Rahul Mishra closed Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai with a grand finale featuring the fall iteration of AFEW, his “easy-to-wear” line made in partnership with Reliance Brand. Coming home to his native India wasn’t only sentimental, but rather an astute syncing up with the country’s growing luxury consumer base. Younger generations in India, he said, are eager for “exciting fashion” that’s more affordable than his elaborate haute couture creations.
High fashion in India targets the lucrative market of sumptuous weddings and other milestone occasions. Mishra recently dressed Mark Zuckerberg and his wife in couture, and greeted Bill Gates for some shopping at the label’s Mumbai boutique, all three of whom were among the 1,200 guests attending the lavish festivities celebrating Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant, scions of billionaire Indian families. With a Rihanna performance and the largest drone show ever made, it surely was a party for the ages.
Mishra’s AFEW may be “easy to wear,” but it keeps the designer’s artistic flamboyance intact. The show was held at the sprawling Jio World Convention Centre, built by the Ambani family and inaugurated in 2023 with appropriate pomp. Measuring up to the magnitude of the venue, the show provided some entertaining theatrics—a revolving circular platform in the middle of the catwalk featured small pyramidal sculptures that were surrounded by imposing abstract artworks by the young Indian artist Ajit Paraker. Called Sculpt, the co-ed collection reprised some of the insects, foliage, and florals of Mishra’s recent Paris couture outing, which he toned down and rendered in locally sourced lightweight fabrics like cotton, denim, and jersey.
Restraint was more an intention than the actual outcome, however. Sculptural appliqués of dragonflies and butterflies graced broad-shouldered shirts with curved sleeves shaped by inserted wires, while 3D embroidered shrubs cascaded on ample denim trench coats with sweeping pleated sides. Shapes alternated between structured and fluid, and embellishments abounded throughout. These were both graphic, as in the black-and-white damier motif embroidered on a black duster with an imposing shoulder line, and colorful, like the sequined train of a draped evening dress, inspired by the lush foliage of Henri Rousseau’s famous paintings.
The show’s entertaining coup-de-théâtre came when models walked onto the circular platform, unfolding the pyramidal sculptures into trapeze-shaped coats and jackets, embroidered with the outline of mountainous landscapes. “Excitement has to be part of fashion, if not what’s the point? The world doesn’t need one more black jacket from me,” Mishra said . “I want to keep and nurture my artistic side, as I love to create and experiment.” He’s also committed to abiding by the ethical principles he’s established: Fabrics were mostly sustainable and sourced in India; the show’s casting of local talents was age, gender, and body shape inclusive; and the less-elaborate-than-couture techniques required to produce his AFEW pieces nonetheless produce jobs. Ticking all the boxes, Rahul Mishra seems well underway to becoming one of India’s brightest fashion stars.
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