India, May 27 -- Marine motifs are everywhere you look: sardines dangling from ears, lobsters crawling across silk skirts, shell pendants layered over bikinis, beaded fish swinging from handbags, sequined crabs scattered across linen co-ords like decorative crustacean confetti. The quiet luxury brief has been replaced with 'wealthy woman who holidays in Capri', and summer 2026 is deep in its maritime era.

What began as a trickle of oceanic references across resortwear has now swelled into a full-fledged aquatic obsession. On runways, campaigns, accessories, and fast fashion alike, marine motifs are everywhere.

At the centre of it all sits the shell necklace, once associated with either early-2000s surf culture or spiritually confusing ...