When an attempt to cop elite gems is talked about, a member of the Kapoor clan, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni is surely counted amongs the top names in jewellery designing. She doesn't only share family ties with Bollywood star couple Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor, but is also a successful fashion and innovative jewellery designer who has carved her own niche in the industry. Not only a designer, Riddhima has turned muse from time to timr and has strut the ramp for many designers. She set the bar high after recently representing India on an International platform at the London Fashion Week, 2022.
Showcasing some of her finest jewellery designs, Riddhima did an impeccable job in collaboration with a UK-based high-end fashion designer Helen Anthony. Anthony's luxe desigbs with Riddhima's ethnic art, oh boy it surely was a treat to behold. And the icing on the cake was her flawless runeayy strut which she aced along with Anthony's little munchkin. Being a runway star on the biggest platform, London Fashion Week for the first time is not everyone’s piece of cake but trust this diva to ace it all, effortlessly!
Peepingmoon.com got in touch with Riddhima to answer some questions post-show. The yoga enthusiast jewellery desigber spoke about having a 'surreal feeling' of being on an international platform, the success of the show and more!
Excerpts from the interview:
First of all, Congratulations on this big achievement. How do you feel representing India on an international platform such as London Fashion Week?
Honestly, it hasn’t even sunk in I mean it’s still sinking in but it feels surreal, the response after the show has been extremely overwhelming so on that front, of course, everything’s been great, we had to prepone it by 3 days and initially, we were showcasing on the 19th but due to The Queen’s funeral, we lost 3 days and have the show rearranged on the 17th so everything was just chaotic and so stressful but the response that we received was fabulous so we as a team are extremely happy about that.
Can you tell us how did all work out for you? Was this a ‘dream in making for months?’
I received an email while I was browsing through my phone and laptop, and I received an email from Helen Anthony asking for collaboration at London Fashion Week and we jumped on the opportunity and grabbed it. It was right after the Bridal Couture Week in Delhi around the 2nd of August. It was just 3 or 4 weeks working with him, I never met him because he was in London, so we were on zoom calls, and video calls. Anthony himself is somebody who knows what he wants, he has a vision, so he helped us curate the collection alongside his beautiful clothes so we as a team which is me and my partner brand Punjab Jewellers together we sat and did numerous zoom calls with him and he literally sat at every call, because he knew what he wanted, I knew what I wanted so it was great working with him.
What was the mood board behind this collaborative collection with Helen Anthony? How did his sartorial creation and your statement pieces go together hand in hand?
Basically, the theme was East meets West, so he wanted a mix of everything. That’s what we showcased, the mix of contemporary, it was a mix of uncut polkis, we had chokers, neckpieces, earrings everything all together.
You walked with a little girl on the runway. Was this your first ramp walk?
No, I’ve done ramps before in India but globally, yes it was my first. Internationally it was my first ramp walk but in India, I’ve walked down the ramp for numerous designers. The little girl was Helen Anthony’s daughter, his inspiration basically. He is very inspired by his daughter, she walks at every show, so this time I walked with her, for the second look I took her with me, we both were wearing sequin red pieces. It looked nice on the ramp, she’s a very confident little girl, she’s a pro basically. It was a really great and amazing experience.
Any chance we might see you and Samara closing the show in the future?
I hope so, in fact, he asked for Samara but she had school, we won’t be able to make it and she’s still very shy. I hope someday she would love to do something like that because when she called me and asked how the show was, she said “Mama who that little girl, why I wasn’t there”.
If you had to pick any celebrity to close this show Hollywood or Bollywood, whom do you think it be?
That you must ask Anthony not me, the fact he offered me. Over here in UK, there’s no thing as showstopper as such, so he randomly asked me would you like to open my show and I was like of course I would love to do that. So yeah, this question goes to Anthony, not to me.
Did you have any input in curating Alia Bhatt or Ranbir Kapoor’s wedding jewellery?
Of course, yeah, we did like some of the bracelets that were given to the bride's side, we also did a lot of stuff for the wedding. So definitely yes, we played a role in the wedding as well.
You are soon going to be a ‘Bua’, so are you planning any jewellery piece for the newest member of the Kapoor family?
Let the baby come and then we shall talk.
Any words of wisdom for aspiring jewellery designers who are trying to make it big out there?
Never give up and know what you want. Go after what your goals are and just keep trying and don’t back down. If you get an opportunity, just grab it as we did.
Shining bright like a diamond just like her jewels! What did you think of her latest collaboration collection?
(Source - PeepingMoon, Transcribed by Aastha Narula)
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