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She?s got a flair for innovation
Her fragile countenance belies her mental tenacity. Twenty-six-year-old Lucknow lass Uma Dhirendra is creating waves in the world of fashion. It?s another matter that she is a heart patient. But it was not run of the mill stuff that she intended to do. Uma has taken up exporting Lucknow?s traditional dresses?the gharara and sharara!
Her fragile countenance belies her mental tenacity. Twenty-six-year-old Lucknow lass Uma Dhirendra is creating waves in the world of fashion. It’s another matter that she is a heart patient. But it was not run of the mill stuff that she intended to do. Uma has taken up exporting Lucknow’s traditional dresses—the gharara and sharara! A National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD) graduate Uma’s always been keen on things sartorial and how she could presen t them creatively. She recalls, “When I was a student at Dayanand Inter College, Mahanagar, I was asked to design a costume for Radha on Janamashtami.
Rather than opt for the traditional dress, I went in for the South Indian aadhi sari with a long dupatta in Jaipuri print in dark green and red.”
While still a student at NIFD, she took part in the institute’s various exhibitions.
Although her work was lauded, Dhirendra realised if she wanted to stand out, she’d have to be different. Uma thought of the gharara and sharara that had lost their charm because of lack of innovation to suit modern styles. During one of the expos at NIFD, Uma dispalyed a maroon sharara and garara, for casual wear, with light chikan embroidery. The top was done up with zardosi. Her work stood out. Despite the talent and reasonable success in Mumbai, Uma felt if she had to make a mark for herself in the dog-eat-dog world of fashion designing, she would have to be more creative and aggressive. In the meantime, she started fine tuning her ideas for the gharara and sharara.
“The traditional dresses were quite heavy and made with about six metres of material. I improved upon the original by opting for more acceptable fabric like georgette, tissue, silk, matka silk, chiffon, crepe and very light embroidery,” she says, adding that, “instead of the traditional zari and zardosi work, I opted for sequins, dots, embroidery with silk thread and even settings in stones.” She brought down the gharara to four metres, added pleats and a stole. She widened the colour range as well. Her chance to put her dresses on the international map came when she bagged a contract with a fashion company from the Iranian city of Khorramshahr, Badarmula & Co Pvt Ltd for 8,000 ghararas (worth Rs 22 lakh) and 5,000 shararas (worth Rs 18 lakh). For samples that helped her bag the contract, Uma showcases delicate embroidery of a creeper with dots set in stones and the traditional zari work while the chiffon dupatta was in peach with zari work. With just about seven months to work on the order, Tripathi set about procuring the materials from Mumbai, looking up artistes in Lucknow, getting Banarsi prints done and finally ensuring good stitching.
Badarmula had specified their designs with emphasis on colour green. The consignment once received in Iran was distributed in the country’s leading malls and boutiques. And, contrary to everybody’s expectations, the dresses were a big hit. The Iranian company was also not sure of the response as it was the first time they ordered dresses from Lucknow.
This success saga set the wheels in motion for Tripathi as now she is going to be the company’s Indian partner for the dresses from Lucknow. In December 2007, the company will hold expos in cities of Western Europe and Tripathi has been invited to join them with her shararas and ghararas. Uma is also planning to diversify. The Jaipuri lhenga, churidar and short kurti, parallels, saris et al.
Given hers exuberance, she has a long way to go.
