This year's Trade and Investment Convention (TIC) will have a lot more flash and flair with the inaugural presence of Dhisha Moorjani's local fashion house House of Jaipur. It will be Moorjani's launch of her new line for the regional and international market.
"I was trying to figure out what's the best way to take my brand to this level and get exposure for it. TIC gives you that type of marketing," said Moorjani, in an interview on Friday at her O'Connor Street, Woodbrook, shop.
For the half-hour mid-afternoon interview, Moorjani settled on a sofa seat that had as its backdrop a made-in-India carved wooden space saver draped with a fuchsia sari to create a cozy tea room setting. At every turn, the store is filled with elephant-themed framed paintings, bangles, throw cushions, elegant red, black, gold and silver footwear, jewelry boxes, scarves and dressing-table mirrors.
"I'll have a booth which will be beautifully done by Brian Mac Farlane, and I'll have samples of all garments for export. TIC will work wonderfully for me," said a confident Moorjani. "I will have the best models in T&T."
And she has an exciting fashion show planned for the evening of June 13.
Mac Farlane has worked with Moorjani for her Bombay Dreams fashion show series. And her photography will be done by Gary Jordan.
Moorjani, born in Trinidad to parents from Hyderbad Sindh in Pakistan, has invited buyers from Mustique, Grenada, Jamaica, Antigua, St Vincent, and Caribbean resorts and boutique hotels to the launch.
She's enticing these buyers to put in orders for her designs of outfits for the Caribbean woman who likes to dress up, who likes to accentuate or show off her body.
"I know the shape of the West Indian woman," said Moorjani, who admitted she has no formal training in design, but has operated on instinct in the ten years she's owned House of Jaipur.
"She likes necklines, slits. Caribbean women are very proud of how they dress. The West Indian/Trini woman tends to be more risqu�, whereas the Indian woman is more conservative."
She produced from the back of the shop a black and gold kaftan with Indian embroidery that was made in Jaipur, one of three cities her outfits will be made in, the other two being Delhi and Mumbai. She said Indian manufacturers design for the European market, but she tweaks their outfits for the West Indian market. She also brought out a teal blue resort or cruise wear top that can be worn without lining over a swimsuit or dressed up with lining for dinner. And a white cotton kaftan that targets the foreigner who comes to the Caribbean to get married.
Moorjani is married to German Dirk Nuber, a chemical engineer who is the business development manager for the Neal and Massy Wood Group Ltd.
The launch is the end result of a year's hard work. She visited three manufacturers in each city over three weeks in July 2012, returned in September and made a third trip in February 2013 to place orders.
Moorjani explained how the relationship works between herself and Indian manufacturers 13,597 kilometres away and nine-and-a-half hours ahead. They send to her couriered samples. She approves (or not), fine-tunes and adjusts a cut here, pulls up a hemline there. Only then are the designs made.
She displayed a teal blue top with black working around the neckline. That did not meet with her liking. She did not like the black beads. The garment had a flaw: a bead was falling off. An imperfect or faulty garment is bad for House of Jaipur's image.
"I wanted tone on tone," Moorjani said.
Success lies in attending to the most minute of details.
She brought out classy-looking matte black-and-gold boxed invitations she sent out to prospective customers.
A clear sign that fashion is such a finicky business where image and first impressions count.
She wants the invitations to lure buyers to TIC, to her booth, to her fashion show. And, most importantly, place orders.
?
