Three paintings from a Chennai design studio have found their way onto a festive wardrobe, and Kalki Koechlin is the one who put them there.

The actor has curated Max Fashion's Festive 2026 collection, the first drop under a new platform the retailer is calling MAX PROJECT NEW. The idea, per the brand, is to pull creativity out of the design studio and put it on actual clothes people will wear to actual weddings and pujas this season.

The collaboration runs through the Kairassi Foundation, a Chennai-based organisation that works with specially-abled artists. Three of them — Simron, Pavithra and Manas, have had their original paintings moved onto the garments, not reworked or reinterpreted, according to the brand. Simron's watercolour landscapes show up on skirts. Pavithra's blue, ocean-toned strokes run across shirts. Manas, the youngest of the three, paints with a straw instead of a brush, and that loose, unpredictable style now lives on a tote bag.

So it's not a print licensing deal dressed up as art. It's the canvas work itself, scaled onto fabric, sitting next to more traditional hand-block printing elsewhere in the range.

Sumit Chandna, CEO of Max Fashion, framed it as more than a seasonal launch. "Fashion, for us, has always been more than what we wear, it's a form of expression, a way to tell stories, and a platform that can create real impact," he said. "Kalki shared a vision with us that we instantly connected with, and together we built on it, the idea that festive dressing could carry meaning, not just style." He added that Max sees this as "only the beginning."

Koechlin's own pitch for the project leans on the same idea, just phrased differently. "I've always wanted festive fashion to feel like it's saying something, not just selling something," she said. "Whether it's a tiny painted detail on a bag or a hand-carved print on a dress, you put it on and you're carrying someone else's story with you."

The range itself goes for loose, contemporary silhouettes over anything stiffly ceremonial, aimed at festive nights out as much as regular wardrobe rotation. The campaign line stamped across the launch reads "HOW NEW IS YOUR NEW". On the nose, sure, but it does the job of signalling that this isn't meant to look like last year's festive drop.

Max has said MAX PROJECT NEW won't stop here. Future seasons are expected to bring in more artists and craftspeople under the same format. Whether that means another disability-led collaboration or something else entirely, the brand hasn't said. For now, three paintings that started on canvas in Chennai are hanging in stores this festive season.