From a small boutique to a bridal studio, Anjali Varma’s journey is based on the strong foundation of sheer hard work & perseverance.
Traveling to parts of Northern India, and collecting sarees and churidar materials for a home based business; for someone looking from the outside, this has today turned into a very common hobby for well-off housewives with plenty of time on their hands. When Anjali Varma relocated from the Gulf for her children’s education and when she put up a boutique, without any formal training in fashion designing many expressed similar opinions.
As the piles of dress materials grew in size, there were people who predicted that her boutique would follow suit like many other such celebratory initiatives and die an early death.
Well, four years down the lane after those predictions, Anjali is elated as she sits smiling away in her sparkly new shop. Along with her boutique called Be Mine, she has started a new Be Mine Bridal Studio in Thrissur. The studio is located behind the Selex Mall. Apart from this she has also started exporting Khadi & Handloom designer wear to foreign countries.
Traveling every now and then, studying the business before taking the plunge and along with that raising her kids; this is all no easy task at all!
Her husband Pradeep V. Bharath has been a source of huge moral support through all this. But all due credit must go to this house wife’s relentless travels, courage and unique taste in fashion and beauty.
Her line of women’s wear grew popular without even having to add her name to it. The new bridal studio deals with every possible wedding need, from buying jewelery to honeymoon destinations. Anjali personally designs the wedding trousseau and all the allied wedding related consultation is provided free of charge.
The traditional practice of buying bridal jewelery as soon as the wedding gets fixed is slowly changing. The present generation of youngsters do not like to adorn too much finery or jewelery. They would consider buying jewelery if they come across something that catches their eyes but not more than 2 or 3 unique pieces of jewelery. There are expert jewelery consultants to help them make the right choices. But this can be done only once they zero in on the right costume for the big day.
Selecting the costume according to the jewelery is an old trend indeed. Whether it is a saree, lehenga or gown, the designer sits along with the bride for long hours of discussions to understand her likes, taste, and color preferences, styles that go with the body type, patterns etc. and even specifics of the venue or the event flow.
The groom’s choice of costume will also have a say in the final design. If the venue follows a certain theme or even a color scheme for the floral arrangements, the bride’s dress will have to complement the theme. The bride has to stand out. Nobody will notice a bride wearing a white gown standing in a venue with a white backdrop.
On various types of silk materials, Anjali does intricate stone and thread work. For those who can’t handle the weight of the stones, light-weight stones are now available. A majority of the wedding designer-wear outfits require handwork and currently her shop has around 20 workers skilled in exquisite handwork designs. There are separate designers for party or wedding wear. Anjali even has a loyal clientele that is based abroad. Most of the exports include handloom and Khadi designer-wears. Anjali believes that 2017 is going to be the year of the handloom and it is going to be the next big thing in designer-wear. Even wedding trousseau could be taken over by handloom. The latest materials are so beautiful like the Jamdani cotton which looks rather classy. This material is made by adding milk. Even after washing there will be a faint smell of milk. There are even certain special materials that are mixed with color dyes precisely at 3 in the morning. Anjali started a separate wing dedicated just for handloom because of its specialties.
She feels that her 4 year old journey from a boutique to bridal studio has been quite slow and arduous. There were days when her near and dear ones were her only support or days when she was led forward by friends, and many lessons learnt along the way. The wedding scene has also undergone a drastic change in the last 4 years.
Even weddings that are small affairs go for designer wear. Most of the girls are employed these days and their choices and options are myriad. Celebrities, business tycoons etc. have all come in search of Anjali’s expert style consultations.
“Without a supportive family or traveling far and wide, you cannot find a footing in this business,” says Anjali. Every wedding wear must be unique; no two costumes can be the same. The search for new design ideas should be a continuous process. The journey of the mind along those lines should go on forever. What got Anjali to where she is today is a result of many such fulfilling journeys.