The Indian fashion scene in the late ’80s wasn’t as thriving as it is now. Three years after the first National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) opened in New Delhi in 1986, entrepreneur and now designer Kavita Bhartia decided to open a store that would showcase collections by multiple designers. “Unlike today, where you have back-to-back fashion weeks, those days there weren’t many places a designer could exhibit his or her work,” reminisces Bhartia. And thus began the journey of Ogaan. This month, the store, which now has multiple branches, both in Delhi and Mumbai, turned 25. “When I look back, I feel we really have come a long way,” says Bhartia.

The story of Ogaan, in many ways, mirrors the growth of Indian fashion. From housing a handful of designers back then, today Ogaan stocks an eclectic mix of close to 50 labels and the list is growing. The opening show in 1989 saw collections by designers such as Rohit Bal and the late Rohit Khosla, both of whom had also just started out. “The idea was to bring designers together under one roof and showcase the variety in Indian design and craft,” says Bhartia, who went on to make this her success mantra.