On the night of October 24, Abhinav Mishra took Delhi into the forest. In the lush greens of Chhatarpur, the trees above the runway glowed gold and green, a soft haze drifted between the branches, and a herd of terracotta deer stood among the hedges, watching the show with us. This was INTO THE WILD 2026, the designer's annual couture showcase, and it was one of the most beautiful evenings of the season.
Abhinav Mishra is the master of the mirror. Mirror work comes from the embroidery traditions of Kutch and Rajasthan, where small discs of glass were stitched into cloth to catch the lamplight. Mishra took that craft and made it the language of a whole generation of Indian brides. Since launching his label in 2017, he has made the mirror so completely his own that a single turn of a lehenga tells you whose atelier it came from. He is, quite simply, Indian couture's man in the mirror.
For INTO THE WILD, he carried that mirror into the forest, and the result was pure magic.
Midnight, in Mirror
That magic found its most luminous moment in Kriti Sanon, the evening's showstopper muse. She closed the show in a classic black Abhinav Mishra mirror-work lehenga crafted in Neo-Tech fabric, and the whole forest seemed to hold its breath. Silver mirrors climb the skirt in a diamond lattice at the hip, then loosen into flowing motifs and fall away at the hem in long, flame-like shards that flicker as she moves. A plunging silver-beaded blouse sits beneath a sheer black cape strung with diagonal lines of tiny mirrors, so every step sends a fine rain of light down her arms and onto the floor. An emerald kundan choker and stacks of green glass bangles add a beautiful old-world grandeur.
In a collection about light, the darkest look shone the brightest, and against the night trees she looked like the moon making its way through the woods. The pairing has a lovely history. Kriti has worn Mishra's creations at her sister's wedding, in films and for special appearances, and he has long admired the confidence and individuality she brings to fashion. On this runway, she was every inch the fearless modern bride INTO THE WILD was made for.
A Forest Built to Catch the Light
Mishra began his creative life in wedding décor at Rani Pink, the events house he remains closely tied to, and it shows in how completely he builds a world. Rani Pink's in-house team turned the lawns into a moonlit wilderness. Monumental deer stood on hedged islands and rested in the grass, their antlers growing into real branches, bare and silver, that reached up to meet the canopy. Moss olive, forest green and deep chocolate set the mood. Firefly projections drifted across the runway, and if you look closely at the photographs, you can still see them, tiny flecks of gold floating behind the models like pollen in the air.
The whole set was quietly designed for one thing: to give the mirrors something to answer. Spotlights fell through the leaves in soft dapples, and every look that walked beneath them caught the glow and threw it back.
Sage, Sunset and Solid Gold
The collection draws on animals, organic forms and the spirit of exploration. Lehengas sit at its heart, surrounded by trench coats, high-collared jackets, capes, corsets, kaftans and even crop T-shirts, and the palette moves from forest olive and sage through rich reds to black. Three pieces told the story best.
The first was a lehenga in pale sage tulle, the colour of new leaves under moonlight. Mishra built it in bands. A wide zigzag of gold Zardozi rosettes circles the hip, the skirt opens into clear, airy tulle, and then the hem erupts into dense starbursts of gold thread set with mirrors, cut in shards and rounds, so the shine gathers exactly where the skirt moves most. A plunging sweetheart blouse carries its own constellation of mirrors, and a sheer sage dupatta slung low across the arms keeps everything light. It is a lehenga for the bride who wants to look as if she grew out of the forest floor.
Then came the colour. An ivory lehenga arrived covered in what looked like an heirloom carpet: medallions and geometric florals in coral, saffron, rust and slate blue, each motif outlined in gold and studded with mirrors. A waistband of square mirrors sat at the hip like a jewelled belt, a draped gold bustier in fine beaded strands caught the light at the neckline, and a mirror-edged dupatta fell from one shoulder. With a maang tikka and teardrop earrings, it read like sunset over the jungle, all warmth and glow.
And then, pure spectacle. A gold corset on fine spaghetti straps, studded with mirrors, flowed into a ballgown skirt so full that it swept the runway with every turn. Sequins ran down it in long vertical streams, the mirrors grew denser towards the hem, and by the time the light reached the floor the entire skirt was shimmering. Worn with an emerald and pearl choker and a cloud of curls, it made the night's most glorious case that a lehenga and a gown can be one and the same thing.
The Forest Sings
Mishra directs the music of every show himself, and his soundtracks have earned a following of their own. For INTO THE WILD, he worked with ANHAD & TANNER on a cinematic score of layered vocals and evolving rhythms, threaded through with the sounds of the wild, so the music seemed to rise out of the trees.
The runway felt like a gathering of the house's closest circle. Designer Varun Bahl, a dear friend of Mishra's, walked the show, a generous and joyful gesture between two of Delhi's great couturiers. Taiwanese pop icon Cheng Chang Fan, creators Mannat Sandhu and Mohak Narang, and models Sheetal Mallar, Archana Akhil Kumar, Alicia Kaur and Kanika Dev joined him, each carrying the collection with their own spirit.
A House That Builds Worlds
Indian fashion has a small club of labels that understand a brand as a universe, and Abhinav Mishra has been a member from the start. Shrine, One Love, Tribe, Baradari, The Queen's Palace: each collection has arrived as a fully imagined place, with its own music, its own mood and its own reason to exist. In under a decade, the label has grown from a Delhi atelier into a house that retails across more than 45 countries, and the mirror has travelled with it everywhere.
"INTO THE WILD is inspired by animals, nature and the feeling of freedom," Mishra says. "I wanted to bring that spirit into Indian bridalwear." That is exactly what he delivered. The craft is centuries old, the energy is brand new, and the bride at the centre of it all is free to roam.
One season a palace, the next a tribe, this year a forest. Wherever the man in the mirror goes next, the rest of us will follow the light.
TO BE CONTINUED, FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.
This is where the surface ends and the reporting begins.
The complete piece, the full archive, and access to The French Press Circle. Reporting answerable only to its readers.
Already a subscriber ?
Login
Read these on the house, with our compliments.
A selection from the current issue, open to all readers. Read them in full. The rest is one decision away.
On the night of October 24, Abhinav Mishra took Delhi into the forest. In the lush greens of Chhatarpur, the trees above the runway glowed gold and green, a soft haze drifted between the branches, and a herd of terracotta deer stood among the hedges, watching the show with us. This was INTO THE WILD 2026, the designer's annual couture showcase, and it was one of the most beautiful evenings of the season.
Abhinav Mishra is the master of the mirror. Mirror work comes from the embroidery traditions of Kutch and Rajasthan, where small discs of glass were stitched into cloth to catch the lamplight. Mishra took that craft and made it the language of a whole generation of Indian brides. Since launching his label in 2017, he has made the mirror so completely his own that a single turn of a lehenga tells you whose atelier it came from. He is, quite simply, Indian couture's man in the mirror.
For INTO THE WILD, he carried that mirror into the forest, and the result was pure magic.
Midnight, in Mirror
That magic found its most luminous moment in Kriti Sanon, the evening's showstopper muse. She closed the show in a classic black Abhinav Mishra mirror-work lehenga crafted in Neo-Tech fabric, and the whole forest seemed to hold its breath. Silver mirrors climb the skirt in a diamond lattice at the hip, then loosen into flowing motifs and fall away at the hem in long, flame-like shards that flicker as she moves. A plunging silver-beaded blouse sits beneath a sheer black cape strung with diagonal lines of tiny mirrors, so every step sends a fine rain of light down her arms and onto the floor. An emerald kundan choker and stacks of green glass bangles add a beautiful old-world grandeur.
In a collection about light, the darkest look shone the brightest, and against the night trees she looked like the moon making its way through the woods. The pairing has a lovely history. Kriti has worn Mishra's creations at her sister's wedding, in films and for special appearances, and he has long admired the confidence and individuality she brings to fashion. On this runway, she was every inch the fearless modern bride INTO THE WILD was made for.
A Forest Built to Catch the Light
Mishra began his creative life in wedding décor at Rani Pink, the events house he remains closely tied to, and it shows in how completely he builds a world. Rani Pink's in-house team turned the lawns into a moonlit wilderness. Monumental deer stood on hedged islands and rested in the grass, their antlers growing into real branches, bare and silver, that reached up to meet the canopy. Moss olive, forest green and deep chocolate set the mood. Firefly projections drifted across the runway, and if you look closely at the photographs, you can still see them, tiny flecks of gold floating behind the models like pollen in the air.
The whole set was quietly designed for one thing: to give the mirrors something to answer. Spotlights fell through the leaves in soft dapples, and every look that walked beneath them caught the glow and threw it back.
Sage, Sunset and Solid Gold
The collection draws on animals, organic forms and the spirit of exploration. Lehengas sit at its heart, surrounded by trench coats, high-collared jackets, capes, corsets, kaftans and even crop T-shirts, and the palette moves from forest olive and sage through rich reds to black. Three pieces told the story best.
The first was a lehenga in pale sage tulle, the colour of new leaves under moonlight. Mishra built it in bands. A wide zigzag of gold Zardozi rosettes circles the hip, the skirt opens into clear, airy tulle, and then the hem erupts into dense starbursts of gold thread set with mirrors, cut in shards and rounds, so the shine gathers exactly where the skirt moves most. A plunging sweetheart blouse carries its own constellation of mirrors, and a sheer sage dupatta slung low across the arms keeps everything light. It is a lehenga for the bride who wants to look as if she grew out of the forest floor.
Then came the colour. An ivory lehenga arrived covered in what looked like an heirloom carpet: medallions and geometric florals in coral, saffron, rust and slate blue, each motif outlined in gold and studded with mirrors. A waistband of square mirrors sat at the hip like a jewelled belt, a draped gold bustier in fine beaded strands caught the light at the neckline, and a mirror-edged dupatta fell from one shoulder. With a maang tikka and teardrop earrings, it read like sunset over the jungle, all warmth and glow.
And then, pure spectacle. A gold corset on fine spaghetti straps, studded with mirrors, flowed into a ballgown skirt so full that it swept the runway with every turn. Sequins ran down it in long vertical streams, the mirrors grew denser towards the hem, and by the time the light reached the floor the entire skirt was shimmering. Worn with an emerald and pearl choker and a cloud of curls, it made the night's most glorious case that a lehenga and a gown can be one and the same thing.
The Forest Sings
Mishra directs the music of every show himself, and his soundtracks have earned a following of their own. For INTO THE WILD, he worked with ANHAD & TANNER on a cinematic score of layered vocals and evolving rhythms, threaded through with the sounds of the wild, so the music seemed to rise out of the trees.
The runway felt like a gathering of the house's closest circle. Designer Varun Bahl, a dear friend of Mishra's, walked the show, a generous and joyful gesture between two of Delhi's great couturiers. Taiwanese pop icon Cheng Chang Fan, creators Mannat Sandhu and Mohak Narang, and models Sheetal Mallar, Archana Akhil Kumar, Alicia Kaur and Kanika Dev joined him, each carrying the collection with their own spirit.
A House That Builds Worlds
Indian fashion has a small club of labels that understand a brand as a universe, and Abhinav Mishra has been a member from the start. Shrine, One Love, Tribe, Baradari, The Queen's Palace: each collection has arrived as a fully imagined place, with its own music, its own mood and its own reason to exist. In under a decade, the label has grown from a Delhi atelier into a house that retails across more than 45 countries, and the mirror has travelled with it everywhere.
"INTO THE WILD is inspired by animals, nature and the feeling of freedom," Mishra says. "I wanted to bring that spirit into Indian bridalwear." That is exactly what he delivered. The craft is centuries old, the energy is brand new, and the bride at the centre of it all is free to roam.
One season a palace, the next a tribe, this year a forest. Wherever the man in the mirror goes next, the rest of us will follow the light.
TO BE CONTINUED, FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.
This is where the surface ends and the reporting begins.
The complete piece, the full archive, and access to The French Press Circle. Reporting answerable only to its readers.
Already a subscriber ?
Login
Read these on the house, with our compliments.
A selection from the current issue, open to all readers. Read them in full. The rest is one decision away.
