#000000">The Blue Mosque, Islamic techniques like Girikh to Spanish inspirations like Majolica, Rahul Mishra took us around the world, in his 46 piece camel safari and then gave it a modern twist by making couture easy to wear and wash!

#000000">The intricacies could be seen in the scalloped ends of his duppattas as he decided to start his show with an all white palette complete with pearl haath phools. The mood remained tone-on-tone, introducing translucent capes, hints of shimmer in the white and gold saris, and Rahul admits that he did use sequins, but subdued their glitter by concealing them under fabric

#000000">most designers would never attempt to do, Rahul flirts with ease…add sportswear elements to couture. Some seasons back, he got the ubiquitous bomber jacket to team up with his lehengas, and this time it was a zipped jumper that he transformed into pure luxe (white and gold) with Girikh work, which comes from a Turkish technique where you knot a geometric ornament, used by the Persian dynasty in 1,300 AD paying homage to the splendour of Islamic artwork.

#000000">His gypsy lehengas in silvery hues, and big bold flowers are a departure from Rahul Mishra’s aesthetics but he admits, “Yes, there were sequins underneath the French knots as we’re trying to do controlled bling.” And so was the ravine-necked choli which exposed an abundant cleavage, in a contentious bridal wear market, Rahul, is finally understanding, the need to be commercial, not in a blinding way but a rather ‘testing the waters manner’. “There is always fear of criticism. Our country might not have a critic’s column anymore, which isn’t good. Fashion moves with criticism. But, I get a lot of challenges in Paris,” he smiles.

Most of his offering, almost all were hand embroidered and he says, he also worked on something to the lines of Paul Signac’s (French Neo-Impressionist painter ) artwork called, The Pine Tree at St. Tropez. “So, we infused that in the very first gold lehenga that you saw. We tried to include a bit of modern art in our work. When we do the typical gold lehenga, we try to imagine the possibilities of a metallic lehenga. I do not want to put myself into one category. I want to be able to surprise myself,” he explains.