Indian designer Rahul Mishra wowed audiences at Paris Haute Couture Week with his stunning Fall 2025 collection, inspired by legendary Austrian painter Gustav Klimt.
Klimt’s signature style—golden tones, dreamy faces, and rich symbolism—came alive in 30 beautifully detailed looks that made the models appear like living artworks. Mishra said he was always inspired by Klimt but hadn’t consciously reflected that influence in his designs until now.
“What caught my attention most was how Klimt’s figures rarely looked out at the viewer. Their eyes were closed or looked away, as if they were lost in a different world,” Mishra told Vogue India.
The collection was created using traditional Indian techniques like zardozi and dabka, involving over 2,000 artisans. The opening look—a bold, golden heart-shaped gown with visible veins and a sparkling corset—was especially powerful, symbolizing love and attraction.
Mishra also took inspiration from Sufi philosophy, weaving the seven stages of love—attraction, infatuation, love, trust, worship, madness, and death—into the collection. The designs featured dreamlike gardens, with lotus flowers blooming from bodices and flowing gowns filled with detailed floral embroidery and swirling gold patterns, echoing Klimt’s style.
A standout new collaboration this season was with Stephen Jones, a famous milliner, who created dreamy tulle headpieces that floated like clouds above the models’ heads—part halo, part dream.
Mishra, who won the International Woolmark Prize in 2014 and became the first Indian designer to do so, said this collection expresses more than just beauty. It shows how love and art are both eternal and ever-changing.
“Love stays forever,” Mishra said backstage. But through his designs, he suggested something deeper: like Klimt’s paintings, love is mysterious, layered, and always evolving.
With this magical mix of Indian craftsmanship and Klimt-inspired fantasy, Rahul Mishra reminded the world that fashion can be more than clothing—it can be timeless art.
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