Indian haute couture master dreams the 'impossible' for Paris — in pictures

As he puts the final touches to his latest collection, fashion designer Rahul Mishra is taking inspiration from France

In this photograph taken on October 19, 2022, Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra looks at a dress with embroidery designs at his workshop in Noida. - As he stitches together the final threads of his latest Paris Fashion Week collection, acclaimed Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra is taking inspiration from France -- and a fellow master from another era. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP) / To GO WITH: India-France-Fashion-Mishra, FEATURE by Laurence THOMANN

He takes design inspiration from fashion hub France and 19th-century impressionist painter Claude Monet. 'I want to achieve the impossible, I want to paint air,' the designer quoted Monet as saying

Mishra reflects the same artistic urge as Monet who depicted nature on canvas. Mishra exhibits nature on haute couture gowns, known for their bursts of embroidered floral colours and petal-shaped ornamental flourishes

Dozens of designers, tailors and crafters in his workshop in New Delhi have worked to put together the collection

A craftsman with embroidery looms sews flower motifs on a delicate sheer fabric

His creations became popular after he won the International Woolmark Prize, one of the fashion world's top accolades, in 2014

In the same year, the French Fashion Federation included his work on the Paris ready-to-wear runway, and in 2020 he became the first Indian to feature in its haute couture programme

Nature has been the designer's most enduring source of inspiration. He first started sketching blooming flowers and natural scenery around his rural hometown when he was 10

With no mentor and a doctor father, who pushed him to pursue a steady career, the designer took up science studies at a university. He later enrolled at the National Institute of Design, India's premier creative arts academy, before studying in Italy's fashion capital, Milan

Items from his last collection The Tree of Life (pictured), sold for up to 12,500 euros ($13,500)

The couture designer aims to build a global presence and will launch a new ready-to-wear collection in Europe in March

His first European boutique will open in London later this year as a joint venture with Indian conglomerate Reliance, a key distributor of luxury brands which has exclusive tie-ups with Balenciaga and Armani

But his ambitions rest on building a 'fairly serious' alternative to fast fashion giants such as Uniqlo and Zara, using India's seemingly bottomless pool of textile talent

'Now is the right time,' he said. 'My biggest goal is that one day we'll be able to provide employment for more than a million people around the world.'

Like many artists, the designer makes the creation a reflection of the torment and doubt that come with habitual agonising over minute details

'We celebrate mistakes, we celebrate when we fail. I think more than the final fashion show... what excites me most is the process,' he said

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