‘You can have four tailors in your garage and become a designer’: Tina Tahiliani

With Ensemble completing 35 years, Tina Tahiliani Parikh shares her rulebook on surviving fashion retail in India

For 35 years now, Tina Tahiliani Parikh, has been identifying and mentoring new talent, curating collections and ensuring that Ensemble stays ahead of the curve. The last few years, especially, have seen her take luxury retail online, flirt with social media, and brave the pandemic, all the while scouting new designers. Some of the country’s biggest fashion names started their fashion journey with Ensemble, but she discounts as myth that one must be a fashion week designer to make it.

“Honestly, our raison d’etre is to find and promote new design talent and I’m proud to say that 80% of India’s designers were launched at our Kala Ghoda store. Pre fashion weeks, we used to go out and search for new talent on our own. Fashion week, of course, made things easier. But I find it more exciting to look for talent who don’t have the bandwidth to be at such an event,” quips Parikh, who is in her 50s.

“I distinctly remember my first sight of Tina. I was straight out of college and working with Tarun. She came across as an unbelievable force of energy in a crisp white button down shirt paired with high-waist pants and brilliant high heels. That’s the memory I’ll always have”Amit Aggarwal

In fact, many of her recent discoveries — whether it is Kshitij Jalori or Karan Torani — were identified this way. “They’ve never been to fashion week and we’ve found them. A part of our job is to keep exploring and we work with designers even in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh,” she adds.

Instagram discoveries: With Instagram and designers unveiling their look books there, it’s so easy to launch oneself. “Very often pictures are deceptive. We definitely look for an original point of view and are constantly being approached by designers who’ve worked with established names. We understand that their first collection is likely to be influenced by who they’ve worked with, but we keep a very strong eye. We look for fit, quality and finish.

Many things look beautiful on the hanger, but they don’t fit right on the body. Funnily enough, it is very easy to become a designer in India today but sustaining oneself is the real challenge. Honestly, you can have four tailors in your garage in Delhi and become a designer. We look for people who have the thumbprint of what their brand stands for, but are able to move forward and innovate, and who are committed and consistent. It’s a tough industry,” she notes.

Battling plagiarism: “It has happened once or twice when a designer has reached out to me saying, ‘I have seen this garment on your Instagram and this aspect of this garment resembles what I did’ and I have always gone and spoken to the designer and worked around it,” she says.