What was once carved in stone now moves. In his most personal collection yet, Rahul Mishra turns to the artistic soul of India, presenting Devi: The Eternal Muse as a tribute to his culture.
Unveiled at Paris Haute Couture Week, Mishra’s F/W26 lineup breathes new life into centuries-old temple carvings. The title itself is the clearest hint as to the lens through which he views this collection: the divine feminine. Through his hands, she becomes monumental, timeless—essentially immortalized.
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The designer revisits landmarks such as the Ajanta Caves and medieval monuments to reinterpret them through the meticulous language of couture. Detailed embroidery mimics the depth of ancient relief work, while trompe-l’œil elements create the illusion of fabric sculpted from granite and copper.
His debut fine jewelry collaboration with Tanishq further extends this vision, as precious stones and geometric forms become natural companions that complete his narrative.
There’s a sense of worship in how Mishra reveres his craft and those who inspire it. Similarly, his past collections have honored the human body, the soul, and the cosmos itself. Perhaps that’s why his work moves so many; he takes what is finite or intangible and makes it everlasting.
Photos: RAHUL MISHRA
Frequently Asked Questions
Rahul Mishra’s Haute Couture F/W26 collection, titled Devi: The Eternal Muse, is a tribute to the divine feminine rooted in Indian artistic heritage. Presented at Paris Haute Couture Week, the collection reimagines centuries-old temple carvings — particularly from the Ajanta Caves and medieval monuments — through detailed embroidery that mimics ancient relief work and trompe-l’œil effects that create the illusion of fabric sculpted from granite and copper.
Devi is the Sanskrit word for goddess or divine feminine — a concept central to Hindu spiritual tradition and Indian artistic heritage. In the context of Rahul Mishra’s F/W26 collection, Devi refers to the eternal creative muse, portrayed as monumental and timeless through the lens of temple sculpture, couture embroidery, and precious jewelry.
Mishra drew on the Ajanta Caves — ancient rock-cut Buddhist monuments in Maharashtra famous for their intricate sculptures and paintings — as well as medieval Indian temple architecture. These references informed the collection’s detailed embroidery work, which replicates the depth and dimensionality of stone relief carvings, and the trompe-l’œil techniques that simulate the textures of granite and copper.
Devi: The Eternal Muse marks Rahul Mishra’s debut fine jewelry collaboration with Tanishq, one of India’s most prominent jewelry brands. The collection features precious stones and geometric forms designed to complement the couture pieces, extending the collection’s spiritual and architectural narrative into wearable jewelry that completes the Devi vision.
Rahul Mishra is known for meticulous hand embroidery executed by Indian artisans, often used to replicate the depth and texture of sculptural or natural forms. In F/W26, he also employs trompe-l’œil — a technique that creates optical illusions of three-dimensionality — to simulate the appearance of fabric carved from stone, extending the collection’s temple sculpture references into the surface of the garments themselves.
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