Rahul Mishra — "Devi: The Eternal Muse"

First Indian designer ever invited onto the couture calendar, and instead of costume-nostalgia he built trompe-l'œil embroidery dense enough to read as carved basalt — Ajanta Caves apsaras walking in featherweight zardozi and dabka, a Tanishq collab standing in for the jewellery that once did all the talking on stone bodies wearing no cloth at all. Cardi B and Isha Ambani in the front row turned it into the season's most-searched show, but the substance was already there before the search traffic. Rare case of the room being exactly right.