Couturiers Rahul Mishra and Gaurav Gupta are at the Paris Couture Week, Fall/Winter 2023 with their respective Fall couture collections. It’s the second season for Gaurav Gupta at the Paris Couture Week, while Rahul Mishra has been showcasing for many seasons over the past years. Both couturiers have taken the mark of “Made in India” with pride to Paris.
Rahul Mishra showcased his couture collection on the opening day of the Paris Couture week on the 3rd of July, 2023. The collection tiled ‘We the People’ was an ode to the entire team of artisans that work at the Rahul Mishra atelier and invest thousands of hours on embroidery Addas, in the cutting and draping room, on the sewing machines and the finishing section to bring in form the creative imagination of their Creative Director.
The collection was very contemporary in style with signature three-dimensional embroidery of Rahul Mishra uplifting the styles to a subliminal dimension. We saw body con silhouettes, glistening in liquid silver and molten black palettes created with shimmering sequin work. Gigantic corsages or flowers were crafted out of fabric with huge petals. Off-shoulder tops with wide-legged pants, pocketed lehengas and maxi skirts paired with skimpy bodices and capes with foliage embroidery were all delicately crafted to perfection.
Alongside the usual flora and fauna motifs, this time tiger motif was dominant in Rahul Mishra’s Fall/winter 2023 couture collection. A crouching tiger was embroidered on the bust of gowns and sequined body-suits. A proponent of ‘Woke’ fashion, Rahul tries to communicate a social message with his collection. In the past season he tried to raise attention towards the flora and fauna at the foothills of the Himalayas that were under threat from the rampant construction work and this time he steered the focus towards the royal Tiger whose population is depleting because of illegal poaching.
Couturier Gaurav Gupta showcased his fall/winter 2023 couture collection titled ‘Hiranyagarbha’ at the Paris Couture Week on the 6th of July. As understood from the story behind the collection, it originates from the creation of the cosmos, an ode to Lord Brahma, the God of Creation as per the ancient Indian scriptures.
Gaurav’s manifestation of the creation of the cosmos takes off with the pristine white segment of the collection. He crafted gowns with thigh-high slits and embroidered them magnificently with pearls. The signature Gaurav Gupta ‘swirls’ that shows fabric trapping the wind were placed strategically on shoulders and formed a kind of a halo around the head. The black sequence had slinky gowns with all-over embroidery and quilted boleros. Black pant-suits with sculpted shoulder detailing and glass-bead and crystal embroidery and cut-out gowns structured with enigmatic folds and tucks and paired with puffed-up wraps appeared like artwork on the ramp. Embellished skull caps and boleros were paired with gowns that added an element of novelty to the ensembles.
Gupta predominantly used taffetas and chiffon for his fall/winter 2023 couture collection. Indian embroidery techniques of dabka, zardozi and nakashi were used for embellishment work in the collection that traversed from pristine white to black to silver and varied hues of green. But when it comes to Gaurav Gupta, it is the sculpted details, the mystifying swirls of fabric and the exotic drapes that enthralls us. This collection also showcased Gaurav Gupta’s mastery with creating wearable art.
Text by Jaydeep Ghosh.
Image Courtesy: Gaurav Gupta and Rahul Mishra
Find out more about the collection:
https://www.gauravguptastudio.com/
