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Rina Dhaka (left) has been referred to as the Gaultier of the East but she walks tall in her own shoes. 30 | FDD | september 2013
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explorer Rina Dhaka loves to discover places, flavours, designs, styles and fabrics. And it is this spirit of adventure that adds life to her designs
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Interviewed by Sapna Khanna esigner Rina Dhaka made a grand entry into the Indian fashion scene in the late eighties when one of her designs for the Miss India event caught the eye of the respected pioneer of Indian fashion—Rohit Khosla. Encouraged by appreciation from him, Dhaka went on to claim her own ground. She has stood firm and continued to climb the ladder to success ever since. Her lines of clothing are best known for their high powered oomph and style; and simultaneously for being grounded and wearable. Known for her theme collections in western wear – sheer trousers, crochet, and stretch jersey, woollens and spider web motifs, Dhaka takes pride in the fact that her designs can be worn as single pieces. A recipient of the Yuv Ratan Award for her contribution to the fashion industry, in 1993, Dhaka was one of the most promising names to have emerged in the industry then. And she did deliver high — a glittering jury that comprised Michael Fink of Saks and Fern Mallis of IMG among others declared her collection for Milan to be the best at India Fashion Week. And she also won the best designer Award at Miami Fashion Week in 2005. High-profile names like Naomi Campbell, Martha Marzotto, Fern Mallis, Uma Thurman, Tara Palmer Tomkinson and Vittorio Radice have graced her client list. Dhaka has gone on to show her work in Paris, New York, London, Mauritius, South Africa, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and the US, and been a bestseller at the Bollywood promotion at Selfridges. She has even done a fund-raiser for Bill Clinton in the US. And when BBC chose to do a story about India’s new faces, they chose Dhaka and referred to her as the Gaultier of the East. Even as the style connoisseur has been going around the country for FOX Traveller’s fashion-related travel show Style And The City, Dhaka shares her future plans and her take on fashion among other things in a candid conversation. Excerpts from an interview:
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Define the signature style of Rina Dhaka. My clothes are modern, free spirited and yet a synthesis of traditional textiles and craft forms. I combine tradition, a little bit of India with dynamic demand of contemporary style needs. Most of my work is hand done. I always do extensive research for my collection. I travel, explore local markets, meet weavers, visit historic places, try out local cuisines and try to bring the flavour of a state in my collections. You are one Indian designer whose forte has remained wearable western wear that is high on the style quotient. A feat, considering most designers feel compelled to move the focus into the Indian wear segment sooner or later. You have created a niche for your label. My western wear is simply an extension of all that I have grown up wearing. I combine research with skills of trade, forecasts, time and season’s requirements, and create clothing that can be worn anywhere on earth. That said, I do have an elaborate Indian wear line. My store in Emporia Mall (Delhi) sells mostly traditional clothing. What has been the turning point in your career as a fashion designer? How did it impact your approach as a design professional? At the beginning of the nineties, I created the Lycra churidaar, which became more than just a style statement. It became a clothing item. You cannot hold on to your patent design five years later. So, many went on to manufacture it. My trade borrowed it from me and mass produced it. I actually feel good about it. The fact that I created something that became a wardrobe essential gave me a huge boost. When you started out, there were a handful of fashion designers. With an influx now, do you think that fashion labels have lost the edge, and it has diluted the aspirational value? It is an advantage as well as a disadvantage, but more so the former. While there were few of us who were in the spotlight, we enjoyed the exclusivity, but now with thousands aspiring to join the industry and doing so, it created designer wear as a segment. The chaos may increase and, in future, there will be a point where the situation might reach a climax. But the market will correct itself. Some will survive and some may fall out. Presently though, a better market has been created, and fashion has enough job-oriented programmes.
No one quite does it like Dhaka with every rendition of the same old black conveying posh and spice.
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What is your next season’s collection all about? Styles, fabrics, cuts, colours...give us the highlights. My Autumn Winter 2013 collection illustrates contemporary style even as the design cultivation delves into ancestral Indian textiles. For ingenuity, these have been scanned to create digital prints for the fabrics with cultivated patterns. The ensembles feature straight shifts and drop waist silhouettes, the popular empire and A-line dresses with black as the reigning colour. The chiffons, georgettes, organzas and stretch fabrics are festooned with prints of monochrome paisley, red and yellow ikat, tweed and honeycomb. The styles are up front, edgy and modern with a nineties vibe, resonant of the classic pizzazz and oomph that I enjoy capturing in my clothes. The contemporary dresses with a puff organza sleeves are also reminiscent of the nineties. I have used subtle colour blends of gray, maroon, black, and black and white. It’s a season of looking back as much as celebrating the present. Which stores are you retailing out of across the country? What is the retail format? Any exclusive stores planned? I have my own exclusive store in Delhi. I crave to find a similar space in Mumbai as well and hope to do so by next Spring Summer season. We are going all over the country with Karmik, Kimaya’s lower prêt a porter segment. I also prefer to do small exhibitions at key stores in cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. What are the challenges that you have faced in this business? My main issue is having enough orders on my seasonal designs. We are organised in manufacturing business, and good enough in small scale sampling business. The middles don’t work for me, I have come to realise over
“I created the Lycra churidaar, which became more than just a style. It became a wardrobe essential.”
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Rina Dhaka does an elaborate Indian wear line with her signature intact on styles. 34 | FDD | september 2013
“my main issue is having enough orders on my seasonal designs.”
the years. So I don’t want to move into that category as we tend to lose terrible amounts of money; it is a huge loss. But the stores I sell to must have an organised format of buying. If they do not have that, then for us to supply at our own manufacturing cost is hard and unaffordable, at least for a person in my position. I wouldn’t do that. Where can one find your line internationally? Internationally, my lines are available at Selfridges-London, Coin-Italy and Lord and Taylor-New York. I also sell Indian wear in stand-alone Indian stores in areas with large population of NRIs in USA, Europe, Japan. Would you like to share any interesting episode that comes to your mind with any of your international celebrity customers? Well there is this one time when I was at Marrakech. And I was invited by Naomi Campbell and John Galliano was there. All of Naomi’s friends, who were international celebrities, were also present. And Naomi announced that she wanted to wear my design, a low-cut gown. For me, it was a memorable moment, and I had even gone red in the face.
Dhaka’s love for the sheer and sassy comes through her designs.
What’s your vision and future plans for your label—from where you stand today? It’s really about the daily fire-fighting that happens at work, and that takes away a lot of your time. I guess I need to take a sabbatical for at least 30 days and focus exclusively on organising the system, and archiving everything in a format, ready for quick and easy access. It is totally possible and in fact a reality in today’s world. Plus, there is so much to learn from younger designers. But at the moment, I am not thinking any more than this. I have lots of ideas that I need to put on paper and harness though. We need an organised retail system, an organised distribution system in India and abroad with our international alliances. Either to expand or downsize, both are dangerous propositions. For me personally, at this point of time, when one of my sons is 18 and the other in class 10, I need to figure if I am ready to expand and deal with more of the fire-fighting or focus on organising and archiving what I have already created. I guess for another two years, I want to stay exactly where I am.
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