Where couture meets consciousness: Rahul Mishra’s timeless ode to the fourth dimension in Tesseract

Over a decade ago, Rahul Mishra realised that the skilled touch of human hands added the fourth dimension to design, and showcased an entire collection based on that epiphany. It was only befitting, then, that his intricately hand-crafted couture ensembles played a prominent role in Tesseract - The Geometry of Truth, Meera Jain’s fabulously conceptualised show at the NCPA that also focused on the importance of fourth dimension in the life we humans have fashioned.

It is not often that couture is seamlessly woven into the concept of a stage production, much less one with as layered a concept as Tesseract. The models were not merely sashaying across a proscenium to add glamour to an already dazzling animated backdrop and dramatic costumes. They were a reminder that nature’s creations, so evocatively transposed into tailored elegance by Mishra, also signify the silent fourth dimension to anything caused by human agency.

The ten gowns, selected from diverse couture collections, show that Mishra’s oeuvre is redolent of the invisible yet intelligible, beautifully articulated through cloth, thread, embellishments—and the unseen ‘petites mains’ or skilled hands. He has been alluding to the phenomenon epitomised by the tesseract in the world of couture, using his hand-crafted creations inspired by nature to protest at multiple levels against the solipsism of humankind and call for empathy.

From the ephemeral pull of the Moon—La Lune—to the invisible but inexorable tides that sustain the lush mangroves—Sundarbans—each creation’s name points to the multi-dimensional world we all live in. Indeed, by naming one of his ensembles Cosmic Titan—usually a phrase referencing Hyperion, the galaxy proto-supercluster that remained undetected until very recently—he underscores that there are gigantic hidden dimensions even in the black vastness of space.

And the two abstract gowns titled Emanating Aura also point to the extra dimension, even in something far smaller and more intimate: the 3D form that we call our physical body; science now affirms what our seers have known. The mighty and long-lived Baobab, standing as the visible element at the intersection of time, space and memory, also symbolises a fourth dimension. Thus, Mishra’s creations bearing that name are perfectly in sync with the show’s concept.

Some believe the poppy symbolises a deeper emotional state beyond the 3D composition of the world. Mishra’s Golden Poppies gowns thus reiterate the realisation of Sofia and her alter-ego in Tesseract - The Geometry of Truth that empathy must be the human(e) fourth dimension in all that we do, even as artificial intelligence assumes a bigger role. That axiom would surely be endorsed by Mishra, whose canon of couture also strives to express the same truth.