The great Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra dreams, like Monet, “of accomplishing the impossible”


Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra in his workshop in Noida, India, on October 19, 2022 (AFP/Money SHARMA)

In his huge workshop in the suburbs of New Delhi, the great Indian couturier Rahul Mishra dreams, as the painter Claude Monet once did, “of accomplishing the impossible”, by working on “Cosmos”, the collection he will unveil at high fashion shows. couture in Paris on January 23.

“I dream a lot, I often get lost in a dream of a new world”, confides to AFP the creator, “once I come back from the dream, I talk about it to my team, I tell it, sometimes I draw it and watch. Then this dream becomes a common dream, everyone starts to believe in this idea”.

The brand new workshop, which he designed down to the smallest detail, is buzzing. Its designers, tailors, couturiers, embroiderers are monopolized by “Cosmos”.

“I dream of accomplishing the impossible, as Claude Monet said in 1885: + I want to paint the air +”, he declares with a luminous smile.

Artisans at work in the workshop of Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra in Noida, India, October 19, 2022

Artisans at work in the workshop of Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra in Noida, India, on October 19, 2022 (AFP/Money SHARMA)

His creations are made up of myriad embroideries made up by around fifty men using traditional techniques, seated on mats in front of their “adda” (embroidery looms), on the first floor of the workshop.

“More than the final show (…) it’s the creative process that excites me,” adds the 43-year-old fashion designer.

A keen gaze behind metallic glasses, he immediately delivers the formula: “a little science, a little art, a little fashion, a little fantasy, a little love”.

– “Collective expression” –

But the creative process is also strewn with doubts and failures which Rahul Mishra claims to be delighted with.

“We celebrate our failures because we attempt the new”, he ignites, “the beauty of trying to create new, the excitement and the intention to create new is worth celebrating”.

“We put our craftsmen to the test each time, with new techniques, new colors, new ideas”, he continues, “what we create is a collective expression.”

Artisans at work in the workshop of Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra in Noida, India, October 19, 2022

Artisans at work in the workshop of Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra in Noida, India, on October 19, 2022 (AFP/Money SHARMA)

Coming from a modest and rural background in Uttar Pradesh (north), he is committed to bringing work to artisans even in their villages.

“When you come from a country that has 4.5 million artisans, it’s better to do something that involves them,” he stresses, “the more inclusive we are, the better.”

At ten, he understood that art was his vocation.

“Without having ever seen anyone draw, I didn’t know any artist, everything I looked at became a drawing: the flowers, the trees, my dog…”, he says, “I had never thought become a fashion designer, I wanted to be an artist”.

Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra works on one of his creations in his workshop in Noida, India on October 19, 2022

Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra works on one of his creations in his workshop in Noida, India, on October 19, 2022 (AFP/Money SHARMA)

His father, a doctor, however, pushed him on a scientific path, but as soon as he was able to take off, he left to study at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, from which he graduated in the fashion section in 2008 before joining Milano.

Shortly after winning the International Woolmark Prize in 2014, he turned to hand embroidery, “more demanding in time and technique than hand weaving”.

The same year, the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion in Paris included it in the ready-to-wear calendar before integrating it into haute couture in 2020. “I was the first Indian designer to participate,” he said. His compatriot Gaurav Gupta is there for the first time this year.

– Praise of “slowness” –

If “inspiration is everywhere” says Rahul Mishra, nature remains its main source.

Designating on a mannequin, a long skirt and its bra, in the “Tree of Life” collection (2022), which one would believe embroidered by spring itself, the couturier argues that “this work of art includes 120 colors, the most colorful I have ever designed”.

A craftsman works on a creation by Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra at the latter's workshop in Noida, India, October 19, 2022

A craftsman works on a creation by Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra at the latter’s workshop in Noida, India, on October 19, 2022 (AFP/Money SHARMA)

“Historically, no one has ever used so many colors for a single piece,” he says, “barely 200 artists across India are capable of making such pieces.”

“The more colors you add, the more difficult the work becomes to reproduce,” he continues.

This piece required 5,000 hours of work. According to him, “the slowness of the process offers a new approach to sustainability, it is a mature sustainability allowing social sustainability”.

His creations, magnified by movie stars, like Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh last year for fashion magazines, do not exceed 12,500 euros.

Rahul Mishra will launch in March, in Paris or London, his new “ready-to-wear” collection.

Creations by Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra part of the Tree of Life collection presented on December 18, 2022 in one of its stores in New Delhi

Creations by Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra part of the “Tree of Life” collection presented on December 18, 2022 in one of his stores in New Delhi (AFP / Sajjad HUSSAIN)

The stylist promises “a fairly serious alternative to + fast fashion +” and the opening of boutiques within five years, thanks to a joint venture created in 2022 with Reliance Brand (Balanciaga, Armani), one of the main brand distributors luxury in India.

“We are going to open a store in London at the end of 2023 and are looking for locations in Paris, Dubai and New York,” he says, “my most ambitious goal is to one day employ more than a million people across the world”.

© 2023 AFP

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