New York

India's rich architecture, spirituality, festivals and culture served as inspirations for a collection of contemporary couture showcased at the New York Fashion Week by a leading South Asian bridalwear brand founded by an Indian-American sibling designer duo.

Nazranaa, the South Asian fashion and bridalwear brand founded by sibling designer duo Shivangi Gupta Singh and Shashank Gupta, unveiled its Spring-Summer 2027 collection ‘Samskriti 2.0’ here during the New York Fashion Week on September 16.

Bollywood actor Bhumi Pednekar was the evening’s showstopper, bringing the collection’s celebration of Indian heritage and craftsmanship to a dramatic finale.

Last year, the sibling designer duo had unveiled its Spring-Summer 2026 collection ‘Samskriti’ at the New York Fashion Week through ‘Nazranaa’.

Building on last year’s collection, 'Samskriti 2.0' drew from “India’s architecture, spirituality, festivals, literature, mathematics and poetry, translating centuries-old ideas into contemporary couture,” a press release said.

"For us, Samskriti was a defining moment in our design language,” Shashank Gupta, co-founder and designer of Nazranaa, said in the statement.

"With Samskriti 2.0, we continue using fashion to bring India’s extraordinary temples, texts and intellectual traditions to a global audience. We want each garment to spark curiosity about the story behind it."

Indian architecture, spirituality and celebration appear in the collection through references to the Meenakshi Temple, Prem Mandir, Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra, Holi and Raas Leela. A lehenga inspired by the Meenakshi temple evokes its sculptural grandeur, while a Vrindavan-inspired piece honors Radha and Lord Krishna.

Shivangi Gupta Singh, co-founder of Nazranaa, highlighted the personal thread and childhood nostalgia that runs through the collection, saying, "Our mother was born in Mathura, and we grew up spending time in Mathura and Vrindavan, surrounded by stories of Radha and Krishna. Samskriti 2.0 brings that emotional connection to a New York runway."

Pednekar wore a hand-embroidered velvet lehenga and blouse inspired by the Ramakrishna Temple at Belur Math, whose architecture brings together elements of Hindu temples, mosques and churches as a reflection of beauty in diversity and the idea of a universal faith, the release said.

The swan, representing the 'Paramatman' or Supreme Self in Swami Vivekananda’s emblem, formed the central focus of the skirt, while a net veil was finished with scalloped lotuses throughout.

Pednekar’s appearance connected Indian cultural heritage with contemporary global fashion, closing a runway conceived as a visual exploration of India’s creative and intellectual legacy.

"There is something very special about seeing Indian culture celebrated on a global stage like New York Fashion Week," Pednekar said.

"Closing the show for Nazranaa’s Samskriti 2.0 felt incredibly special because of the way they took stories, symbols and traditions that are so deeply rooted in India and translated them into beautiful, modern couture. The craftsmanship of Belur Math-inspired look was extraordinary, and wearing something with so much thought and meaning behind every detail made the moment feel extremely powerful.”

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India’s mathematical and literary history is also woven in two menswear jackets. One interprets Acharya Pingala’s 'Meru Prastara', a pattern of long and short Vedic syllables that predates Pascal’s Triangle and the Fibonacci sequence, through 'Laghu, Guru, 1 and 0'. The other transforms 7th-century Sanskrit poet Magha’s 'Sarvatobhadra', a multidirectional pattern poem, into a reversible geometric design.