LEISURE
FA SH IONW
hen designer Rahul Mishra
was a boy, his mother
would hang a white curtain
embroidered with Daraz over a broken
door. Filtering the light, it was like a
gossamer shield against the world.
Years later, as he was buying bedcov-
ers for his new home, he stumbled
upon Daraz work which brought back
memories of the big steel trunk in his
childhood home in Malhausi village in
Uttar Pradesh in which those embroi-
dered furnishings were kept. It smelled
of burnt wood and weak sun. Septem-
ber and October, he says.
From that point forward, Mishra,
now 39, began to explore his intimate
relationship with the things of his
childhood—the pillow covers, the cur-
tains, the table cloth. And over the past
few months, he explored the craft
of Chikankari and Daraz to
elevate them to what he calls
European luxury fashion at
the Paris Fashion Week.
The most frequent In-
dian designer to present at the
prestigious fashion week, his
ninth appearance now, for this
show, Mishra wants to bring back
the 1980s of living in a small village in
a house with red cemented floor and
white curtains that were brought out on
festivals and special occasions. “I call
this collection homemade as it was done
by these women in Lucknow at their
homes,” he said. “There are only about
100-odd women who can do the Daraz.
We don’t see it anymore. It is the story of
the humble cotton, the forgotten crafts.”
The fine cotton used in his collec-
tion was woven in Pune. The Jamdaani
in West Bengal is a homage to the white
saris his widowed grandmother wore.
The blue-and-white checked Mahesh-wari textiles too are an ode to memory
of the village and its weavers, who use
the pattern for lungis.
His latest collection marks a de-
parture from the designer’s signature
work, the 3D embroidery that puts
him among the foremost designers
of handmade fashion. While other
designers have worked with crochet,
chic Kankaria and other such crafts,
by incorporating Chikankari work on
georgette, Mishra wants to make the
craft more suited to western fashion.
Still, while the intention is pure,
the treatment is not innovative. The sil-
houettes are pleated skirts paired withdraped jackets, dresses with pin tuck
and shirts. And though the Khadi and
cotton and handcraft make a statement,
the designer has retained techniques
like shadow work and embroidery for
their commercial value. Jackets with
motifs of lotus and peacock and flow-
ers are part of the collection, too. The
white-and-blue creates a new story and
show the designer’s eforts to move on
from his past work, but the embroidery
is familiar, even repetitive.
The collection will be showcased
at the Paris Fashion Week on
September 29.
—Chinki SinhaWhitewashing
the Past
RAHUL
MISHRA
returns to the Paris
Fashion Week with a
new story of Daraz
and cotton RA JWANT RAWAT