Only 2% of women in Delhi wanted to wear Western outfits in 90s: Payal Jain

I look back at the 90s as a very exciting, challenging and adventurous phase. I started my business late in 1993, so it’s been 30 years for me in the business. I did my retrospective last year. Delhi is a completely different place than what it used to be then – some things have changed for good and some good parts we have lost in the last few years. Fashion scene has completely changed. It was almost non-existent back then.
I found this tiny hole-in-a-wall kind of space in Hauz Khas Village (HKV) as I couldn’t afford any other place. It was the cheapest in terms of rentals – I used to pay a monthly rental of around ₹7,000. There was Bina Ramani, Rina Dhaka and a lot of handicraft stores. Lot of tourists used to come to HKV. In terms of ‘designers’ back then, there were names like Ritu Kumar, Rohit Khosla, Rohit Bal, Tarun Tahiliani, but people didn’t really know what a fashion designer’s role was.

‘IN THE 90S, PEOPLE WOULD RATHER PAY 20K FOR A SARI THAN 2K FOR A DRESS’
When I opened the studio I started with couture. There were very few people who were doing western clothing and so many times people would walk in and say what do you do? There were some clothes hanging and rest had to be made so they would say, ‘Achha hum apna kapda le aate hain, aap stitch kar dena’. They would think I was some glorified tailor. Nobody wanted western clothes and people were willing to pay ₹20,000 for sari, salwar kameez and lehenga, but for a western dress ₹2,000 was a lot and I was asked, ‘What are you charging so much money for, aapne kya kiya hai isme that you want so much money.’ I remember somebody wanted a pure cashmere suit and I said I would do it and quoted ₹2,800 for it. The person said, ‘That’s too expensive! I am only going to wear it twice and it is not worth the money; I would rather buy a sari.’ There were very few clients who would walk in and say they wanted a dress for graduation or evening party, etc. Over the years the hype built up. Last year, I met somebody who had come to me 30 years ago and her parents got a dress made for her first date. Now she is married to that person. She told me, ‘You made the first black dress I owned.’ There are many such stories now but at that time if I could just pay my bills, keep my team, that was enough.

‘NO ACCOMPLISHED WOMAN WOULD WEAR WESTERNS FOR WORK’
Only 2 per cent of women in Delhi wanted to wear Western outfits back then. Ladies who worked in the corporate sector, airlines, hospitality — all wore saris. You never came across an accomplished working woman who would wear western outfits for work, and even for evening functions, there were very few who would wear dresses. Most people were comfortable in saris. They also felt that it was value for money and that western clothes were something they won’t use enough.

‘DOING A SHOW WAS A BIG DEAL AS YOU HAD TO DO EVERYTHING FROM SCRATCH’
My first big show was in 1994 at the Taj Mahal hotel for an NGO Tamana. They wanted to raise funds for a new building for autistic children. It took a year to put together the show. We made these special children walk the ramp with models and there was Arjun Rampal, Nina Manuel, Madhu Sapre, Mehr Jesia — all the big names of that time. Everybody in the hall was crying, we collected ₹25 lakh and that show set me on a path. I felt that I want to use my education in a way that benefits society. Fashion week happened in 2000, even after that I did one fashion week and one personal show. Doing a show was a big deal as you had to do everything from scratch and they were almost one hour long. It was a huge expense. Those weren’t 18-minute shows. There was no internet, the first email I wrote was one and a half years after I was in business. We made phone calls to our clients. I would go to Chandni Chowk to hunt for thread, needle, machines, etc.

‘HAUZ KHAS VILLAGE WAS A BUZZING PLACE BACK THEN’
HKV was the go-to place for designers in Delhi at that point. It was a very buzzing place even then. You could get a glass of wine and a meal for some ₹400. HKV used to shut for two months in summer. It was like a two-month-long siesta in May and June as it was very hot and no tourists came so all the shops remained shut for two months. That was the time I would do my backpacking trips, go to villages, sit with weavers, work on the next few collections. Compared to that time, I can’t even think of taking two days off from work now!



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