There is a certain irony in watching a Parisian maison charge $900 for a pair of earrings that a craftsman in Rajasthan has been making for centuries. The jhumka — that bell-shaped, filigree-worked drop earring that has dangled from Indian ears since at least the medieval period — has arrived on the global runway. It has arrived without much acknowledgment of where it came from.

This is not a new story. But it is a story worth telling clearly.

The Jhumka's Long Journey

The jhumka traces its origins to ancient India, with references found in sculptures at Sanchi and Amaravati dating back to the 2nd century BCE. The word itself derives from jhumkna, meaning to sway. For centuries, the earring was integral to classical dance — Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kathak — its gentle movement marking rhythm as much as ornament. In Mughal miniatures, it appears on queens and courtesans alike. It was, in short, a full cultural artifact before it became a trend.

Gucci's recent collections have featured oversized chandelier earrings — layered, tasseled, unmistakably jhumka-adjacent — presented as "maximalist" design. Chanel followed with its Métiers d'Art collection, leaning into tiered temple jewelry silhouettes. Neither brand named their source material.

The Kolhapuri and the Cobblestones of Milan

The Kolhapuri chappal is a sandal with a more precise geography than most footwear in the world. It comes from Kolhapur, a city in Maharashtra, where craftsmen have been hand-stitching leather using vegetable dyes and traditional tools for over a thousand years. The sandal's flat sole, interwoven leather straps, and distinctive toe ring loop are not design choices — they are the accumulated knowledge of generations of chamar artisans, many from communities that have faced centuries of social marginalization for the very work that is now coveted.

Prada's spring 2024 resort collection sent models down the runway in flat, strappy leather sandals with toe loops that sent Indian fashion observers into a spiral of recognition. The brand called them "ancient Greek-inspired." The Kolhapuri artisans of Maharashtra were not mentioned.

Soha Ali Khan Puts It Plainly

Actress and author Soha Ali Khan, who has spoken publicly about Indian fashion being perpetually co-opted without credit, put it with characteristic directness: "We have always had the aesthetic. What we lacked was the label. The moment a Western brand puts its name on something we've worn for generations, suddenly it becomes 'global.'"

Khan's observation cuts to the structural issue. Global luxury fashion operates on a hierarchy of legitimacy in which origins are laundered through the validation of European houses. An artisan in Kolhapur making the same sandal Prada will sell for $1,200 cannot price his craft above a few hundred rupees in a local market. The design is identical. The label is everything.

The Question of Credit

Cultural exchange has always driven fashion. The difference is whether that exchange is acknowledged or simply absorbed. Some brands are beginning to shift. Dior's 2023 pre-fall collection, shot in Mumbai, at least named India explicitly. Valentino has worked with Indian embroidery ateliers on record. But these remain exceptions.

The jhumka still sways in the ears of women across India — at weddings, at temples, at Tuesday afternoons. The Kolhapuri still slaps the dusty roads of Maharashtra. They were never waiting for the runway to validate them. The runway simply arrived late.

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Soha Ali Khan is an Indian actress and author known for her writing on culture and identity.