This year has been monumentally big for Rahul Mishra. In January, he showcased his Haute Couture collection in Paris, where the Cosmos-inspired collection received immense global acclaim. The international circuit was finally taking note of this Indian couturier’s designs that surpassed the charge of being the token Indian brand in the mix, to a brand of note. It was Mishra’s big moment in the fashion season. Fast forward to the end of March, Mishra became perhaps the most popular choice gracing the red carpet at the NMACC launch event— consider Zendaya his biggest client of the night. And it simply blew up from there.
The couturier and his wife and co-founder of the brand, Divya, are on their way to the airport, flying to Paris for his upcoming show as we speak. Having wrapped up work on the finishing touches on his collection the night before, Mishra is excited to reveal the work that he has toiled away for the past six months. “The magic happens in the last 7 days because you compile the different aspects, this is when your colour palette comes to life—everything about the collection becomes clear,” says Mishra. This time, he’s taken a different approach to his designs, where usually you might see bold splashes of vibrant colours, Mishra has leaned towards a subdued and monochromatic palette. The collection titled “We the People”, is about the artisans, the Shoaib bhais and Mahinder masterjis at the atelier that Mishra, in his own way, wants to thank for all his success.
In Divya’s words, Mishra is also a graphic designer at heart. And in this collection, his practice comes to the fore in sketchy illustrations of these artisans working on khats brought to life on the very fabric of the collection. “It is the most fun collection we have ever done in terms of creating something together, and they (the artisans) feel really happy about it,” explains Mishra. A real sense of community comes to the forefront here where the craftsmen felt an inclusion not just in the actualisation of the ideas, but in their creations that hold a piece of their identity, quite literally.
The depth of intricate surface embellishment does not just sit on the surface but looks deeper within the ideologies at play. When you look closer, you will find embroidered tigers that spring out of these khats, which Mishra explains is a translation of the meditative space that the craftsmen enter when they’re working on the clothing. And so, the theme goes beyond just the sheer beauty of creating pretty clothing.
One thing to take away from Mishra's body of work that has remained constant with his collections is the absence of sensationalism or dramatisation of the runway moment. There are no gimmicks that lend shock value to a collection to hold the attention of viewers—something that we have grown accustomed to seeing. In that respect, Mishra remains a traditionalist at heart. On his way to showcase one of fashion's highest arts in Paris, with a trunk full of India's finest handwork, the designer fondly remembers his university tutors, and his training as a student that fuelled this entire journey for him. Here, in an exclusive with Vogue India, Rahul Mishra discusses the details behind the latest collection.
SZ: The collection aims to support these artisans in a new manner. You've included them in a very clever way. What was the idea behind this message?
RM: You know, that is the basic hygiene of the brand. Everything is artisanal when you think about couture or haute couture, and for the brand, it has always been about hand embroidery, about the artisans. So here if I talk about people, especially when I call a collection, ‘Hum log’ or ‘we the people’. It’s a representation of the idea of India. What the brand is all about is ‘We the People’ very honestly, if I had to say this— I can dream, I can talk about certain directions and the creative direction but ultimately it is or it has been a community work to build the brand.
All these people who are putting together the workmanship, their hands, minds and heart come together for this work. So in a way, the strength behind creating something new is really powerful with the craftsmen— they become God-like figures in that instance.
SZ: The kind of fabrics you have used this time take a very sheer and delicate quality and it all looks light as a feather and vulnerable. Is there a correlation between your choice to keep it this way and the message that you had for this collection?
RM: Yes, it was a conscious call in that way. I really feel with the strength of our embroiderers, the strength of craftsmen, is that we really know how to work in multicolour. The craftsmen are so gifted. And colour has become a very good sense of what we have as a brand. But at the same time, sometimes when you stay away from that, what do you create? Here the messaging with the caricatures gives homage to the beauty of our artisanal field. When you do black and white, or silver, these colours are dark and create a lot of contrast and can often take a very sharp route, then it becomes too much. Here the clothes become almost like architecture or a canvas, which becomes pretty straightforward when you think of the message.
SZ: There are several elements like the floral embroideries and then there are tigers and birds which lends a certain kind of like this oriental quality to the work.
RM: When we are talking about these artisans it is not about just them in a literal sense, because while they work, they create this alternate reality. They somehow get completely lost in that. They get into a very meditative kind of role, especially with embroidery if you will notice. So when the embroiderer has an inspiration or an artwork which we have created, he is mentally in a white cube, in his imagination. He escapes the atelier at that moment, and he might just be in the Sundarbans for all you know.
SZ: When one thinks of what the brand of Rahul Mishra means today, it's just, a big representation of a celebration of the art of crafting, it's a celebration of beauty in fashion and it's simply been a very consistent idea throughout your collections.
Divya Mishra: Absolutely. That's the whole thing because we have been putting baby steps towards what we have arrived at the international platform because there's always a narrative, there's always a soul behind the collection and that's what Rahul strongly believes in. He's always worked around what he's building, it touches the soul, and it always has a true narrative, a true inspiration to work on. Nothing is sensational, and there are no show-stoppers, but the work itself becomes a passion. It's a piece of art and it's through our feelings that we realise the story we put forward.
Also read:
Rahul Mishra—from a village in Kanpur to striking gold in Paris
Rahul Mishra on the making of his photorealistic collection for spring couture 2022
