Ritu Kumar

Ritu Kumar
Ritu Kumar (left) with Anushka Sharma at the launch of Kumar's flagship store
NationalityIndian
EducationBriarcliff College New York
Lady Irwin College Delhi
OccupationFashion designer
Label(s)
'Ritu Kumar', 'Ri', 'Ritu Kumar Home' and 'LABEL Ritu Kumar
ChildrenAshvin Kumar Amrish Kumar
AwardsPadma Shri 2013

Ritu Kumar is an Indian fashion designer.

Early life and education

The lack of educational opportunities there led her to move to Simla for her schooling, where she attended Loreto Convent. She later studied at Lady Irwin College, where she met and married Shashi Kumar, and then went on to accept a scholarship at Briarcliff College in New York, where she studied Art History.[1] On returning to India, she studied museology at the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art, part of the University of Calcutta.[2] Her son is Oscar nominated director, Ashvin Kumar.

Career

Kumar began her fashion business in Kolkata, using two small tables and hand-block printing techniques. Beginning with bridal wear and evening clothes in the 1960s and 70s, she eventually moved into the international market in the subsequent two decades.[3] As well as shops in India, Kumar's company has also opened branches in Paris, London and New York. The London branch closed after three years, in 1999. Her company's annual turnover at the time was the highest of any Indian fashion outlet, estimated at around ₹10 billion.[4][5] In 2002 she launched the "Label" line in partnership with her son Amrish.[6] Kumar discusses her career at length in a recent interview for the Creating Emerging Markets project at the Harvard Business School, beginning with how she first broke into the Paris and New York fashion houses and department stores in the 1970s.[7][8][9]

Designs

Kumar's designs focus on natural fabrics and traditional printing and weaving techniques.[5] She has also included Western elements in her work,[3] but has generally not innovated beyond traditional sari designs.[10] Her clothes have been worn by celebrities such as Princess Diana, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Deepika Padukone, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Madhur Jaffrey, Kalki Koechlin, Dia Mirza, Soha Ali Khan and Jemima Goldsmith.[4][11][12]

Website

The domain ritukumar.com attracted 1,658,109 users in the year 2019. The company has also invested on server to handle excessive traffic during wedding seasons in India. The website of Ritu Kumar is designed by Digital Impressions.[13]

Awards & Recognition

In 2013 she was given the Padma Shri award by the Government of India.[14]

She won the Achievement Award in 2012 at L’oreal Paris Femina Women’s Awards.[15]

References
  1. "All About Ritu Kumar Fashion Designer in India". Utsavpedia. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  2. Garg, Nikshubha. "Meet Ritu Kumar, the doyen of Indian haute couture". Mid-Day. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  3. J. Michael Finger; Philip Schuler (23 January 2004). Poor People's Knowledge: Promoting Intellectual Property in Developing Countries. World Bank Publications. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8213-8369-8.
  4. Parminder Bhachu (5 October 2005). Dangerous Designs: Asian Women Fashion the Diaspora Economies. Routledge. pp. 68–69. ISBN 1-134-90863-6.
  5. Hindol Sengupta (2009). Ramp Up. Pearson Education India. pp. 158–162. ISBN 978-81-317-1974-9.
  6. Jill Bryant (2010). Dazzling Women Designers. Second Story Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-897187-82-1.
  7. "Interview with Ritu Kumar". Creating Emerging Markets. Harvard Business School.
  8. "Ritu Kumar Gets Featured in Harvard Business School Study". Life and Trendz. 8 August 2015.
  9. "Doing Good By Doing Business - Creating Emerging Markets" on YouTube
  10. Indian Essentials. Penguin Books India. 1 January 2010. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-14-306526-5.
  11. "Kalki Koechlin shoots for Label Ritu Kumar's new campaign". 4 August 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  12. "10 times Bollywood chose Ritu Kumar wedding wear". VOGUE India. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  13. "Ritu Kumar - Ecommerce Website by Digital Impressions". Digital Impressions - Ecommerce website development. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  14. McLaughlin-Duane, Rebecca (1 June 2015). "Indian celebrity designer Ritu Kumar unveils new collection in Dubai". The National. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  15. "All About Ritu Kumar Fashion Designer in India". Utsavpedia. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2020.

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