Akhil Nagpal at his first studio, New Delhi, 2020
Akhil Nagpal’s Degree Project, Central Saint Martins, 2017
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Akhil Nagpal graduated from the renowned Central Saint Martins in London in 2017, while in college he received The William Atkinson Award for Craftsmanship and won the LVMH Masterclass Competition. After graduation he worked with Peter Pilotto in London, and Manish Arora and Amit Aggarwal in New Delhi before starting AKHL in early 2020.
The Gamma Ray Dress, Gamma SS24
The Rippling Gauze Dress, Solaris SS25
NEW WAVE INDIAN HAND-CRAFTSMANSHIP
AKHL is rooted in challenging conventional narratives of what India can design and produce. Our emphasis is on redefining traditional Indian handcrafting techniques through material, technical and visual innovation. Ultimately, our endeavor is to deploy these reinvented techniques to create evocative handcrafted fashion that embraces cutting-edge aesthetics, with touches of sexuality and subversion, and positions Indian fashion towards a global 21st century audience.
AKHL in Vogue, 2020
Grazia Young Fashion Award, 2021
BRAND HISTORY
AKHL showcased its debut collection at Lakmé Fashion Week 2020 as the winner of the prestigious Gen-Next competition and has been a recipient of various awards since then including The Elle Graduates Designer Of The Year Award in 2022 and The Grazia Young Fashion Award in 2021. AKHL has been featured in leading publications including i-D, The Business of Fashion, The Vanilla Issue and Indian editions of Vogue, Elle, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Grazia, Cosmopolitan.
AKHL is stocked at stores and platforms across the world including in North America, Europe, Middle-East, North Africa, South America and India.