Whitewashing the Past
When 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 bedcovers 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 embroidered furnishings were kept. It smelled of burnt wood and weak sun. September 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 curtains, 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 Indian 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 collection 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 Maheshwari textiles too are an ode to memory of the village and its weavers, who use the pattern for lungis.
His latest collection marks a departure 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 silhouettes are pleated skirts paired with draped 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 flowers are part of the collection, too. The white-and-blue creates a new story and show the designer’s efforts 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.