“This is the most India-inspired collection I’ve ever done,” Rahul Mishra said of his fall 2026 couture lineup. “It’s almost like time travel.”
He gleaned inspiration from the likes of the majestic Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra, dating from the second century BCE; a stone sculpture of a dancer from the 12th century, and the Tarakeshwara Temple in Karnataka, created around that same time.
Mishra played with motifs that existed thousands of years back, such as fabric drapes chiseled out of a piece of stone, but made them modern through his own lens with signature techniques like embroidery.
“There was no idea of covering the beauty of the body,” Mishra said of those times past. “This is all about celebrating the body.”
He conjured up a divine beauty, with the elegant runway display, starting with creations nodding to the arches of temples and other looping patterns. “I wanted them to look as if they are sculptures,” Mishra said.
Indeed they did, taking on the aura of black granite or copper. A model’s head came flanked with sculpted faces topped with the same stonelike headdress she wore.
Silhouettes generally followed the contours of the body and included evening gowns, like a gold-hued, strapless dress with trompe-l’oeil draped pattern.
This is the first season Mishra worked on a fine jewelry collection, which was codesigned with Tanishq. Using precious stones, it integrates the designer’s signature hexagon shape and geometric cityscapes.
“I’m taking freedom to create my own fantasy, but [with] sculpture as a medium, jewelry as a medium,” Mishra said.
