Rahul Mishra And Divya Mishra On Being The Yin To The Other's Yang

Seldom comes a brand that thinks as much about its social responsibility as about creating an impeccable product. Rahul Mishra manages to balance both these aspects beautifully. The philosophy of Rahul Mishra is rooted in empowering its team with their craft. While mastery of one’s craft reigns supreme, it’s beautiful to see a brand driven by a goal of uplifting others. This holistic vision can be attributed to the fact that Rahul and Divya do not think alike, bringing different things to the table. One is a dreamer and the other a realist, complementing each other beautifully.

In a conversation with Manifest, Rahul and Divya talk about the evolution of their brand, dealing with creative differences, their favourite memory of dressing a bride, and much more.

In Conversation With Rahul And Divya Mishra

Manifest: How has the brand evolved over the years?

Divya Mishra: The brand has had an organic trajectory since its inception. It started in 2006 but took shape in 2008. We’ve grown, we’ve come a long way. Both of us are from NID, so this was a very textile-heavy brand—which it still is, but Rahul discovered his love for hand embroidery. It started with Indian silhouettes for the Indian market, particularly focusing on couture and weddings. And now we also cater to the global fashion market, which is the Paris Haute Couture, which is where we are now.

Rahul Mishra: The brand has evolved, and the clothes have changed, but what has remained constant since its inception is the core idea and the vision of the brand. Our philosophy borrows from Gandhian philosophy, where we talk about Gandhi's Talisman, which suggests that any step you take in any direction, think of the weakest or the poorest person you've seen, and how whatever you do is going to be useful to him. In our design process, we look at the possibility of slowing down the process. Some people may criticize the heavy embroidery, but we feel great about it because when clothes are heavily embroidered, they become so slow, that 5 meters of fabric supports 15 families for a month. That kind of empowerment with these threads is very powerful, that it enables people to dream. For example, a high point for Divya and me isn’t in winning the Woolmark Prize or being the first Indian designer to present at the Paris Haute Couture Week. The true high point for us was when one of our embroiderers, and a very dear friend, Afzal bhai, was able to send his daughter to study economics in London. The biggest high point of the brand is seeing our people be able to dream of making their kids whatever they are capable of or whatever they want to be. Whether we’re working on handloom or hand embroidery, the brand has always been focused on craft and craftsmanship, and it will continue to be that way.

M: How do you think both of you complement each other in terms of your strengths?

DM: Complementing each other begins when partners don’t think alike. We are opposites in many ways, yet our destination and goal are the same.

RM: I’m a dreamer, I keep dreaming throughout the day. I’m so engrossed in dreams that sometimes I miss the present reality. Divya, on the other hand, is always connected to reality. It’s almost like she has eight hands, the way she does multi-tasking. She is able to parallelly look at multiple things in both her professional and personal life. As a dreamer, without Divya, I would have never been able to create this enterprise. The combination of one person’s dreaming and the other person’s practicality allows us to achieve so much. This is how we complement each other.

DM: Rahul is the larger architect of the brand, he's the Grand Master of the brand. I can manage all the departments, making sure the organization is working smoothly. But when it comes to making the big dreams come true, Rahul leverages all the grand plans and is the brain behind executing them. He is also a great business person—many people won't know, but he's also a physics graduate and his knowledge comes through. He has a great eye for business and that's how we are growing.

RM: Divya brings that beautiful feminine side to design. She brings practicality to design. I often get a lot of enjoyment when I make clothes that are impractical, but they just look other-worldly (laughs). I give a lot of credit to Divya for bringing about a sense of clothing that people enjoy wearing as well, and not just looking at them. That’s something that we both complement each other very well on.

M: Do you ever have creative differences, and how do you deal with them?

RM: Every day!

DM: every day, every moment, every 5 minutes! Cognitively we are similar people—in terms of emotions and intelligence. But we are both Scorpios, we are very dominant in our nature. We often have differences in opinions. We have 2 different ways to reach the same solution, which makes it much easier for anything to get executed.

RM: We both discuss almost everything, whether it’s a large issue or a small thing. I do not move past a single sketch without discussing it with Divya. She’s my soundboard, my biggest critic. Kabir Das ji said, Nindak Niyare Raakhie , Ongan Kutee Chhavaay, so I married my biggest critic (laughs). Divya always keeps me grounded. Sometimes, when I feel like a star, she brings me back to reality—not in a crude way, but in a very positive way. Having a life partner who is honest is the best investment you can make. If you have someone like that, you can manage everything. We share a similar level of empathy and compassion for people, and I learned a lot from Divya’s kindness, and how she treats everyone, from people to animals. I feel very lucky to have her.

M: What inspires you both to keep creating?

DM: There are two types of people—those who learn art and those who don’t need to learn it because it’s inherent. When it’s inherent, you don’t need motivation to come to work, because we love what we do. Every day is a challenge we look forward to. We’re both ambitious because we started from nothing. We’re very proud to say that we come from service-class families and didn’t have any connections in this business. Everything we’ve built, we’ve built from scratch.

RM: We both enjoy challenges, when we’re pushed against timelines. We both thrive on challenges. When we’re competing for the International Woolmark Prize, or showcasing after Dior and before Thom Browne in the Paris Haute Couture Week calendar, we thrive on these challenges. Everybody who comes to our show will come after watching Dior or Schiaparelli or Iris Van Herpen. But we really love these challenges. We love challenging ourselves and the team. We are very critical of our own work, and this is what gives us the strength and courage to take risks.

M: What’s your favourite memory of dressing a bride?

DM: I was the first bride for Rahul. When we were getting married, Rahul had the idea to travel to Banaras. We went there, picked out a textile, brought it back, and then cut, sewed, and made a garment out of it. We didn’t embellish it because that’s the beauty of hand-woven textiles—the rich culture and heritage behind Banarasi fabric. It’s clichéd to say it now, because it’s very common in the market now. But back in 2008, we created this beautiful Banarasi hand-woven red lehenga—I wanted to be a red bride. It was beautifully and lovingly created, sewn, and cut under Rahul’s supervision. And then, of course, we got married! (smiles).

RM: In Mumbai, there was a bride who came to us with an entire mood board. She took inspiration from a lehenga she loved and created a mood board with the theme, décor, location—everything—based on that one lehenga! That was beautiful. She loved a particular lehenga so much that she selected the location, food, flowers, and everything else around that single piece. There was also a Dutch bride who was marrying an Indian boy. Her entire family was there, and they were almost in tears looking at the lehenga. After that, she went ahead and framed the lehenga—she’s an art collector, and now it’s displayed in her home. Every bride is special! But obviously, our story is right up there, always.

M: What are your future plans for the brand?

DM: We’re now a part of the international brands showcasing consistently at the Paris Couture Week, one of the most prestigious platforms in the world. We have expansion plans in terms of our retail footprint in India. We’re also planning to create more product verticals in the future, though I can’t reveal too much right now.

RM: As you may know, we have expanded Rahul Mishra’s footprint to the US market. The sales have been amazing. We are also setting up some more stores for AFEW. For Rahul Mishra also, we have opened three new stores in India this year, and we’re looking at adding two more stores within the next 4-5 months. We have already built a global brand creatively, but in terms of reach and accessibility for the customers, we have a great scope to build a truly global brand in terms of retail presence as well. We are working on that, and have a lot in the pipeline. We are extremely excited and looking forward to all of it.