72 hours in Mumbai with Fernando Garcia

On Wednesday night, about 40 of Mumbai’s most glamorous women squeezed into Inka, the city’s new restaurant-of-the-moment, for cocktails, chatter, and a rare visit from Fernando Garcia. The co-creative director of Oscar de la Renta and Monse had taken a break from touring embroidery ateliers to toast the people who make his dresses sparkle—specifically, his longtime collaborator Gayatri Khanna of Milaaya Embroideries, who hosted the evening. Everyone came dressed to impress (a few even in Oscar). Khanna wore a mirrored mosaic shift dress from a recent collection, while her co-host, Jaya Raheja, donned a mini with three-dimensional butterflies. “Ladies, can I request you all to be quiet? Sorry, I’m like a school teacher,” Khanna joked into the mic as Garcia took his seat beside her for a conversation.

For nearly a decade, Garcia and his creative partner, Laura Kim, have helmed Oscar de la Renta, guiding the house through a new era of joyful, modern glamour. The pair met as assistants to de la Renta himself (Kim joined in 2003, Garcia in 2009) and left to start their womenswear label, Monse, in 2015, before returning in 2016 to lead Oscar de la Renta together. Now, just weeks after announcing their departure from the storied house, Garcia is in Mumbai visiting ateliers across the city while dreaming up their final two collections for the brand—“meeting old friends,” as he calls it. His relationship with India runs deep: many of Oscar de la Renta’s (and now, Monse’s) most intricate pieces are hand-beaded here, and he credits the ateliers with teaching him patience and precision. “My passion really is embroidery,” he admitted during the conversation, margarita in hand, “and you guys [at Milaaya] always make it feel like home.”

Below, the designer talks to The Nod about surviving jet lag, saying goodbye to Oscar de la Renta, and what’s next for the brand that is his baby—Monse.

What did you do yesterday?

I went to see all my incredibly talented artisans and friends and got to have a dialogue on new techniques and new ways of innovating for the upcoming collection.

How often do you come down to India?

I would say that at this point it’s once a year or twice, if I’m lucky. Because it’s a long journey, I have to cut it down to two or three days, but I want to extend it a little bit more the next time so that I can see other parts of India, not just Mumbai. I grew up in the Dominican Republic. The climate and the energy of the people are so similar despite them being so far apart. There’s endless joy here, and it really does feel like home.

How do you get over jet lag?

Oh, I am jet lagged. I don’t know what day it is. I don’t care, though. I love what I do here so much that it doesn’t bother me that much. I drink a lot of coffee, but I drink everything. [laughs]

Do you have any favourite local hotspots you visit every time you’re here?

Every time I come to Bombay, my favourite hotspot is my bed. No, I’m just kidding. It’s a wonderful trip, but after you work with every factory that we work with here, you’re a little tired, and I do like to rest and wake up to come up with new ideas.

Did you have an Indian breakfast this morning?

I had an Indian dinner last night at Loya at The Taj, if that counts. I ate everything!

How did your relationship with Milaaya Embroideries begin?

Oof, I don’t know. I have a terrible memory. Basically, when I became creative director, right from the get-go. They were a new vendor, and it was exciting to see new ideas with Gayatri. If a swatch ends up in my hands and I see innovation of some sort, I make sure that our team, Zach and everybody, gets to see it.

Speaking of Milaaya, was there a swatch from their atelier that blew your mind the first time you saw it up close?

There was one. I can’t remember it right now, but the reason we’ve been working together for 10 years is because that did happen. ‘Stained glass’ [a mosaic technique that involves sewing on thousands of individually dyed acrylic pieces on the garment to resemble stained glass] is one of them—from three or four years ago. Milaaya did it and everybody else has tried to copy it, but nobody’s been successful at it.

How do you approach designing Monse vis-à-vis designing for Oscar de La Renta?

At the beginning, Laura and I were scared of making Monse look like Oscar de la Renta, so we went in the opposite direction with menswear. We took all my old shirts and suits, tore them apart, and made professional women feel sexy in them. The deconstructed shirts and suits with cinched waists—there was a void for that at the time. The aesthetic has become a bit more common now. But because we conquered that type of woman, what I’m excited for now is to have a little bit more femininity injected into Monse. I think, with the label having all our attention, we’ll be able to inject all the beautiful textures that we co-create in India into Monse in a naughty way. It’ll make the brand more accessible to every type of woman, someone who is not just interested in shirts and suits.

If I was just doing butterfly dresses, I would exhaust myself and eventually do an ugly butterfly dress. The blessing that I’ve had for the last 10 years is being able to turn off one side of the brain so that I don’t overwork that flower or butterfly. So, it’s not how I do it, but thank God that I do it.

You’ve had quite a year. You were part of two of the biggest weddings of 2026: Lauren Sánchez Bezos and Becca Bloom. You also designed the space suits for Blue Origin’s first all-female flight, dressed Beyoncé for the Cowboy Carter tour, and your work was on every major red carpet. What’s been the highlight for you so far?

Wow, it’s hard to keep track. We love the support from all our stylists and friends. When I was an assistant for Oscar around 2009 to about 2015, stylists weren’t considered peers to designers. And I was an assistant at the time, so I was under the designer, so all my friends and I felt the same way while we were growing up in the industry. These friends I had growing up at Oscar became Law Roach, Jason Bolden, and Kate Young. For these people who are our community to shout our names on the carpets—forgive me for saying it—for free is amazing, but it does come through the relationship-building that started a long time ago. But I think going to El Paso, Texas, and seeing Lauren Sánchez being blown up into space is something that I don’t think I’ll ever get to see again.

How does it feel moving on from a house that has been so instrumental in your career? What does tomorrow look like for you?

All we know in New York City is the Oscar de la Renta family. We owe them our entire careers, our points of view, our business acumen. But sometimes when you’re too comfortable, it’s a killer of creativity. So, the fact that I’m nervous about this next chapter will probably make me work harder and produce something a little bit more magical. It feels like going to college again. But Laura and I are going to be part of the board of the Oscar de la Renta company. The family has kindly asked us to help oversee whatever happens in the next chapter while we focus on growing Monse.

What are your plans for after you show your final collection for Oscar de la Renta? Are you taking a vacation?

No, after Oscar, we have our baby brand to take care of. So—what’s the expression?—I’ll sleep when I’m dead.