Pawan Sachdevaa’s RECAST Takes Indian Craft Beyond the Wedding Circuit

After more than 27 years in menswear, the designer brings Bandhani, Kantha and traditional Indian textiles into a new conversation with denim, workwear and contemporary tailoring at Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI.

Bandhani is instantly recognisable, but we tend to encounter it in familiar settings: festive dressing, wedding wardrobes and the occasional special-occasion outfit. Kantha, too, is often admired for its handwork, though its possibilities extend well beyond the traditional garments and textiles with which we associate it.Pawan Sachdevaa wants to explore what happens when these crafts step into a different wardrobe altogether. His new collection, RECAST — Recasting the Familiar. Redefining the Modern Silhouette — will be presented at Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI on 17 October 2026 at 6:30 PM. The idea is to take elements of Indian craftsmanship and give them a place in the way we dress every day, rather than reserve them for special occasions.

A familiar design language, with room to experiment

Sachdevaa launched his label in 1999 and has spent more than 27 years developing a design practice rooted in menswear, with particular attention to fit, finish and detail. RECAST builds on that experience, but takes his familiar approach to tailoring in a more relaxed direction.Structured jackets sit alongside utility shirts, coats and fluid trousers. Workwear and streetwear inform the silhouettes, giving the collection an ease that feels distinctly contemporary. The tailoring remains important, but it is no longer the only consideration. Texture, movement and the way different fabrics work together have an equally significant role to play.

When Bandhani meets denim

The textile choices are where RECAST becomes particularly interesting. Bandhani, Shibori, Kasuti and Kantha appear alongside Kala Cotton Khadi, Khadi Silk, Matka Silk, Habutai Silk, bouclé and denim. These are fabrics and techniques with very different histories and characteristics, brought together through a wardrobe that moves between the traditional and the urban.Denim, in particular, changes the conversation around craft. Familiar textile techniques take on a different character when placed against a more casual fabric or worked into a utility-inspired silhouette. The result is a collection that invites Indian craftsmanship into everyday dressing without making it feel like an embellishment added simply for effect.The finishing techniques add another dimension. Acid, enzyme and stone washes, along with ombré dyeing, introduce variations in colour and texture. Placed alongside handcrafted details, these treatments create an interesting contrast between the precision of traditional techniques and the less uniform character of washed fabrics.

It is a reminder that craft does not always have to look pristine or ceremonial. Sometimes, it can feel relaxed, lived-in and entirely at home in a contemporary wardrobe.

Keeping the colour in focus

Indigo, ecru, black and mustard form the collection’s palette. The colours are strong without being overwhelming, leaving room for the textiles, surface treatments and construction to come through. Indigo, especially, lends itself to the interplay between denim and traditional textile techniques, while ecru and black provide a quieter counterpoint.There is a certain confidence in keeping the palette contained. When fabrics already have texture and character, adding more can distract from what makes them interesting in the first place.

Dressing beyond categories

RECAST also explores a more fluid approach to dressing, with silhouettes that are not rigidly confined to conventional ideas of menswear. The emphasis is on proportion, fabric and how a garment is worn, rather than on prescribing who it is for.This feels like a natural extension of the collection’s larger idea. When traditional textiles are introduced to new shapes and combinations, they open up possibilities beyond the settings in which we usually encounter them. A crafted detail can sit on a relaxed shirt as comfortably as it can on a more formal garment; a familiar technique can feel entirely different when the silhouette changes.For Sachdevaa, whose label has a presence in Delhi and an international footprint across Europe and the Middle East, RECAST marks a further exploration of the relationship between craftsmanship and contemporary design.

The appeal lies in the approach itself: respecting the skill and history behind Indian textiles while allowing them to evolve. Rather than treating craft as something to be brought out for an occasion, the collection asks a more useful question — why shouldn’t it be part of the clothes we reach for every day?With RECAST, Sachdevaa brings that question to the runway at Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI, offering his take on how Indian craftsmanship can move beyond convention and find a place in the modern wardrobe.

RECAST by Pawan Sachdevaa will be presented at Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI on 17 October 2026 at 6:30 PM.