Stylish twosome

Neelam and Nriti Shah are about as close-knit as any mother and daughter could get. And life has been a party for this dynamic
mother-daughter duo ever since they became business partners
a year ago. It was quite a journey for them.

Neelam says, “I have always been keen on fashion. I graduated in fashion from Sophia College. And later I worked as a freelance designer for an export house who exported garments to many western countries. And then I met my husband, fell in love, got married and became a hands-on mother of three. So my designing career took a backseat. However the passion of designing clothes never seems to have faded.” 

So how did she decide to get back to designing after 25 long years? She says smiling, “ My kids grew up and went abroad to study and I had a lot of time on hand. My family and friends asked me to design clothes for them which encouraged me to take up designing as a profession and gradually I realised that this is what I’m supposed to do.” 

Her daughter Nriti graduated in media communications and journalism from Los Angeles, and worked with Zee TV as a corporate communications executive. After a short stint with media, she moved on to work with her father. But soon gave that up as well and joined her mother in designing.

She says, “My mother always believed that I had an innate sense of fashion, but I always ignored it as I had this silly thing of doing something different.” She reveals, “I always felt the urge of doing something unique. I wanted to make a mark of my own.”

But ironically, destiny had something else planned for her “Initially, I assisted mom with the marketing of her line and slowly got into designing and started with designing clothes for myself. And when I wore these, I bagged many compliments. And I gained the confidence to design for others as well.”