International luxury houses come to play this Deepavali | Photo Credit: Special arrangement There are few things luxury loves more than a captive audience with an appetite for shopping. Deepavali, with its gold purchases, elaborate gifting, and new wardrobes, is practically a love language for the industry.
India’s luxury market is estimated at around $12 billion (about ₹1.14 lakh crore), and as affluent consumers multiply, international maisons are increasingly treating the festival as more than a convenient excuse to put a diya in the window. They are designing capsules, commissioning artists, borrowing from local crafts and staging increasingly elaborate celebrations.Burberry: Check, please The Burberry capsule | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Burberry’s Deepavali capsule understands that festive dressing need not resemble a particularly enthusiastic firecracker.
Working with vineyard red and chocolate brown, the British house has created an edit of capes, scarves, bags and menswear that brings a little shimmer to its familiar wardrobe. The Vanity bag gets a quilted velvet makeover, its chain strap interlaced with the signature check, while House Check appears in a cashmere-silk blend threaded with metallic fibres.
There is a tonal wool-cashmere cape, an embroidered Knight motif on cotton poplin and a crystal-encrusted version on a polo. In other words, the check has put on its party clothes, but hasn’t lost its manners.
Available in India and the Middle East, the capsule is festive without looking as though it has been invited to host the fireworks.Cartier: The Panther has plans The boutique window created by Sukanya Ayde | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Cartier’s baby panther is having a rather more exciting Deepavali than most of us. The Maison’s festive film follows the little creature through fireworks, diyas and lanterns, turning the festival into a miniature adventure.
In Mumbai and New Delhi, the story spills into boutique windows created with New Delhi-born miniature artist Sukanya Ayde. Handcrafted arches, columns and palace-inspired structures bring the intricate world of miniature painting into Cartier’s universe.
The panther, naturally, gets to play hide-and-seek. One suspects it has considerably better jewellery while doing so.Hermès: Wooden beads in expensive company Hermès for Deepavali | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Hermès has been making Deepavali installations a local tradition since 2021, and this year turns its attention to Karnataka’s Channapatna craft.
The region’s brightly coloured lacquered wooden beads are reimagined in contemporary forms and assembled into playful, illuminated totemic sculptures across the Maison’s Indian stores.Bvlgari: Passing the light Passing the Light by Doyel Joshi | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Bvlgari has decided Deepavali deserves the international treatment. ‘Passing the Light’ is the Roman house’s first global campaign dedicated to the festival, unveiled at the Jaipur Centre for Art. Artist Doyel Joshi worked with the Kumhar potter community to create an installation of 4,500 hand-sculpted terracotta pieces, drawing on the humble diya and Bvlgari’s Serpenti motif.
It is an ambitious meeting of the earthen lamp and the luxury serpent, and a reminder that the most familiar festive object can look rather extraordinary when given a new context.Christian Louboutin: Mumbai does Deco Rayon de Lumière collection | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Christian Louboutin’s Rayon de Lumière, or “ray of light”, finds its inspiration in the architectural flirtation between Paris and Mumbai. Louboutin’s fascination with India dates to a teenage visit that began in Chennai, and the country’s colour, cinematic craft and energy have stayed with him.
The collection includes five women’s shoes, three men’s shoes and two handbags, each bearing an édition limitée stamp. Available in Mumbai and New Delhi from October, it will reach the UAE and Qatar in November.
The designer has also brought fashion into conversation with contemporary art through a showcase at Mumbai’s Chatterjee & Lal. Art Deco, after all, was never particularly shy about making an entrance.
Neither, one imagines, are the shoes.Chanel: Gold, gloss and a festive face Chanel ambassador Ananya Pandey | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Chanel is making a case for festive excess with its 2026 Deepavali beauty edit, an assortment that takes the familiar gold-and-red palette and gives it a polished French accent. The house’s Sparkle This Diwali look centres on a sculpted golden eye, rosy cheeks, luminous skin and a confident red lip, with the Les Beiges Eyeshadow Palette in Golden doing much of the heavy lifting.
Baume Essentiel Rosée adds a soft sheen, Joues Contraste Intense in Rose Radiant brings a rosy flush, and Rouge Allure in Pirate supplies the requisite red. There is mascara, a brown eye pencil and, naturally, a spritz of N°5 to finish things off.
The accompanying gifting edit also puts the house’s signature fragrance front and centre.Deepavali may be about light, but for luxury brands the real trick is knowing what to illuminate. And, preferably, making sure the shopping bag looks good in the photographs.
Published - November 05, 2026 08:30 am IST