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Riding high on the saddle

Fashion accessories designer Rina Shah translates her love for horses and the game of Polo into her latest collection of Rinaldi Polo accessories.

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If the regal coat of arms on the knee-high boots is anything to go by, we’ll say the House of Rinaldi Designs is a brand that is serious about the ‘game of fashion accessorising’. And Rina Shah, the lady behind Rinaldi, is a champion of sorts. Based in Mumbai, the designer was in the city recently to launch the month-long exhibition of Rinaldi Polo — her line of polo-inspired accessories — at the Equestiran Gallery.

A quick look-see through the collection throws up saddle bags with trimmings and reins; handles on oversized bags; thigh high boots with feathers; cufflinks; ties; and wait, there’s even a cowboy-themed collection — the belts with gun buckles are hard to miss.

“It’s the first line of Polo-related accessories I’ve ever designed,” opens Rina. “I’d launched the Rinaldi Polo collection at the Lakmé Fashion Week in 2011 but barring a few pieces from that collection, I’ve added new designs for the exhibition here.” She adds, “I update the collection every 2-3 months. This time, for instance, the designs are all equestrian-inspired, which is why you’ll see equestrian and polo prints are the predominant motifs.” Quiz her about her love for the horse as a motif and she easily states, “I’ve always loved horses.

Even as a kid, I loved being around the animal and since I’ve started learning polo, I admire them even more so.” Focussing a little more on the bright limited edition bags, Rina states, “I visited a lot of auction sites and bid for a variety of vintage scarves. The bags you see, I’ve actually converted the scarves’ designs onto the bags.”

An out-and-out sports-wear fashion line, Rinaldi Polo screams out Rina’s love for the game unreservedly. “The game itself!” is her effusive reply to why she’s decided to train herself in the game. “Playing the game astride a horse is the biggest rush anybody can experience,” she gushes, before she lets in on that training for polo has takes her around the world — from Argentina, the current mecca of polo, to Santa Barbara, USA; the UK; Thailand and Jaipur. “I should soon start playing professionally,” she admits before getting back to talking about business.

More than love for fashion itself, Rina says she got into the field because, “The idea of creation is what has always, and still continues to drive me and that is the reason why I entered fashion.”

House of Rinaldi, the label she created way back in 1999 is probably India’s first accessories label ever. Looking back more than a decade later, is she happy with how the label’s evolved? “As a person I’ve always been someone who’s wanted to do something that no one else has done.

So when I started, there were a lot of jewellery designers and fashion designers around in the country, but there was no shoe designer in India and that’s why I decided to get into it,” she recalls. “Shoes are a really tough line to get into,” she continues, “it’s very technical and you have to have studied shoe designing and know every single aspect of it to even think of venturing into it.”

But getting back to the question of the brand’s success, she is quite nonchalant. “I never really plan or think of what I want to achieve. I simply go with the flow. I am a big believer in going out and doing something  if I really want it and that’s the same with Rinaldi too. I started off designing bridal accessories and today, I am designing Polo-inspired accessories.” So, how does she feel when she sees celebrities like Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lopez, Naomi Campbell and Goldie Hawn wearing the striking Rinaldi boots? “Its a feeling of self-satisfaction knowing that someone so well-known is wearing your creation,” she ends.

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