Klimt, Stephen Jones, and a prayer: It’s all in a day’s work for Rahul Mishra

“This is my most diverse but precise couture collection till date,” says couturier Rahul Mishra on the eve of his fall/winter 2025 couture showcase in Paris. It is 10:32 pm in Paris, and we connect briefly on a call from his studio space. The giddy rush of adrenaline in the background is palpable through the laptop screen. “It takes a village,” says Mishra, referring to his team of a neat hundred who, along with him, are currently working across multiple spots in his studio, making last-minute alterations and adding final touches. And the energy in the room? “Finale-level,” he laughs.

After a deeply personal collection last season that meditated on the designer’s grief at losing his father, this season Mishra continues his inward gaze. His collection, Becoming Love, is an exploration of that universal human emotion in all its expansive, layered, and occasionally devastating beauty. Inspired by the Sufi concept of love’s seven stages—attraction, infatuation, love, reverence, devotion, obsession, and finally, death—the garments embody love’s fleeting plurality. Think Santosh Sivan’s sweeping visuals for the ‘Satrangi’ track from Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se.. (1998) and the love-struck figures from the canvases of Gustav Klimt and you might come close to Mishra’s moodboard for the season. “It’s almost like having seven mini-collections in a larger collection that are united by a common thread,” he says.

With a mere 18 hours to go before his show at the gothic Collège des Bernardins in the Parisian Latin Quarters, Mishra chats with The Nod about the City of Love, the prayers that drive him, and a collaboration really close to his heart.

What is the first thing you do when you land in Paris?

I have been showing in Paris for more than a decade now. For the entire world, this city is like a romantic fantasy, but for me it is like a karmabhoomi (a place of work). So, like always, when I landed this time too I came straight to work at my studio, where my entire Paris team was waiting.

What are your favourite places to eat in the city?

So many, and each more beautiful than the last. There is this beautiful tea space called Cafe Verlet, which I frequent since I do not drink coffee. But again, in the past two years, I have been so busy preparing for my couture shows that I have barely had the time to visit restaurants either. When I do, I love going to places like Balagan (now known as Kapara) and L’Avenue, whose avocado dishes I adore.

Where do you go when you need to clear your head?

I rarely get the time to go for a stroll, but when I do, I love to just walk across the city. The Tuileries Garden is one of my favourite places. When I visit the city during my holidays, I like to visit the countryside. Giverny is one of my favourite spots outside the city centre.

A shop you cannot leave Paris without visiting?

This beautiful bookshop in the first arrondissement, called Galignani. I try my best to spend some hours there and buy many books, which I get the shop to courier back to my address in India.

What was the first thing you did this morning?

I prayed.

What did you pray for?

My prayers are never to ask for anything specific.

Is there any specific ritual you follow the night before your show?

As you can see right now, always stand by your team. As the captain of the ship, I am always the last one to leave and grab some rest, no matter how late it gets.

What is the first thing you will do on the morning of your show?

Face east, watch the rising sun, and say my prayers, even if it is for five minutes. Nothing specific, just a request to the Goddess of Knowledge to ensure that we always have wisdom, never run out of ideas in our journey. And make sure we have a good attendance at the show.

Is there any particular person that you always speak to before your show?

My mother.

This season you are collaborating with Tanishq for jewellery, and the legend that is Stephen Jones!

Yes, what Tanishq has done for this season with the diamond jewellery, is beyond beautiful and of the highest quality. What I love most is how the jewellery has a sense of movement and lightness, yet it commands such presence and attention. That balance is rare. And Stephen Jones, is not doing hats for the show as one might imagine. He and I both felt that veils are better suited for the outfits in this collection. The idea to do veils came from him actually; he saw the collection sketches and decided to make seven distinct veils for the show, with a few additional ones that will act as fillers.

Was there any specific kind of technique or material that you explored this season?

Different sections of the collection focus on different kinds of embroideries. There is a lot of micro-beading and use of pearl and metallic threads to give a sense of armour-like exterior alongside 3D floral prints.

Is there a leitmotif across this collection?

Loads. But most importantly the rose and the heart. A beating human heart will, over the course of the collection, go from golden to white to finally black. For me black does not represent a negative sensibility. Instead, the death-like surrender of the final stage of love is akin to the idea of grief—the fleeting nature of love is transformed into something more permanent, like memory.

How does the end of a show find you?

After my show I’m usually very quiet. I spend a little time with the team, and while everybody is happy, I always feel a sense of emptiness that I cannot explain. The collection is an idea you’ve been working on for six months, and suddenly there is nothing to look forward to the next day. Which is why I try to take a break as quickly as possible. The day after my show, this time, my wife Divya and I are taking a holiday in London with our daughter before her school reopens post-summer.