Wn Alumna Irwinite Ritu Kumar World-Acclaimed Fashion Designer
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www.alumni.du.ac.in / The University of Delhi Alumni eZine Edition Nine 2020 pT Cul 018 alumna / Irwinite Ritu Kumar FashionDesigner par Excellence Ritu Kumar World–acclaimed Fashion Designer BA Lady Irwin Padma Shri 2013 alpix 0871 Ritu moved 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 New York, where she studied Art History. On returning to India, she studied museology at the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art, University of Calcutta. Her son is Oscar nominated director Ashvin Kumar. Ritu began her fashion business in Calcutta/Kolkata, using two small tables and fast–vanishing hand- block printing techniques. Beginning on Wellesley Street Calcutta and in Defence Colony Delhi with bridal wear and evening clothes in the 1960s–70s, she eventually moved into the international market in the subsequent two decades. She 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. In 2002 she launched the "Label" line in partnership with her son Amrish. Ritu discussed her career at length in an 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. Her clothes have been worn by Princess Diana, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Lara Dutta, Deepika Padukone, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Madhur Jaffrey, Kalki Koechlin, Dia Mirza, Soha Ali Khan and Jemima Goldsmith. Since 1994, Ritu has also designed the wardrobes for the Miss India contestants for their participation in international beauty pageants such as Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Asia Pacific. An impressive number of winners have emerged from amongst these contestants putting India on the world Beauty map. www.alumni.du.ac.in / The University of Delhi Alumni eZine Edition Nine 2020 The domain ritukumar.com attracted 1,658,109 users in 2019. In 1999 she published a major book "Costumes and Textiles of Royal India" chronicling the history of textiles and art design in India. She won the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award, has also been bestowed the prestigious "Chevalier des arts et des lettres" by the French Government, besides the Achievement Award in 2012 at L’oreal Paris Femina Women’s Awards. wikipedia 26.10.2020 adapted www.ritukumar.com 26.10.2020 adapted .