By Our Special Correspondent
Rahul Mishra is the only name in the Indian fashion industry that can truly be given the title of couturier. After all, he is the only designer annually invited to show at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week.
On the second day of India Couture Week 2022, the designer showcased the couture collection at an offsite show at the French Embassy in the capital. 'The Tree of Life', a manifestation of artistic memory, was showcased at Haute Couture Week in Paris and in parts here in New Delhi.
It stems from deep emotion and nostalgia. The main objective of the collection is to focus on grass root empowerment and continue to give encouragement to the artisans who make the clothes. Mishra strives to cater to a discerning customer.
Admiring his creations, IAN got a chance to catch up with the designer for life, who revealed all he could about his latest collection.
What is most important for you as a designer? Rahul Mishra: I always ask myself, what is the purpose behind making clothes? Purpose drives process, process creates partnership and how product is born. So built into the process, the question is does it take care of people, is it sustainable, brand sustainability, artist sustainability, cultural sustainability, if it ticks all these boxes, it makes sense to me.
When it flora and fauna, your use of surface embellishments and textures are as important as the motifs? Rahul Mishra: When it comes to flora and fauna, this is India, be it the beautiful textiles and historical textiles of Banaras or weaving techniques like Chanderi or Kanjeevaram, flora and fauna are one of the Indian motifs. When we talk about India, flowers are essential, and this is represented by two and three dimensional embroidery. Creating a dimension and creating a life, how wonderful and how limitless is Indian artistry!
To what do you credit the success of your brand? Rahul Mishra: I want to push the limits, how do we consider options, how do we create a new version of the poppy or how do we create a micro-ecosystem, the idea is to create innovation and new technologies.
Creating three dimensional embroidery is equally exciting and challenging for artists. I think this whole exercise of challenging ideas, motifs, and innovating techniques and how we perceive surfaces is very important to our brand.
Pushing ourselves to innovate season after season is the reason for the brand's growth internationally and in India.
Talking about slow fashion and making slow fashion are two entirely different things? Rahul Mishra: Talking slow fashion or doing slow fashion is completely different. My job as a designer is to talk about slow fashion, create a path for it and walk the talk. To create things that are slow, this can be done in two ways, the most important is how long it takes to make it one way of looking at it.
More than 90 percent of the techniques used at home to create ensembles are slow or all handmade. I call it as slow as possible; creating the idea of a simple flower into 3-D becomes even slower because the artwork demands it. In keeping with the values of 'Couture' and traditional Indian practices, the pieces consist of textiles hand-woven in villages across India, hand-embroidered over 10,000 man-hours.
Sustainability isn't just for the environment it’s also for the trickle down affect to the smallest artisan part of the bigger picture, do you agree? Rahul Mishra: Sustainability is often defined in a very myopic way, people say that only material leads to sustainability. Where I really differ is that sustainability is more in the process of how you make things, in terms of sustainability, in terms of sustainability, I always say the processes that people implant.
So today when we create embroidery rhythmically, any material we use is sustainable, because the process is very slow, allowing nature's resources to be well replenished. This has an immediate impact on the work of artists, which not only supports their livelihoods, but also their dreams, their aspirations and their families.
So today when we create embroidery rhythmically, any material we use is sustainable because the process is very slow, allowing nature's resources to be well replenished. This has an immediate impact on the work of artists, which not only supports their livelihoods, but also their dreams, their aspirations and their families.
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