Huemn may be his alter ego, but the designer behind it calls himself a storyteller, who loves the possibilities of what denim can do; this season, he takes on a new journey by recycling creating invigorating landscapes in his anti-fit everything.
By Asmita Aggarwal
There is a huge conundrum between Pranav Mishra, the poet, and fashion designer of the rebellious brand Huemn, even though he says rather vociferously, he doesn’t identify with the latter. He has, in every interview, been repeatedly saying that creation is an “accidental process”, he only mirrors what he sees around him. Any poem, film or even collection, a creative entity comes alive when like a “child you let it go”, he doesn’t fit his oeuvre into a box of mood boards or theme, leaves it free-flowing. “It is a spontaneous process, just like I write phrases,” says Pranav.
It is 12 years of the label, he started with Shyama Shetty, NIFT graduates, who now has taken over a different role—of a mother, wife though the Thailand-basen designer remains a stakeholder as well as advisor to Huemn. Pranav is not fazed by her absence, in fact he believes she is “omnipresent”. Fashion has changed though, “earlier there were many ‘gatekeepers’, Covid has altered the fabric, internet rules, and passion helps,” he explains.
Diversification is the key, he admits Huemn was one of the first few to show sneakers on the catwalk way back in 2013, “we didn’t see our clothes being paired with uncomfortable shoes.” Lays was his most recent collaboration (they also tied up with Balenciaga last year), then Royal Enfield and Pepsi (which earlier associated with Alexander Wang). “It was interesting to work with corporates, understand how they think, as well as design something other than clothing,” he confesses. The result is you get more disciplined with any partnership, also it’s an opportunity to reach out to a newer audience.
The only difference he sees when he works in fashion is the pace, which gets accelerated, as you are building something, “it’s a two-way street, someone is going to buy your product, I feel a sense of urgency to create a market,” he smiles. But when he is writing poetry, no sale is involved. No filter, just him and words, it’s free, the audience can like or discard it, it doesn’t matter even if he is trolled.
He has loved literature, especially mid-19th century writers, but Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet has been most impactful in his life. “Can’t be friends with them, would have liked to, they are gone, but the only way to establish a relationship is to bond through their writings. It is like talking to my friends, four out of five will engage, one will just observe,” he laughs, adding, “Rilke mentally stimulates me, just like Charles Bukowski was a German-American poet.” He “shook” Pranav, the more he read, the more desperate he got to learn, and his design is an amalgamation of what he personally encountered in life.
“I can’t say my collections are inspired by butterflies or Turkey, we don’t interpret, we allow the audience to deduce and feel,” he admits. This year for LFWX FDC, he has tied up with RRelan, sustainable, recycled fabrics were used, also in some ways limiting him, even though the brand is popular for its avant-garde denim, especially the hand made one launched in 2022, with a seven-step wash, to give textures, leaving you to wonder if it is a print? He doesn’t believe in machine-made, thus his blood-plasma textures look alive, surfaces excite him, landscapes are a favourite, which he also did in his Kashmir line, a few years ago.
Endless scrolling on the internet has created a bigger appetite for fashion, design now, he says is a part of our lifestyle, everyday life is now an “occasion”. If you want to watch a film, you want to look good, it’s not just about dressing up for a friend’s wedding. “You won’t wear a lehenga for a concert, you will try a denim, nicely cut, we fill that vacuum,” he says.
He agrees rather candidly, “he had to work on himself”. The entrepreneurial journey humbled him, “we can’t do things alone, team is important, there is no hand holding, each one contributes and is a stakeholder, I have lost my arrogance,” he confides. “I’m a storyteller, not a fashion designer, objective till today is not to create clothes. Only when we have something to say we show at LFW, after two years we are back on the catwalk,” he says.
His first encounter with fashion was watching his late father, a published poet, dressed in crisp, white kurtas in the city of nawabs-Lucknow, “I wanted to be as sophisticated as him, soft spoken, funny and magnetic, I often debated how I should drape my shawl like him,” he concludes.