Kotwara, an international couture brand, crafted by filmmaker, painter, Muzaffer Ali- the raja of Kotwara, and his architect wife Meera Ali was established in 1990 to revive the traditional craft of the region of Awadh, India, through sensitively understanding its ethos, upgrading its design content and modern day universal relevance in its application. Innovations from Kotwara are based on forms inspired by different craft techniques expressed in a variety of different way and silhouettes. Zardozi and Chikankari has been the forte of kotwara with some of the finest craftspeople working for generations at Anhalwara Palace, Kotwara in Lakhimpur Kheri and Kotwara House, Qaiserbagh Palace Complex, Lucknow.

Over the last 20 years, Kotwara has been a symbol of style and elegance reinventing embroidery and weaving, creating silhouettes which have a timeless quality. Kotwara has been blending cultures and style from different parts of India- Lucknow, Kashmir Hyderabad, kerala, Bengal- integrating the best into an Indian idiom. Kotwara supports the Dwar Pe Rozi Society – Employment at Doorstep- aimed at  emancipation of women and rural India through humanistic education and craft. The Society runs a school based on these values producing extremely self confident rural youth poised to take charge of their lives. It is also supported by the Rumi Foundation, which uses communication arts to sensitize the world to the oneness of human race. Kotwara has been a pioneer in promoting sufi music in India and has created severall titles composed by Muzaffer Ali with artists like Abida Parveen, Shubha Mudgal, Sukhwinder Singh and Hansraj hans amongst others.