It begins with a still image in Rimple Narula’s mind: a woman alone in an artist’s studio, sunlight diffused through dusty panes, surrounded by the patina of old furniture, dog-eared books, unfinished canvases and silence. From that moment of stillness bloomed Muse in the Studio, Rimple & Harpreet’s latest campaign, a sumptuous blend of costume and couture, starring Wamiqa Gabbi in the role of a 1960s diplomat’s wife. Shot like a lost reel from a European art-house classic, the story unfolds in layered tableaux of solitude, identity, and longing. Styled by Rimple herself, Wamiqa is draped in sequinned saris that catch the light like whispered secrets, lehengas that borrow the delicacy of European lace, and hand-embroidered jackets paired with vintage Victorian accessories. Each look is an echo of another time, yet, somehow, utterly of the now.
“We imagined a woman stationed in Europe in the ’60s,” Rimple says. “How she would mix high collars and lace with Indian silhouettes, how Victorian pleats and soft necklines could be woven into our embroidery and fabrics. Wamiqa didn’t just model the clothes; she inhabited the woman we had dreamt up. She made her breathe.” The duo’s signatures—painstaking embroidery, storytelling silhouettes, and a fierce loyalty to historical detail—are here, but refracted through a more intimate lens. Having cut their teeth designing for Padmaavat, Heeramandi, and now Ramayan, Rimple & Harpreet know how to make garments read across time and screen. Some projects demand over a year of research “The visual language has to seduce the camera and still stay true to the period,” Rimple explains.
That is the magic of Muse in the Studio: a wardrobe that slips between centuries without losing its soul. In the closing frame, Wamiqa sits by a half-finished canvas, sequins glinting faintly in the afternoon light, the room thick with unspoken stories. For Rimple & Harpreet, it’s not just a campaign—it’s a love letter to the women who live in the liminal space between recall and longing.
