National, India, September 15th, 2026: For decades, Indian festive dressing has followed a familiar script. This season, Max Fashion tears it up. The brand’s Festive 2026 collection, launched under Project New, its platform for design-led, story-first collaborations, brings together two distinct threads of artistry, one rooted in centuries-old craft, the other in original, deeply personal art, united by a single conviction: that festive fashion should feel contemporary, individual, and led by purpose, not just occasion.
Leading the collection as its face and creative collaborator is Kalki Koechlin, who lends her touch to a season built around fusion, individuality, and modern occasionwear.
“Fashion has always been my way of saying something without saying it outright, and this collection let me do that on a much bigger scale,” said Kalki Koechlin, Brand Ambassador, Max Fashion. “Both the drops in this collection, in their own way, are about looking at festive dressing differently. That felt worth being part of.”
At the heart of the collection is a poetic fusion of Rajasthan’s handcrafted block printing and the delicate elegance of Japanese florals. Cherry blossoms scatter across fluid dresses, lotus medallions sit framed within Jaipuri block borders, and subtle Japanese kumodori cloud textures move through the prints as block repeat, alongside clean linear geometric textures and soft accents of gold.
The story begins in Sanganer, Rajasthan, home to generations of hand block printing artisans. Its first piece was brought to life entirely by hand, shaped by artisans who carved, coloured and printed each layer with generations of skill behind them, a design created exclusively for Max Fashion. As the collection scaled to meet the season, that spirit of craftsmanship remained central to its story.
The colour story leans into powder pink and blush sakura, an ivory and off-white base, soft sage and pista green, with lavender and coral stepping in as accents, a palette built to move easily between daytime festivities and evening ones.
Silhouettes are designed for how festive dressing actually happens today: fluid dresses, easy kurta sets, and graceful kalidar silhouettes cut for effortless festive dressing, in fabrics chosen to match the moment. Viscose blends bring daily luxe ease, Chanderi blends lighten things up for bigger occasions, and cotton dobby and cotton flex step in for a more structured, fusion-forward look. Details carry the craft story further, contrast
piping, fabric buttons, and potli accents, coordinated dupattas with border storytelling of their own, and zari, mirror, and bead highlights finished with the occasional playful tassel.
Running alongside Sakura Baag is a collection shaped by a different kind of creativity altogether, one that began not on a mood board, but on canvas. In partnership with the Kairassi Foundation, a design-inclusive organisation based in Chennai that supports artists with disabilities, Max Fashion set out to give three remarkable talents a wider stage. Simron Raj, Pavithra, and Manas each bring a visual language entirely their own, shaped by their individual ways of seeing and creating. Their brushstrokes, once confined to canvas, now find their way onto dresses, a skirt, a scarf, a shirt and a tote bag, each piece carrying forward the artist’s voice rather than diluting it. It is fashion built the other way around, where the artwork came first and the garment was designed to hold it.
“Every festive season, we ask ourselves how to make the collection feel new, not just in design but in what it stands for,” said Sumit Chandna, CEO, Max Fashion. “This year, that answer came from craft and creativity working together, from Sanganer’s artisans to the artists we found through Kairassi. Project New is our way of building festive fashion that people actually connect with.”
Indian festive dressing does not need to stay within convention to feel festive. Whether through the fusion of Japanese-inspired motifs and Sanganeri block print, or through art finding its way onto everyday silhouettes, Max Fashion’s Festive 2026 collection is designed for a consumer who wants their festive wardrobe to say something more. At its heart, this is a collection led by the people behind it, the artisans of Sanganer and the artists from Kairassi Foundation who made it possible.
The collection will be available in stores, on the Max Fashion website and on the Max Fashion app, pan-India, from September, with a second drop following in October, priced from ₹599 for menswear shirts and t-shirts, ₹899 for womenswear dresses, skirts and shirts, and ₹999 for the Indian wear range including fusion dresses, fusion blazers, culottes and kurta sets, with prices going up to ₹1,999 across the collection.
Watch Project New in motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cejIz2BGHWw
About Max Fashion
Max Fashion, a global fashion leader born in the Middle East in 2004 and now present across 20+ countries, has evolved into a global powerhouse of everyday style. With over 900 stores across markets including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India and Indonesia, the brand’s journey is defined by scale, speed and a deep instinct for contemporary fashion.
India sits at the heart of that growth story. Since opening its first store here in 2006, Max has become deeply woven into the country’s fashion landscape, celebrating 20 years in India this year. Today, the brand operates 530+ stores across 220+ cities, spanning over 5.8 million sq. ft. of retail space nationwide. This expansive footprint translates into over 1 million daily customer interactions and more than 130 million garments sold annually across men, women and kids.
Beyond its formidable scale lies its defining edge — the seamless blend of international design direction with an intuitive understanding of Indian preferences. From elevated everyday essentials to occasion-ready fashion for men, women and kids, Max captures the rhythm of modern India, delivering style that is current, versatile and deeply connected to its audience.
