Opinion Prada reps kolhapuri chappals: Grace is always in vogue

Long before it gave its name to one of the most iconic patterns in fashion, Paisley was just another Scottish town. Its star rose in the 19th century, when it became so well-known for its imitation Kashmiri shawls that the shawls’ traditional “buta” pattern was soon named “paisley”. This erasure of the pattern’s origin, removing it from the specific cultural context in which it was first created — the “buta” is said to be inspired by the shape of either a pinecone or mango — makes it an early instance of cultural appropriation. But is this also what is happening with the footwear — strongly resembling Kolhapuri chappals — that the Italian fashion house Prada featured as part of its Spring-Summer 2026 collection this week?

In its show notes, Prada described the footwear as “leather sandals”, with no reference to an Indian connection. This has infuriated many in India’s fashion community as well as traditional makers of Kolhapuri chappals. The history of fashion, of course, is one of crosscurrents and confluences, with textiles, motifs and styles passing from region to region, and wardrobe staples in one place inspiring luxury creations in another. But fashion labels in the West have a history of appropriating and flattening different cultures — often tipping over into controversy, such as when Gucci sent out models wearing Sikh-style turbans in 2016. This understandably leads to wariness among designers and craftspeople in the Global South.

Advertisement

Change, however, is already underway, with labels like Dior and Louboutin starting to look for collaborators, not just ideas, in other cultures — the former worked with Mumbai’s Chanakya School of Craft for its pre-fall 2023 line, while the latter teamed up with designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee for a capsule collection in 2017. With Prada yet to make the details of its latest collection public, it still has the chance to give credit where it’s due. Grace, after all, is one of those things that never go out of style.