Rahul Mishra voices his love for the craft that fuelled his success

This is the remarkable narrative of a small-town boy, who grew up in the nondescript hamlet of Malhausi near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. But Rahul Mishra always yearned for a larger-than life saga. One of India’s top couturiers today, he was first noticed at Lakmé Fashion Week in 2006, where he made his debut showcasing cotton handlooms from Kerala. With a hunger to prove his pedigree, that young man has come a long way to his internationally acclaimed current avatar that’s honoured by the global fashion community.

The latest feather in Mishra’s busy cap is his new label AFEW Rahul Mishra, which he launched with his designer wife Divya Mishra. He showcased AFEW—an acronym representing air, fire, earth and water—with a private presentation at Paris Fashion Week in September, but India’s couture loving fashionistas will have to wait till December to get their hands on the effortless, ready-to-wear luxury wear for women. The collection draws from “the eclectic identity of urban India and its connection to the ethnic landscape that surrounds it. It draws inspiration from the Indian who meticulously weaves the country’s chaos into a vibrant tapestry of love, resilience and self-esteem,” he says.

While the fashion fraternity may be purely enamoured by Mishra’s glamorous designs, there’s a heartwarming backstory to this series. It emulates his sense of identification with small-town Indians— women, in this case—who have made their mark globally. “CEO of Chanel Leena Nair was born in Kolhapur, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas comes from Bareilly. When you come from a small town, you have to dream bigger than someone privileged who was brought up in a metro. That was the idea behind this collection. When such a woman is ready to conquer the world, she does so with the right mix of vulnerability, courage, and conviction. That’s precisely what I wanted to portray,” the couturier explains.

What Mishra left unsaid is the parallel this new line subconsciously draws from his own journey. In a way, he has also come full circle. In 2014, at a time when Indian designers showcasing their talent overseas seemed like a distant dream, Mishra was the first from the country to present his creations at Haute Couture Week in Paris. Today, the same man who dared to take that leap into the bigger world has become the toast of couture weeks across the globe

But there’s more to his global draw than just fashion weeks—Mishra is also being wooed by top international brands like Tod’s, the brand with which he recently collaborated for a range of footwear. The Tod’s x Rahul Mishra collaboration offers a range of loafers and mules embellished with hand-embroidered silk threads depicting the majestic Tree of Life, Mishra’s emblematic design, as well as bags with floral decorations, crystals, pearls and fauna-inspired embroidery.

As impressive as these technical design details may appear, the roots of this marriage between traditional Italian craftsmanship and Indian artisanry were first sowed in 2017, when the illustrious Della Valle family (who own Tod’s) reached out to the Indian designer. “That year, after my show in Paris, I travelled to Milan and went to a Tod’s set up in Ancona, a picturesque village near the Adriatic Sea. I was blown away by what I saw. They were developing local craftsmanship and taking care of several families. It was love at first sight,” he recalls.

“I spent time at the studio, and we started product development to bolster our understanding and see what would work for each of us. We worked on this since 2017 and got the final result in 2024. I’m very happy with the outcome, but satisfaction is a larger word. I don’t think a true artist can ever be satisfied because as we complete a collection, we realise we can do better. I’m glad something like this will evolve and age well.”

It’s not enough to simply dream big, and Mishra’s story is a testament to this fact. One needs to put in the work and more. This boy with wonder in his eyes, who grew up listening to stories from his grandparents in his village, is actually a physics graduate from Kanpur university. Fuelled by his passion for fashion, he pursued his postgraduate degree in apparel design from the National Institute of Fashion Design, where he unsurprisingly won the Best Student of the Year award in 2005.

Since his spectacular debut at Lakmé Fashion Week in 2006, he has showcased his collections at practically all major fashion weeks across the world, be it London, Paris, Milan and more. In 2009, he became the first Indian designer to win a scholarship at the prestigious Istituto Marangoni, and in 2013, he won the International Woolmark Prize in Milan. However, Mishra’s most revered moment of glory was when he was conferred with the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, a distinctive honour granted by the French government to individuals who’ve made notable contributions to art, culture, and literature. The insignia heralded his advent in the world of global fashion icons.

And yet it was only in 2024 that the fruits of his labour resulted in the collaboration with Tod’s. This is a good time for India, where our talent is being recognised globally— be it Manish Malhotra becoming the first Indian designer to showcase his collection at Harrods, Sabyasachi and Anamika Khanna collaborating with HxM, or Mishra coming together with Tods. What took us so long to get here? “Indian craftsmanship has been appreciated for ages. But it’s our colonial mindset that made us feel valued only when westerners appreciated us. Whatever was acknowledged by them was superior,” he explains. “All couture brands appreciate Indian artisanry today. We never believed in the idea of brands the way the British, Italians or Americans understood their power. When we never celebrated ourselves, how would the world? It’s only in recent times that we became more confident, which is why we’re also being recognised as powerful players in the world market.”

Earlier this year, Mishra also unveiled his most inspired work, his celebrated ‘Aura’ collection, at the ultra luxurious Arq by the Leela villas at The Leela Palace Udaipur. “I focus on inspiration when I travel. This space is the kind of sanctuary that can inspire you to create something new. I love the concept of being inside a manmade space surrounded by nature. It elevates the creative process,” he shares.

Perhaps this is also why India’s corporate houses are realising the business potential of investing in high-end fashion brands. For AFEW, which he first presented at the Palais de Tokyo in 2023, Mishra joined hands with Reliance Brands. He believes such mergers only benefit designers. “I have the best advisors from the brand as well as creative control. That’s why they partner with you—to encourage your creative journey.”

Mishra’s stupendous journey would perhaps not have been the same without the support of his business partner and wife Divya Mishra, a National Institute of Design graduate with a degree in design management from Milan. “While I’m radical in my designing, she lends a commercial edge to my collections. Divya is my biggest critic and best supporter. And yes, we do carry our work home because we’re very passionate about it,” he shares.

This article first appeared in Brides Today, October-December 2024, print edition.

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