocket squares. “It is military but a different perspective. We look at the emotional side of men in uniform,” says Sushant. “Our take is heartfelt.” 

Nikita Mhaisalkar: Prints on travel wear  

From putting men in shimmering corsets to creating lavish embroidery carpeted over geometric weaves on jackets, Nikita’s collection celebrates the cheerful notes of Afro pop culture.

Inspired by the designer’s recent holiday in Africa, the collection is a tribute to travel, featuring structured pant suits, bomber jackets and flowing trench coats. “I saw so many tribes at the safari reserves, and each of them had their own print cultures,” she says, adding that studying their sacred geometry, joyous pattern clash and celebration of form resulted in this collection.

It also features her favourite material, hemp. “It’s very organic, very versatile, very luxurious and extremely breathable,” she says. Discussing how Indian men have started taking an interest in fashion over the past few years, especially post-pandemic, she adds “People are travelling so much now, that they are looking for smart travel staples, so I’ve also used crepes and silks that travel well. Now customers want clothes that are easy to maintain, and pocket friendly.”