Overview

• The coat debuted on the Paris runway July 7 and fetched about Rs 1.6–1.7 crore despite Dior not acknowledging the 12 Lucknow artisans who spent 34 days on its metal-thread Mukaish embroidery.
• In an X post last week, Edelweiss Mutual Fund CEO Radhika Gupta wrote “one more handloom, one more headline… the hand that creates remains invisible” to protest the lack of credit.
• Dior has not issued a formal response to growing consumer and industry demands for transparent attribution of traditional craft origins.
• Mukaish embroidery is a near-dying Lucknowi handcraft dating to the third century that now depends on a handful of artisans and rarely appears by name in luxury narratives.
• Gupta’s latest rebuke follows her earlier criticism of Prada’s uncredited Kolhapuri sandals and highlights calls for India to employ its artisanal heritage as a tool of soft power through clear recognition.