The New Language of Resortwear: Inside Timex India Beach Fashion Week 2025

There’s something inherently poetic in the way fabric dances with the wind or how the golden light catches sequins just as the sun dips into the Arabian horizon. This year, poetry took tangible form at the Hilton Goa Resort & Spa, where the Timex India Beach Fashion Week 2025 celebrated 11 years of resort glamour with a spirit that was both nostalgic and strikingly new.

Goa, with its sun-washed languor and salt-tinged air, has always been a muse for resort wear. But over two days, the mood here shifted from the expected ease of kaftans and flowy silhouettes to something far more deliberate. Designers explored the evolving language of vacation dressing.

The standout moment was Abhishek Sharma’s finale, “Analog Life”. A thousand Timex watches formed the backdrop, glinting like constellations as the models moved through the space. There was something hauntingly beautiful about it — how fashion continues to find stillness amid chaos. The showstopper, Prathamesh Maulingkar, carried that energy — poised, unhurried, entirely present.

The showcases prior revealed the evolving landscape of resort wear in India. Asmita Marwa’s sustainable luxury found poetry in restraint, her fluid silhouettes reminding the audience that sustainability can be sensual. Bhawna Rao’s “Night Cocktail”, with Mukti Mohan as muse, was a study in after-dark glamour — sequins catching light like starlight scattered across water. Pria Kataaria Puri’s “Resort Luxe” brought unapologetic exuberance to the runway, a love letter to jet-set sophistication.

Newer names like Samia Khan, whose debut collection Blush Blooms made her one of IBFW’s youngest designers, added a fresh counterpoint — proof that India’s resortwear vocabulary is expanding with confidence and conviction.

Beyond the fashion, IBFW 2025 excelled in its curation of experience. The Pop-Expo Arena emerged as a lively intersection of retail and design, featuring global labels, jewellery collectives, and lifestyle brands. But it was the setting that stitched everything together. Between shows, guests wandered along the resort’s riverfront promenades, conversations unfolding over wine as the sound of live percussion drifted through the palm canopy.

As the final applause faded, I found I wasn’t thinking about trends or seasonal colours. What lingered was the sense of being somewhere between land and tide, production and leisure, ambition and ease. It felt like fashion at its most elegant: not flashy, not fleeting, but quietly insistent.