Designer Profile: Rehane Yavar Dhala

From Paris to India, we’re hot on her trails as she takes on (fashion) world domination.
Employing metres of rich fabric and culture-conscious prints while delivering incontestably beautiful and feminine clothing with sharp-edged sass, it comes as no surprise that Chennai designer Rehane Yavar Dhala is behind one of the most sought-after Indian design labels in the world.

As if straight from a Cinderella-esque French fairytale, Dhala—born in Paris—literally had the fashion world at her fingertips from the time of her birth: Illustrious women’s wear designer Valentino was her next-door neighbour. When she was 17, a fascination and “obsession with all things beautiful” saw Dhala brazenly dropping a few of her sketches into Valentino’s mailbox. Valentino saw great potential in the evidently talented teenager and it is safe for one to assume that the celebrated designer was nothing short of encouraging as Dhala travelled to Rome to attend the European Institute of Design. Soon after, she learned all there is to know about pattern cutting and garment finishing from Italian seamstress Madame Inetti.

Marriage saw the young designer unexpectedly settling down in Chennai, India’s fifth most populous city—where she began garnering more attention from the style-sagacious of Delhi and Mumbai. Dhala aims to design, tailor and create elegant styles that enhance everyday life and her clientele in Chennai reads like a who’s who of the region. The Rehane Yavar Dhala label has graced the body of virtually every beauty who has participated in the Miss India Pageant, an accomplishment that few can boast about.

With the fickle, fast-paced world of fashion, Dhala brings a fresh feel to her garments season after season, decidedly “creating the target market” while drawing on unlikely sources and motivations that act as catalysts for her designs. For her most recent collection, Dhala gleaned inspiration from The Brothers Karamazov, a critically acclaimed Russian novel that has been touted as one of the supreme achievements of literature by such brilliant minds as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. The philosophical and ethical themes of The Brothers Karamazov are abstractly translated into her latest collection, culminating in a cohesive array of fabric, manipulation, prints and silhouettes.

Dhala proves herself as a multi-talented, diverse designer with her latest venture, which sees her branching out with a prêt-a-port line under the Rehane Yavar Dhala label. Catering to a much younger and edgier clientele, the prêt-a-port collection has a light and airy feel to it, with soft punches of colour, bold patterns, and a few skin-flashing fashions; it is as easy to wear as it is ready-to-wear. A lower price point without compromising on workmanship, quality or design has made Dhala’s prêt-a-port line popular with her target market—primarily the Indo-Western population that flocks to the youth-conscious, sharp designs that carry more than a hint of Indian cultural relevance.


Dhala’s drive and deeply-ingrained disposition to succeed has seen the designer constantly challenge herself and branch out into new pursuits. Always eager to go beyond the success of her flourishing label and prêt-a-port line, Dhala is also a regular fixture at the annual Leather Trade Show that takes place in Chennai. She has been producing a line of stylish and practical handbags using hand-crafted, vegetable-tanned leather—an eco-friendly, organic method of curing the leather that employs the use of bark and other materials instead of chemicals, which results in leather with a greater body and firmness than traditionally tanned leather.

The multitude of ventures undertaken make it glaringly obvious that Dhala is uncommonly ambitious, and her plans for the future, which include “world domination” through her designs, leave no quandaries as to the limitless restrictions and unequivocal drive for success that she places upon herself.

Recently, Dhala announced her involvement in the Fashion Show Navarasa in Cochin, which revolves around DAM999, a Hollywood movie that focuses on the lives of nine individuals who each portray a certain emotion.

Each character explains the concept of Navarasa. Essentially the ancient Indian concept of nine emotions, Navarasa will be integrated and explored in Dhala’s show in a contemporary Indian mystique-style.

Having carved out a niche in the Indian design world, Dhala, effortlessly, it seems, has perfected the art of that which is chic, classic-contemporary city-wear, with a connotation of coquettish feminism that borders the lines of girliness. Dhala’s sophisticated and elegant designs have built her a strong base that sees loyal clientele raiding her boutique with each subsequent collection, and, with the Rehane Yavar Dhala label being carried everywhere from New York to Dubai—the flagship store is in Chennai—Dhala is poised to continue her fast-paced climb towards the top, conquering the fashion world with her creative mix of aristocratic, street-savvy designs and hard-working, business-minded drive to achieve.

BY: JACQUELINE PARRISH / PUBLISHED: MARCH/APRIL 2010
(PHOTOS COURTESY OF REHANE YAVAR DHALA)

[1]

[2]