London Fashion Week 2026 finally concluded its Autumn/Winter collections on Monday, February 23. Sanjay Garg’s Raw Mango stole the show as LFW 2026 wrapped up with much applause. Making its London debut, the collection featured more than just flowers, jewels, and conventional Indian silhouettes. In fact, the Indian label wasn’t the only thing that grabbed eyeballs at the star-studded event; It was their 60-year-old model Zita Soanes who managed to turn heads with her graceful and flawless ramp walk.
Soanes wore a glittering green reimagined saree, owning the ramp like she were born for it. Worn by stars like sitarist Anoushka Shankar and Bollywood celebrities like Khushi Kapoor, Rasika Duggal, and Twinkle Khanna, Raw Mango has set unconventional standards for itself. And with Soanes’ presence, the brand made headlines yet again.
Who is Zita Soanes?
While there is limited information available about Zita Soane’s background, several reports claim that she was a newsreader for a BBC local radio and even dabbled in corporate communications.
At 50, she rediscovered herself after facing a mid-life divorce. She took her journey online to social media and started posting content about wellness, fitness, and her lifestyle. After being scouted by a modelling agency after her gym selfies went viral online, after she began her content creation journey at 58, full time.
In 2023, she debuted the London Fashion Week with Rixo and was then named as the ‘ageless icon’ by Vogue UK. Later, she was also seen at the Paris Fashion Week and headlined a Burberry campaign. Her TEDx talk on ageism garnered several views online. One of her biggest milestones included was being on the cover of British Vogue after she walked in Milan for Dolce & Gabanna with effortless beauty at 60.
A year later in 2026, she delivered closing looks for two labels, Sanjay Garg’s Raw Mango and Natasha Zinka’s collection. Her silvery pearl hair stole the show, while the Indian brand’s craftsmanship spoke for itself. However, the show moved away from convention in a way which no other label even dared to create. The background score was not a catwalk classic, but the sounds heard in a flower market in India, a shopkeeper selling the rajnigandha, Bollywood beats, laughter, and more.
Sanjay Garg, the man behind Raw Mango
Raw Mango celebrates craft from across India. From weavers of Rajasthan to designs from West Bengal, Sanjay Garg’s label includes loom innovations and 2D design interventions. His collection used music’s power to shape-shift and teleport its audience to an India which Raw Mango saw. Built in sustainability, the collection was dominated by flowers, and not florals.
Relying heavily on silks, it featured looks with a natural silhouette and contrasting colours. But there was nothing that screamed conventionally South Asian at the Westminster’s Royal Horticultural Hall. Yes there was gold, but Garg managed to showcase Indian fashion without a lehenga, held together by fresh jasmine flowers – an ode to seasonality in fashion.