Fashion designer Rahul Mishra on drawing from deities for his latest collection
I am inspired most by the architecture of temples—the deities in their varied forms carved on the walls, pillars and sanctums. It was not always so. I learnt this trick when, as a student at the National Institute of Design, I would bunk apparel and fashion classes to attend product and furniture design lectures. The core strength of any product designer (automobile, furniture or lifestyle) is creating a new form for any product based on existing natural organisms. For example, shapes of a bottles and cars are inspired by curves of a woman while aircraft have their aerodynamic nature borrowed from birds.

For a fashion designer like me, the most inspiring creation is a woman. In 2007, I had visited the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram. The pillars of the magnificent temple carved with forms of dancing deities were an instant inspiration. The silhouette of the garment (which you can see on your left) is inspired by the dancing deity figurines from the temples of India, where pleats have been an integral part of dance costumes to make movement easy.

This garment, which I designed in 2008, got me the International Designer of the Year award in the commercial design category at the International Apparel Federation’s convention at Netherlands . Its theme was ‘seizing the day, crossing into the night’, which was challenging and prompted me to design a line that reflects functionality in the form of reversibility. The garment, when worn inside out becomes a completely different outfit, with its own rules of drape, style, fabric and texture, denoting equal importance to both the day and night sides of the garment.