Rilke, ghazals and “sari 2.0”: It’s all in a day’s work for Pranav Kirti Misra

Designer Pranav Kirti Misra will resist telling you the exact thought process behind his recent spring/summer 2026 show. Instead, he wants you to tell him what you thought of it. “I’m always hungry for people in fashion to talk more about fashion. About what went well, what went wrong. It shows that you’re passionate about your art,” he says over a Sunday morning Zoom call from his hotel room in Mumbai.

We’re chatting the day after his show, which, like everything Misra does with his label Huemn, was full of contrasts—beauty and ugliness, tailoring with streetwear, floral embroideries and ghostly monochrome prints. The lineup included tailored wool blazers, slouchy denim trousers, sheath-like LBDs, oversized T-shirts with the now-signature motif of a horse’s head, and sari-adjacent drapes. There was also a limited-edition Tata Sierra X Huemn capsule collection that included a T-shirt, a cap, and a jacket; the last was modelled on the runway by the captain of the World Cup-winning Indian women’s cricket team, Harmanpreet Kaur.

This ability to take a range of disparate thoughts and put them together into one cohesive presentation reflects how Misra’s brain works. In one day he might jump from a playlist that includes heavy metal and ghazals to the poetry of Rilke and then back to Huemn and how he wants to make something that his celebrity clients can wear on the red carpet. The last thought, especially, is something he was excited to talk about.

Actors like Tamannaah Bhatia and Aditi Rao Hydari have all been spotted in his graphic T-shirts and shirts, but now he’s ready to give them elegant shift-like dresses with aari embroidery, jackets with chikankari details, and what he’s calling “the sari 2.0”. “It retains all the essential factors that make a sari—the pleats, the drape, the pallu—but we’ve made it a single piece that you can wear without a blouse,” he explains. Here he speaks to The Nod about what’s on his reading list, growing up in Lucknow, and making music for the first time.

What time did you wake up this morning?

Generally, I wake up very early, but today I woke up at 9 am because I got to bed only at 6 am, after the show!

What was your room-service order?

A three-egg omelette with mushroom and spinach.

Are you a breakfast guy?

It’s my favourite meal of the day. When I’m at home I’ll have an omelette, two pieces of toast, half an avocado, one cup of moong dal, and vegetable juice. Then maybe after an interval I will have a slice of sweet potato and a paratha. Lunch is flexible, so I eat as much as possible at breakfast.

What is the first thing you do when you wake up?

Usually, I make myself a cup of hot water with some chia seeds. When I’m in Delhi I wake up very early. I love how quiet it is then—even the dog is sleeping. I’ll read the newspaper and then spend an hour reading something else before 9 am.

What’s on your reading list right now?

So, there are around four books I’m reading at any point. There’s a book I keep in my bag, which is usually poetry by Rilke. Right now, I’m enjoying Carlos Drummond de Andrade, who was a Brazilian poet. I was recently gifted Javed Akhtar’s new book, Seepiyan, so occasionally I’ll pick that up. Then there is usually a separate morning book. Right now, I’m struggling to find one, so I’m revisiting Shoe Dog [by Phil Knight] all over again. I’m also halfway through Kaveh Akbar’s debut novel, Martyr. Then there is Crime and Punishment; I’m 70 per cent through. You need to really cut off from the world to read that, surrender to it and not be thinking about your Excel sheets at the same time. As somebody who likes to question the universal concepts around morals and ethics, it is a life-changing read.

Writing is an important part of your life. When do you make time for it?

I try to dedicate around at least 15 minutes every evening to my writing. Most of the time obviously I’m distracted, but I’ve made it a ritual to just sit down with a piece of paper and describe whatever is in front of me. It’s like my homework.

Is there something akin to a uniform that you wear?

Honestly, I don’t think about my own clothes. I adopted the kurta around the pandemic and I’ve been very consistent with it because when I wear that I don’t have to worry about my hair or anything; the kurta does it all. When I’m working, I usually wear something black or white, maybe a black trousers and shirt.

Harmanpreet Kaur walked for your show. How did that happen?

The Tata Sierra team and I were brainstorming, and Harmanpreet Kaur was of course on top of that list. You know how Kapil Dev, back in the day, got the first World Cup for India? In the same way, Harmanpreet Kaur got the first World Cup as a woman. She’s someone whose name is never going to be erased from history lessons in classrooms.

You’ve also used chikankari for the first time.

Yes, we’ve used it on woollen suits and on denim. I have memories from my childhood in Lucknow—my mother embroidering her saris herself or my father wearing a chikan kurta for Eid—but it hadn’t surfaced in my clothes until now. I wanted to present it in a more unconventional manner.

You produced the music for this show with Kalmi (producer Nikhil Kalimireddy).

Yes, Kalmi, who has produced for Hanumankind, created this set completely from scratch. Music has always been a very, very important part of all our showcases. Usually it’s something by Hans Zimmer, who is almost like a god for me. When I got this opportunity to work with Kalmi, it was like a childhood dream come true. I’m always humming songs, putting poems to tunes, and when I was younger I was a vocalist in a metal band—breaking guitars and throwing mics around. But, of course, most of this was Kalmi; he really put it together, composed it, and now in such a short period of time we’ve become good friends.

What’s on your playlist right now?

I’ve been going through a big ghazal phase for the last two or three years.

If someone wants to start listening to ghazals, who would you recommend to them?

There are a few artists that, hands down, are the best. They are Jagjit Singh and Ghulam Ali. Out of the contemporary guys, you should drop everything and listen to Prithvi Gandharv and Pratibha Singh Baghel. She just has the most magical voice that is currently there. Then there is Jazim Sharma, who just sang for a new movie [Gustaakh Ishq] by Vishal Bhardwaj, which is the most insane album of the year.