For centuries, love has been written, remembered and reimagined through stories, poetry, cinema and art. For Aisha Rao, it became the emotional starting point for Priyasi, unveiled at Hyundai India Couture Week 2026. Far from a straightforward ode to romance, the collection traces love through the different stages of growing affection. Through signature appliqué, sculptural corsetry and intricate handwork, Rao translates an intangible feeling into a visual language of its own.
Rao found herself returning to stories that had stayed with her, from Pride and Prejudice and Out of Africa to Anna Karenina. Rather than borrowing from their narratives, she was drawn to the emotions they evoked. “What stayed with me from these stories was often a feeling, an image or a particular way of seeing love, rather than the narrative itself,” she explains.
The collection opens in black, with mesh and black tulips capturing the ache of Longing. The palette moves through champagne and ivory before unfolding into purples, burnt oranges, reds and dodger blues. “The colour progression was consciously designed to mirror the three emotional forms of Priyasi: Longing, Union and Remembrance,” shares Rao. Even the soundtrack follows this progression, carrying the story from one emotion to the next.
Corsetry, central to Rao’s vocabulary, takes on a new dimension as sculptural forms meet contemporary Indian silhouettes, balancing structure with fluidity. “For me, an empowering garment is one that gives the wearer a sense of presence without making the wearer feel confined by the design,” she says. In Priyasi, love becomes less a subject to be dressed and more an emotion experienced through every silhouette.
That sensibility continues through the surface work, where appliqué meets aari, zardozi and macramé. Flowers emerge as recurring motifs, bringing tenderness and yearning into the collection, while the interplay of techniques gives each piece its own rhythm.
Experimentation extends to the materials, with Rao’s atelier developing BioResham and BioBadla from textile remnants and thread offcuts, transforming discarded matter into textiles with distinctive texture and character.
That individuality extends to the modern bride, for whom tradition is increasingly personal. “The idea of bridal dressing is becoming much more personal, where the garment has to reflect the woman wearing it rather than simply fulfil an established idea of what a bride should look like,” she says.
Perhaps that is Priyasi’s most resonant idea: not to just understand love but the people experiencing the emotion in its full capacity.. In Rao’s hands, romance becomes an emotion translated into movement, texture and moments designed to linger and be remembered.
