Even the least chronically online among us have likely already seen Diya Joukani’s videos: fit checks, soundtracked to Nights by Frank Ocean, that feature her posing inside a forklift, chatting with street vendors, or skateboarding alongside rickshaw drivers, all within the lively neighbourhoods of Mumbai. In them, the 25-year-old designer shows off her impressive pieces and the city that inspired them. There’s a natural ease and fluidity to her movements, which makes her “cool girl from India” designation easy to understand. 

Over the past few months, Joukani’s content has become inescapable, and for good reason. Firstly, there’s her unique designs, which merge traditional Indian techniques with modern streetwear silhouettes – think baggy jorts with intricate embellished flowers, sleeveless hoodies with eye-catching embroidery, and fitted hoodies with patterned sleeves. Then there’s the videos themselves, which serve as snapshots of daily life in Mumbai. In a single video, Joukani hangs out at a local restaurant, teeters off of a moving truck, and skates through a bustling street, all while sporting her own line.

Today, Joukani is no longer the only one in the business of making viral hometown content. Her localised fashion videos have inspired plenty of imitators, with similar videos now coming out of Kazakhstan, Tanzania and Benin, just to name a few. Along with sparking an online fashion movement, Joukani’s come-up has resulted in a cameo with Rihanna, collabs with major brands, and this week, a trip to New York, where she attended Instagram’s annual Met Gala creator watch party.

Ahead of Joukani’s touchdown in New York, we caught up with the creator to talk inspirations, going viral, and what’s changed in her life since becoming the coolest girl on the internet.

What are your earliest fashion memories?

Diya Joukani: I’ve always loved fashion and expressing myself through clothes, ever since I was young. I also come from a very well-dressed family. Everyone loves to express themselves. My auntie’s a designer, so I guess I always had that around me. I also used to do styling. I worked in retail vintage stores, like designer vintage stores, and that’s when I got my first [entry] into fashion. And then I was like, ‘Wait, what if I designed the clothes?’ I feel like my outfits were almost there, but not quite there. I would wear the same denim that I do now, and I would pair them with Indian tops and jewellery.

Growing up, who were some of your fashion icons? 

Diya Joukani: A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, Roberto Cavalli and Jean Paul Gaultier.

What gave you the push to finally start your own brand? 

Diya Joukani: I used to work retail, and I hated my job. I hated it. It felt like a waste of potential. So, I just quit my job overnight and was like, ‘I’m gonna be a fashion designer’, because I just couldn’t do it anymore. I didn’t give myself another option. I was like, ‘I have to win’.

What was the first piece that you made?

Diya Joukani: The first piece I made was a bronze leather jacket. It took me like four weeks to make it, but I don’t come from a fashion background. I didn’t study fashion, so I was really proud when I made it. I put it on straight away, went outside, and everyone asked me where my jacket was from. It really motivated me to keep going. I immediately made matching shorts for it, and then I went piece by piece from there. 

Where do you draw inspiration from?

Diya Joukani: I draw inspiration mainly from my city. Mumbai is a very beautiful place – a very culturally rich city. Everywhere you look, there are so many prints, so many emotions. I also come from a very rich culture. I come from the Sindhi culture, so we’re very loud people. We express ourselves through jewellery, through sequins and bedazzling our clothes. If you look at my clothes, everything is very shiny, so I’d say that’s my main inspiration. Also, I obviously use the traditional Indian embroidery techniques. I really look at what people were doing back in the day, and think about how I could use that in a more contemporary setting. 

How would you describe Mumbai to somebody who’s never been? 

Diya Joukani:  I can’t think of another word other than ‘wild’, because every time you walk outside, I feel like ‘What the fuck is going on here?’ It’s very wild, but we call it the city of dreams, because anything is possible here.

Your videos have gone super viral. Where did you first get the idea to post your designs in this way? 

Diya Joukani: I just realised, I want to start a brand in 2026, and we’re in such a saturated industry, so how am I gonna show my designs in the most authentic way possible? I feel like everything on Instagram is so edited, so filtered. Everything’s just so polished and put together. I was like, ‘I just wanna show my city in the most authentic way possible, and I’ll just wear my clothes whilst I’m doing it’. With Mumbai, what you see in my videos is what you get. I'll switch my camera [to show you] right now. That’s literally what it looks like! It’s not scripted at all. It’s just the view, and it is what it is.

Did you ever expect that your videos would create such a strong reaction? 

Diya Joukani: My first video ever went viral, and as soon as I saw the video and put the music on it, I was like, ‘This is gonna do numbers’. I feel like I’m very tapped into the internet, and I have very good pattern recognition skills, so I know what works and what doesn’t work. I noticed a lack in what people were posting and what people weren’t posting. And I knew the songs were good. I knew everything was a vibe, and I knew people would like it.

Why do you think that your videos resonate with so many people? 

Diya Joukani: I think it’s because they’re authentic and they’re real. People gravitate towards real-life things other than just polished things. I feel like a lot of the world didn’t know what India really was like. I see when people in India put content onto the internet, they put a very different version of what I put on there. I think, in a way, I was the only person showing an unfiltered video of what Mumbai is like.

“It’s definitely crazy. I just walk down the street, and a ton of people come up to me. I’m so grateful” – Diya Joukani

What’s been the biggest change in your life since posting your first videos?

Diya Joukani: I don’t really walk around anymore, that’s one. It’s a lot of people, a lot of love. Other than that, I’d say my life’s pretty much the same. But it’s definitely crazy. I just walk down the street, and a ton of people come up to me. I’m so grateful. 

What are you most excited to do in New York this week? 

Diya Joukani: I’m excited to connect with the people. I feel like New York is such a cool city. People on the internet from New York have shown me so much love. I’m excited to hang out with everyone. There are so many designers that I wanna link with. I’m obviously going to Instagram’s Met Gala watch party, so I’m excited to do that. I’ve only been to New York once for like two minutes last year, so I’m excited to see what it's like. Everyone hypes it up a lot, so I hope it lives up to the hype.

Speaking of the Met Gala, if you could dress anyone for the event, who would it be and why? 

Diya Joukani: A$AP Rocky, Frank Ocean, Rihanna, Pharrell Williams. Yeah, that’s it. 

If you could pick your own Met Gala theme, what would it be?

Diya Joukani: It would be “India to the world”. Like, you’ve just gotta take all the traditional techniques from India, use them in your own way and show me what you got.

What do you think of the imitation videos? 

Diya Joukani: I think it’s really amazing. I think my kind of format of videos and people recreating them have shown the whole world what it’s like to live in places in the world that normally wouldn’t be showcased on Instagram. So, I feel like it’s been very educational. It‘s been very culturally-rich, everyone being tapped into what others are doing. Also, I just love that people have the confidence to do what I do. I’m so happy I’ve been able to inspire people – it really makes my heart super full. 

“Nights” by Frank Ocean also feels synonymous with your videos now. Are you a big Frank fan? 

Diya Joukani: Frank is my official number one inspiration in the whole world, my favourite music artist. Before it all got taken down, I used to binge all of his unreleased stuff on SoundCloud.

I noticed almost everything on your site is sold out, which is very exciting. What can we expect from your brand next? 

Diya Joukani: So I actually put stuff onto my site, but every time I make a repeat, which is like once or twice a week, it’s just gone immediately. And I really don’t talk about it, because people are paying attention, but it’s sort of ‘if you know you know’, and it’s gone in a minute. But I’ll also be doing runways, pop-ups and community events. It’s all going to be about the people.