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

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  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

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  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

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  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

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

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

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

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  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

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  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

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  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

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

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

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  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

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  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

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  '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.'

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

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  '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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