A WhatsApp call, a Zoom call, a Google Meet conversation. That’s how a set of twin interviews with couturier Rahul Mishra and Darshan Mehta, MD, Reliance Brands Limited, played out on a winter evening. The first two with the perfectionist Rahul trying to decode his surreal and mythical Couture Spring 2022 collection The Enchanted that launched at Paris Haute Couture Week. We soon moved over to Google Meet where Mehta joined us from his car to talk about their “collaborative journey to create and own a new brand that would encompass Rahul Mishra’s ready-to-wear business through a 60:40 Joint Venture (either by itself and / or through its affiliates)”. Rahul is the first Indian designer to show at Paris Haute Couture Week and has shown at Paris Fashion Week over 13 seasons, starting 2015.

The Enchanted looks like our vision of paradise...

This entire collection is a part of my deepest dreams. For all of us, the biggest dream apart from family, you visualise a space where you want to be in, the sun, the butterflies, the flowers, maybe you sipping a cup of coffee and a yoga mat.... There is a beautiful phrase ‘dolce far niente’, which means ‘pleasant idleness’. The power of doing nothing is great. You are only in the present. So, this is a part of the collection.

Divya and I have a dream of moving away from the hustle and bustle of city life. I got this piece of land in January and now this is the time to build it. I have been enchanted with the thought for the last one year of having this house, being there and enjoying the slowness of time. This whole obsession has resulted in this collection. I also have a dream of making a designer studio over there, in the Himalayan hills. Whenever I have a dream, I share it with people and then it becomes a common dream for all of us.

Rumi once wrote, ‘Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there’. For me, couture is out beyond the idea that this is how a garment should be made.... We are taught with a lot of restrictions and we live in a world which is driven by commerce and commercialisation. There are many rules. For me, there is a field that exists beyond it and couture is created there. Arts meets fantasy meets dreams meets aspiration meets fashion meets clothes... that is where these kinds of clothes are created.

Is this one of your most simplistic collections in terms of thoughts?

It is a dreamscape and it often does not have too much linearity or logic. I worked personally to edit this film with my team.... I wanted it to have a certain vagueness, a kind of thought process which is clear but still very light. Flower as a form, flower as a surface and then a painterly version of creating almost a landscape.... This was how we explored shape and form.

Rahul Mishra's The Enchanted

Tell us a bit about the use of veils...

There is nothing political about it. It stands for dream and how enchantment happens. It’s almost like background meets foreground, foreground meets background. The idea was to do something like the Avatar, a mythical kind of idea. It was difficult to create. The team believed in it. Most of the plants we have used are now there with us. Ultimately every shot is like a layering. There is background and the subject and sometimes the background and the subject becomes one. That is a thought behind the veil and mask. Often enchantment also is reflected through this idea. I have said earlier that masks are a representation of how we are living in the pandemic, but this is also the outcome of the pandemic that I am thinking about this kind of a house.

How did the “joint venture” with Reliance Brands Ltd come about?

It was important as to how and why it happens. There was a lot of interest in the brand from quite a few players, global as well as Indian. Why RBL worked was because I think they have the most amazing business plan for the brand and they have also shown in the past a lot of patience and perseverance. They have somebody like Satya Paul and Rajesh (Pratap Singh) working on that. They have someone like Raghavendra Rathore which they have done earlier. For me, Rahul Mishra as a brand and a design company is more like an art studio. It is not a commercially driven company and when a company is not commercially driven, I don’t want investments in it. So, this is not an investment in my company or brand. This is co-creating a new brand. The global business plan they had was mind-blowing. It was like someone got inside our thought process, dreams and aspirations. The partnership is truly global because it also works on our strengths. We have done 17 seasons internationally, 13 seasons of ready-to-wear. Ready-to-wear has been our big strength too. It won a Woolmark Prize, we did a reversible collection in Kerala cotton and I have done multiple collections of ready-to-wear in Paris and we have been selling at some of the most amazing stores across the world. So, it is a proven and efficient system. When I started doing couture in India in 2015, it lent me a larger canvas to play with and I started enjoying it.

We as a brand are moving in a different direction. Normally a 10-12-year-old-brand gets as commercial as possible and we are getting as creative as ever. (Laughs) It is difficult to sustain Paris Couture Week and this being our fifth season in a row and we are able to create that excitement. That way, we are lucky that we are celebrating art in its best form. This partnership somehow allows me to be even more artistic. This is a dream come true for me. It also takes care of my proficiency in ready-to-wear. I’ll be able to focus equally on ready-to-wear. I’ll be able to weave a reality with ready-to-wear as a dream with couture. Reliance also understands the value of handmade and Indian craftsmanship. They are not isolated from the reality of the country. And we are talking about a global presence in three-four years, which was much-needed.... It was a no-brainer. This was the most exciting business proposal in the last three years and plan. I must admit that critically I am there but accessibility toh nahin hain abhi. This lends it. The business plan came to us in December.

Have you always wanted to build a Rahul Mishra universe?

Ultimately that is always a dream and idea. We have done a collaboration with Swarovski which did so well. We are doing shoes which also do well. In any Rahul Mishra couture, any given garment takes 1,000 human hours. So, it’s not rocket science that iski pricing aisi hone wali hai and I will only be able to dress up a person on a few occasions, however much sustainable and wearable couture I create. But what about creating something which is beautiful, comes from the brand itself, more affordable and can be worn 30 days in a year. This is a natural progression. As a brand, you shouldn’t construct ivory towers. I’ll have to take more risks. Like even with the great filmmakers, some part is for the soul and some for the stomach. Jab stomach exist karega tab soul bhi exist karegi.

For me, Rahul Mishra as a brand and a design company is more like an art studio. It is not a commercially driven company and when a company is not commercially driven, I don’t want investments in it. So, this is not an investment in my company or brand. This is co-creating a new brand. The global business plan they had was mind-blowing. It was like someone got inside our thought process, dreams and aspirations. The partnership is truly global because it also works on our strengths — Rahul Mishra

Is there pressure?

(Laughs) I have lived with a lot of pressure and this is equally pressurising for sure, but it is exciting for me and Divya because our strength lies in creating wearable pieces which stay a classic. Sustainability cannot just be about the process of things being made. Sustainability should also be judged on how long a piece can last with love in someone’s wardrobe. What is also exciting about this partnership is the strength that comes from RBL’s side. We don’t have to look outside for collaborations and partnerships too much any more now because we will be able to diversify our portfolio.... We have also not given a timeline to it, but it will allow us to explore a lot and make all of us a design as well as a production team and far more enriched season after season. As a design studio, design is just 10 per cent of what you do every day. When the rest of the things are handled seamlessly, it allows me to spend more time on design. I think one can expect mindful scalability out of this collaboration.

Will how you design your ready-to-wear now be any different from how you have in the past? What is the language you are looking for?

I have to sit on the design table with my team of designers with open thoughts. It needs to have a certain newness. It’s too early to answer that, but there would be something supremely exciting.

Divya and I have a dream of moving away from the hustle and bustle of city life. I got this piece of land in January and now this is the time to build it. I have been enchanted with the thought for the last one year of having this house, being there and enjoying the slowness of time. This whole obsession has resulted in this collection — Rahul Mishra

What are your expectations?

I have a childlike curiosity for feedback. Here, with a larger canvas and larger things to create, the learning will be far more.

Darshan Mehta, MD, Reliance Brands Limited

Darshan Mehta

Why Rahul Mishra?

That’s always a very easy question to answer. If at all, the question should be why haven’t you looked at Rahul Mishra? So, it was not a question of whether, but when. Things happen when they happen. Rahul and I have known each other for a few years and we’ve had business conversations and fun conversations and I got to know his lovely wife, Divya, who is a business partner. Both of them met my team members. And we like partnerships which have a bit of a long courtship. To that extent, there is a great source of comfort. We know in many ways what our approach is and we have a good sense of what Rahul and Divya’s approach to this business is.

What did you show him in the first presentation that bowled him over?

The credit goes to very bright sparks in the team, but what we did is, we said let’s start understanding the brand Rahul Mishra. What makes it so unique and special? What is our own objective sense of where it could go?

What do you think is the essence of Rahul Mishra, the brand?

One of the things is he has combined the craft with a contemporary, cosmopolitan approach. A French artisan couldn’t come up with the same vocabulary or outcome. I think it’s the synthesis which was our understanding.

How are you planning to marry what Rahul does with the Reliance philosophy? What are the common points?

I think the common point is patience because my 20-year learning from this business is that the synonym for luxury is patience. You have to build a strong foundation and be patient about the outcome. Rahul is a bold designer and I say it in the most complimentary way. If you follow the RBL journey, early on because we were known for our hydrocarbon heritage, we kind of got marginalised... we have patiently and boldly followed what we thought was the correct approach. Then of course, we bring complementary skills to the table.

What can we expect?

My definition of luxury is anything that is timeless... something you might wear 10 years later and feel as excited about it. People think if you want to do something timeless, it cannot be to any form of even minute scale. I disagree. There are enough brands that have been doing things on a reasonable scale and yet making timeless products. The outcome we are both confident will not be led by a current fad....

We have seen a spate of signings in the recent past. What is the philosophy?

We have a partnership philosophy.... Staying two steps behind is my philosophy. Our approach is never to dictate or overwhelm. It’s also a philosophy where we believe that the outcome is not something you target.... It is about building a great foundation and institutionalising talent. It is also about bringing high-quality talent to the table. Fan pressure is good pressure, but I don’t ever want him to feel pressure from Reliance that ‘oh my god, now if I don’t deliver 200 crores, I will lose some shareholding’. There is nothing called the RBL brand. Rahul Mishra is the brand.