RITU KUMAR: Fashion, a tradition in itself!

“Fashions Fade, Style is eternal”, expresses best the Designs of the Indian fashion Mogul Ritu Kumar. Born in Amritsar, November 11, 1944, this woman made foray into the Indian Fashion Industry with her enigmatic Traditional designs. Today, with all the fame and fortune in her hands, an interesting and strong educational background can be seen; pursued a Post Graduate Diploma in Museology, 1967, Ashutosh Museum, Calcutta Associate in Arts, 1966, Briarcliff College, Westchester County, NY, USA, Bachelor of Education. 1965, Lady Irwin College, New Delhi and Bachelor of Science in Home Economics, 1964, Lady Irwin College, New Delhi. Today besides a number of Awards like Lifetime Achievement Award set by NIFT Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur Award by PHDCC
Lifetime achievement award at the Kingfisher Fashion Fantasia, July 2000 in Bangalore, She heads her own company ‘Ritka Pvt. Ltd.’ And has established 13 boutiques in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Amritsar and Chandigarh. Success definitely comes from hard work and nothing is impossible, well, this sums up the history of her Journey until today. It was in a small Village near Calcutta where she started her Block printers and two tables, from then there was no looking back. Gradually the magic began, when she with her team of workers began to step out of the shell and experimented to produce some of the country’s most exquisite garments and accessories in cotton, silk and leather embrace both traditional textile crafts and the lineage of Indian design. After discovering the fact that India could well compete on its own with the International Fashion and can beat them too, Ritu Kumar and her group brought out the creativity deep within the roots of India. With a completely somber approach, she dedicated her efforts to give a new face to the Fashion overtly in the Indian context. Her discovery that India has abundance of unique skills and plethora of talent that she succeeded and proved that handmade work can also be more glamorous, profitable than the machine made ones. Her own style being essentially traditional, she threw light on depth of the craft and heritage of the nation. In today’s date, Ritu Kumar is recognized not just a fashion Label, but rather an Identity of Our Nation and Indian Fashion Fraternity. Her USP lies in the authentic and exquisite designs that are traditional in nature.
Besides her basic Traditional Designs of Saris, suits wedding Lozenges, she also evolved a completely new set of Designs which can be said a blend of tradition and modernity. Especially to suit the western buyer these designs complimented the use of crafts, block prints, and our famous embroidery on the western outfits. Ritu has had the honor of designing the Wardrobes of winning three Miss India’s, for their participation in the International beauty pageants (Miss Universe, Miss World & Miss Asia pacific respectively).
The eloquent and precious collections of Ritu Kumar comprises of; ‘Zardozi’, ‘Kashida’, ‘Karabagh’, ‘Sangmarmar’….to name few draw there inspiration from the roots of India, its villages and its tradition. For instance her collection of ‘zardozi’, comes from a small village of Ranihati near Kolkatta. Courtesy Ritu Kumar and today this is a widely used and appreciated technique around the world. The designs of Ritu Kumar define the essence of India ness and celebrate it in its entire entirety.
Ritu Kumar is all-famous for her beautiful Bridal collection. Besides this her Kathan works, embroidered bags and accessories are created to sooth feminine senses. Today she is a leading designer, who has also the author of Costumes and Textiles of Royal India’ published by Christie’s, London. She is the one, for whom sky is the Limit.


SOURCES: INTERNET
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