Nose rings. Dresses over pants. Ear cuffs. Crop tops. To many people in the world, these trends are considered hallmarks of forward-thinking fashion folk. But to 1.25 billion people in India, not to mention the millions of Indians across the globe, these are as much a part of traditional fare as a button-up shirt and dress slacks: Nose studs are called phuls, and a salwar kameez is a tunic over a pair of fitted pants. Earrings are extended with sahaara chains that drape over your ear. And those crop tops? They're sari blouses, worn by women of all ages, shapes, and belly sizes.

This is all to say that when we went to India to shoot a story in Pushkar, Rajasthan about modern Indian fashion, we didn't try to shoot "new" Western trends or attempt to prove that "new" Indian trends look like Western clothing. With stylist Kanika Karvinkop as our guide, we captured a story about the nuanced politics of modern clothing.

"Modern fashion in India is inspired from tradition — it's adding and modifying the fashion, and not really going against or breaking any rules," Karvinkop says. But, regardless, it's still a departure from the norm — when we attempted to cast this story with a local model, most women we approached declined because the clothes were still considered improper. "The modernization of fashion in India is taking place only among the fashion-forward community in big cities — not in villages [like Pushkar]."