Interview | Designer Rahul Mishra and Reliance Brands discuss their joint venture and new RTW brand
The Hindu
Sportswear, sleepwear, footwear, home… Rahul Mishra and Darshan Mehta of Reliance Brands are ready to talk about what this partnership really means
The young Indian designer known for his slow fashion, 3D embroidery, obsession with flowers and air and architecture, the first to take Indian couture to Paris consistently, is now all set to create a ready-to-wear brand with one of India’s largest private companies. Rahul Mishra has been a big part of new India’s fashion story, as has retail giant, Reliance Brands Limited (RBL). In fact, this announcement — of the 60:40 joint venture between RBL and Mishra — comes while fashion critics are still deconstructing the tiers of petals and voluminous sleeves in his Paris Couture Week Spring 2022 show from January 26. Meanwhile, RBL has been on a JV spree since 2018, partnering with Indian fashion’s biggest names: Satya Paul, Sabyasachi, Tarun Tahiliani, Ritu Kumar, Manish Malhotra, Anamika Khanna and Raghavendra Rathore.
How will the young prince of slow fashion and couture walk the line between streetwear and luxury, mass and elite? “We will never do fast fashion,” says Mishra emphatically on a video call with The Hindu Weekend. “It is a collection that will tick all boxes in my heart — it will be about mindful fashion, sustainability, and inclusivity.” Being sustainable, he adds, is about building timeless clothes that are “seasonless and trendless”. Incidentally, both are post-pandemic fashion keywords. “The biggest facet of slow fashion is ‘how long can it stay in your wardrobe?’ It’s about giving access to your customer to wear a garment 30 days in a year and to then pass it down to the next generation,” he adds.