A HOMECOMING FOR TINA TAHILIANI PARIKH

Arriving in Ahmedabad as a new bride in 1992 to unveiling a new Ensemble store today, this fashion trailblazer holds a profound connection with the town. Inviting HELLO! behind the scenes, she shares sartorial tips, family anecdotes and the essence of their enduring legacy

- ANANYA SHANKAR

Tina Tahiliani Parikh grew up in socialist India, an era when young girls aspired to own international brands like GAP rather than traditional Kanjeevaram sarees! But once she married into an Ahmedabadi family, she inherited eight sarees, “each from a different part of India, each more exquisite than the next.” And that perhaps, was her fashion awakening.

A true trailblazer of Indian fashion, we wonder what it’s like to walk a day in her shoes, running the country’s first multi-brand luxury fashion store. But the co-founder and executive director smiles as she says, “What a privilege it is to do what I do.”

“It’s fulfilling, exhilarating and also exhausting. We truly believe in our country’s incredible heritage in terms of craft, drape and colour. It is exhausting because in retail, you can never take your eye off what’s going on, but it’s so fulfilling to know that we’re keeping the craft alive and relevant. I’m so proud to be Indian.”

Celebrating their 36th anniversary and marking the opening of their sixth store in Ahmedabad, HELLO! spent a day with Tina and her daughter, Aria Parikh, in their hometown, the heart of textile capital.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

An investment banker in the United States, Tina returned to India to helm her family’s engineering business. However, by that time, her brother and ace designer, Tarun Tahiliani, had already founded Ensemble in Mumbai and aspired to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology. What began as assuming responsibility as a caretaker till he returned, marked the commencement of a lifelong journey.