Ready to Wear Fall 2015 Recap: Rahul Mishra

A relative newcomer on the fashion scene, Rahul Mishra is already grabbing the attention of many in the industry with his sustainable design philosophy, leveraging Indian handlooms and craft community. 

With the rest of the world's major industries turning their focus onto sustainable manufacturing and production of nearly all consumer goods, it was only a matter of time when the fashion industry would be expected to follow suit. Why it has taken this long is another matter for debate; but while we're still waiting for the big fashion houses to show some leadership (tsk tsk), some emerging designers are now pioneering the idea that fashion can, in fact, be sustainable.

Rahul Mishra is one such pioneer.

His Fall/Winter 2015 collection shown this past week in Paris is centered around the theme of The Village. His inspiration? The village where Mishra grew up in India - a soul-searching endeavour resulting in a graphical sketchbook of images that influenced the look and feel of his collection. In his words, the collection encapsulates the 'balanced existence of nature and mankind, traditional and modern' - not unlike what we're trying to do in our daily lives. 

The collection is brought to life with this ethos in fine fibres, weaves and craft techniques practiced in many villages across the planet. Mishra's desire is to 'return to the land,' where he is championing the effort to rehabilitate craftsmen back to an environment away from urban dwellings to focus on the idea of 'slow fashion'. The fashion equivalent of the slow-food movement, so to speak.

Each of the looks showcased some wonderfully expert hand-embroidery in a variety of fabrics: alpaca wools, silk organza, silk chiffon and even wool jersey. I particularly loved a stunning hand embroidered sparrow wool and silk organza sweater top and hand embroidered bird flock paired with a wool and silk organza pencil skirt. Simple, but gorgeous, wearable pieces. 

Photos: The Vancouverite