Time has always been civilisation’s greatest antagonist. Against its relentless erosion, humanity has devised its own forms of resistance: cathedrals, epics, frescoes, temples. Fashion, by contrast, has long accepted impermanence as part of its condition. Haute couture remains the inquisitive exception – it asks the impossible—what is fleeting might, through extraordinary labour, approach the eternal.
Over the past decade, Rahul Mishra has quietly transformed that idea into his own evolving couture philosophy. For DEVI: The Eternal Muse, unveiled during Paris Haute Couture Week, the Indian designer turns away from fashion’s familiar archive and instead enters a far older one: the sacred architecture of the Indian subcontinent. The divine figures inhabiting Khajuraho, Ellora, Konark, and the Ajanta Caves are not merely decorative references; they belong to a visual cosmology in which sculpture, ritual, and philosophy are connected into one another. These apsaras and devis arise as embodiments of shakti—creative force itself— a sublimation of the divine.
Western art history has long romanticised Michelangelo’s belief that every sculpture already exists within its block of marble, simply waiting to be revealed. Rahul Mishra seems to approach couture with a similar philosophy: as an act of excavation. Silk took on the appearance of weathered stone, while zardozi and dabka embroidery recalled the intricate surfaces of ancient temples and royal textiles. Rooted in India’s centuries-old craft traditions and influenced by Persian artistry, these techniques use gold and metallic threads to create a sculptural richness.
The idea extended beyond the runway itself: seated in the audience, Cardi B appeared in a sculptural white, marble-inspired gown, a subtle nod to the opening tableau, where a triptych of models moved like ancient statues. It was a fitting image for Mishra’s central proposition: that the past is a living force waiting to be reawakened.
Alongside this, Rahul Mishra invited the celebrated British milliner Stephen Jones, one of the most influential figures in contemporary hat design, whose four-decade career has redefined millinery as a form of sculptural expression. Known for his collaborations with houses such as Dior, Chanel, and Comme des Garçons, he has long re-explored visual narrative through his intricate headpieces. As a final tempo, DEVI: The Eternal Muse, is an act of resurrection: transforming stone into movement, memory into form, and fleeting beauty into something that might, for a moment, defy time.
