“I’m never going to tell a single mother with two children not to buy fast fashion, because it’s so much more convoluted than that. It’s not the customer’s responsibility—it’s the company’s.”

2020 marked even more of an upheaval for Priya Ahluwalia than for most. In April, the London-based menswear designer was a joint winner of the LVMH Prize alongside seven others, after it was announced that the award would be shared due to the economic strain faced by young designers during the pandemic. While finalists for the prize—which has helped launch the careers of Simon Porte Jacquemus and Grace Wales Bonner—can typically expect a barrage of press trips and photo shoots, the worldwide standstill meant back-to-back interviews over FaceTime and Zoom instead. The exhibition Ahluwalia had planned to accompany her new photography book, Jalebi, now sits online in a VR gallery.

It seems unlikely that any of this will stand in the way of the 27-year-old’s ascent. The fashion indust...