Dabiri

In 2000-01, Divya Bindra took an MBA from the Fore School of Management only to realise that her calling lay elsewhere.

In 2000-01, Divya Bindra took an MBA from the Fore School of Management only to realise that her calling lay elsewhere. While a lucrative if somewhat dreary ascent up sundry corporate ladders appealed to the mind, Divya's heart was beating furiously for a passion that had developed since childhood- design, something that she had not formally trained in, but only indulged in as a hobby over the years.

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Her friend Vandana Sawhney on the other hand, learnt design in New York at Nassau College and interned with Givenchy. Returning to Delhi in 1994, she set up a studio cum workshop in the basement of her home in New Friends Colony and embarked on a successful, albeit low-key career as a designer of formalwear to the rich and the famous. Within a few years, demand was far more than she could cope with on her own.

Divya & Vandana had known each other for years, quite unaware of the fortuitous meeting of the minds that was to occur in the Spring of 2001 that resulted almost instantaneously, in the birth of their label "Dabiri".

Dabiri, derived from the Arabic means "the Golden Thread" and the name is evocative of the exquisite traditional embroidery that the duo incorporate in their creations - Zardozi, Lakhnavi Chikankari and Zari. Dabiri's niche is the very top echelon of Indian couture and consequently its ensembles combine the finest traditional and intricate craftwork & material with modern sensibilities in cut, colour and fabric.

Dabiri made its debut at the India Fashion Week in 2004.