Fashion's First

India's first fashion content creator Diipa Büller-Khosla & model Rahi Chadda on what it takes to be Indian and make it on the international stage

- Vidya Prabhu

Let me start with a confession.  As someone who loves writing about fashion and still gives in to bouts of vanity with self-styled #OutfitOfTheDay posts on Instagram, I was unabashedly elated when my former boss phoned to ask if I wished to interview Diipa Büller-Khosla and Rahi Chadda, two Indian content creators who have made waves in the fashion world at large and continue to build on their million-plus following. After a resounding yes, I got down to work.

Looking up Amsterdam-based Diipa-who has graced the cover of HT Brunch in the past was easy, since I was already familiar with her work. A lawyer-turned-fashion-creator-turned-beauty-entrepreneur, Diipa's Instagram (1.8 million followers) is a window to her world; it also helps that she has been vocal about her personal highs and lows. However, Londoner Rahi Chadda's social media presence (1.3 million followers) didn't tell me as much about the man I was going to interview. For someone who made it to the Forbes 30 under 30 list earlier this year and is, in fact, the first brown ambassador for Dior Beauty, there's not a lot of media buzz around him.

DIIPA'S MILESTONES

● She moved to Amsterdam to study law at the University of Utrecht when she was 17.

● The first time she went viral was in July 2015 when she shared a photo where she had acne all over her face.

● She was the first Indian content creator to walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.

● Her face was on the billboard at London's Piccadilly Circus in 2018.

● She married Oleg BüllerKhosla in September 2018.

● She started her NGO, Post for Change, and also addressed the House of Commons in the UK Parliament in 2019.

● Her daughter, Dua BüllerKhosla was born in 2021, the same year that she launched her beauty brand Inde Wild.

REPRESENTATION MATTERS