After making heads turn at the last Paris Couture Week with his strong, maximalist designs, ace designer Rahul Mishra looked ready to shake things up in his home country. At the ongoing FDCI India Couture Week, Mishra's highly acclaimed ‘Tree Of Life’ collection saw a renewed version.
For Mishra, his collections continue to weave stories from his travelogues with designs that reflect a life less celebrated. The designer calls his ‘Tree Of Life’ collection a manifestation of nature's abundance - where ensembles are dipped in gold, mimicking the glorious setting sun.
The couture show began with an address from the ambassador of France to India, Emmanuel Lenain, who praised Mishra for being the first Indian designer to present his work at Paris Haute Couture Week in 2017.
The designer brought out his lauded pieces from the collection, all generously dipped in gold and sequins in exaggerated sleeves and shimmering gowns with intricately layered petal motifs, models strutted the runway in minidresses and bodysuits, featuring three-dimensional foliage embroidery. The pieces that caught our attention were the sheer catsuits with gold embroidery, 3D embroidered leaf dress with coloured florals, and exaggerated shoulders. The white ensembles with large, multi-coloured floral motifs, however, failed to compete with the rest of the collection's splendour.
Playing to the gallery, the original Paris collection diversified into lehengas, sarees and kurtas. The menswear was equally mesmerising - with embroidered jackets and pants teamed with sheer vest, sequined kurta-pyjama set with a floral bundi and golden embroidered bandhagalas. The show was closed with a scintillating and highly detailed golden lehenga while looking all lightweight and effortless.
You can see a Rahul Mishra ensemble and learn about the painstaking efforts undertaken to bring the magic of those intricately embroidered with astute detailed ensembles. And that’s what makes Mishra’s creations stand out, both in India and internationally.