Chhabra Bridal: The Story Behind this Iconic Indian Fashion House and Trends to Watch with Vyjayanti Chhabra
“It is my desire to introduce to the U.S. my family’s clothing designs from Delhi, by working with the customers in refining and designing the dresses to their complete satisfaction. My aim is to make Chhabra Bridal Wear the boutique to go for Indian Clothing in the Boston area.” We are excited to share the story of today’s woman dreamer, Vyjayanti Chhabra. She is the founder of Chhabra Bridal in Cambridge Massachusetts. In this interview with Women Who Win, she shares her journey in the Indian fashion business, Indian fashion trends to watch, and some of the celebrities around town she’s dressed. A must read - enjoy her story!
1. The Chhabra name has become synonymous with Bridal Wear in Delhi India. You are the founder of Chhabra Bridal in Cambridge Massachusetts, introducing the various Chhabra women’s clothing designs to the Boston area, retailing beautiful and elegant Indian clothing. What inspired you to pursue the Indian fashion business?
My journey in Indian fashion business started with my arranged marriage into a large textile manufacturing and trading Chhabra Family in Delhi. Coming from a salaried job environment, I was thrust into fashion all around me. My inspiration to delve into Indian fashion came from my father-in-law who established the Chhabra women clothing businesses in Delhi after India’s partition in 1947. In the six weeks, I was in Delhi before I had to migrate to Boston to join my husband, he showed me around numerous Chhabra retail, wholesale, and manufacturing establishments. I was in awe and my father-in-law mentored me every step of the way.
My father-in-law’s destiny of migrating to Delhi and establishing the Chhabra brand in Indian women clothing inspired me to take that dream across the oceans on my migration to Boston to accompany my husband’s engineering job at MIT. Coming to Cambridge was an eye-opening experience for me with just a couple Indian grocery stores and a couple Indian restaurants. Indian-American community travelled to Queens in NYC or Toronto for their clothing and other ethnic needs. There was a huge opportunity but it took a long time and a couple of turns for my dream to materialize. Importing Indian wedding clothing from my Chhabra family was the easy part and I started part-time from home. Our first-generation community was used to traveling to India for their clothing needs but that changed with the coming of the second generation. I did not have any daughters, and my next inspiration came from my two daughters-in-law. They helped me in designing and styling to the needs of Indian-Americans born here and for the mainstream American community that started participating in Indian weddings and Galas as guests and through inter-cultural weddings.
My older daughter-in-law opened a boutique called Shelley Chhabra Indian Bridal in 2007. In 2010, Shelley spun off her boutique within the Chhabra family and it is being operated now by me, Vyjayanti Chhabra. I chose Cambridge as the location for my boutique to be near all the campuses, for easy accessibility for young people, and that is where I migrated from India.
2. What are some of your favorite Indian clothes styles? And what are some trends you are seeing in modern Indian clothes?
The beauty of Indian clothing is its diversity and its dynamism. Indian ethnic clothing styles are in a constant state of flux, evolving, and still coming back to the same traditional styles. The most traditional Indian clothing style is the saree. It is the one style that is typical Indian and for a long time many Americans that came to our boutique thought that all Indian clothing is called a saree. But that has quickly changed as awareness of Indian ethnic clothing is more prevalent these days in the local society. Lately, sarees are getting pre-stitched to make them easier to wear for the un-initiated. The Lehenga/Choli/Dupatta is the most formal style in Indian attire and it is the style of choice for most brides who buy from us. This style has a long history and like the evergreen saree, it has been the most popular style in Indian weddings. Most of the lehengas that we sell are paired with a crop top. The third popular style for us is the Salwar/Kameez, that is also known to many customers as a Punjabi. I guess because it is very popular with Punjabi women in India. Other styles that are not too popular these days include Anarkalis, the Moghul era fashion that became popular for a few years but is not in vogue now; Gowns, that are Indianized western wedding gowns; and fusion outfits. One recent trend in Indian fashion designs is the sharara suits. This outfit takes the kameez from the salwar/kameez and pairs it with a sharara which are pants that look like a skirt when worn.
3. Your shop has become quite a favorite in the Boston community. Have you ever had the opportunity to dress a well-known/celebrity around town?
Our Indian community in Boston is full of well-known/celebrity people who visit us for their outfit needs. These include Indian-American professors, medical professionals, entrepreneurs, Women of the Year, and such.
The four occasions of famous people who were our customers, and that I can mention are:
The Red Sox owner’s wife and their daughter attending an Indian gala.
Celtics owner’s wife attending an Indian wedding.
Cast of the movie ‘The Equalizer 2’ being shot in Boston depicting Boston streets as streets in Queens, NY;
Numerous guests for recent Ambani weddings in India.
4. As the platform for women dreamers, what is your next big dream?
It warms my heart when some Indian-Americans and many Americans who come to our boutique and show their gratitude that we exist locally to guide them with their cross-cultural journey in Indian clothing that they might have only seen through some Bollywood exposure. They are grateful that they do not have to travel to NY/NJ for learning and buying Indian clothing. The one area where our boutique lacks presently is the limited customization we can provide. My next big dream is to be able to evolve our boutique to meet the needs of families getting married in the Boston area with availability of more wedding related services and for ample customization of outfits.
Components of this dream include:
1) Training and providing skilled saree drapers for Indian weddings;
2) Develop expert tailoring service group, a frustrating need for brides/grooms and their families;
3) Offer separate items like lehengas and cholis so customers can pair a few less-expensive cholis to pair with the one expensive lehenga to be worn during different wedding events to be able to afford them;
4) Offer free classes in the art of saree styling and Indian fabrics.
It is my desire to introduce to the U.S. my family’s clothing designs from Delhi, by working with the customers in refining and designing the dresses to their complete satisfaction. My aim is to make Chhabra Bridal Wear the boutique to go for Indian Clothing in the Boston area.
Bio: Vyjayanti Chhabra is the President of Chhabra Bridal Wear, Inc. located in Cambridge, MA. She grew up in Delhi, India, where she received her Bachelor’s degree from Delhi University. After marriage she migrated to Cambridge, MA., where she worked as a banker and loan officer. Since moving to the U.S., Vyjayanti has been designing and selling Indian women’s clothing to introduce the various Chhabra women’s clothing designs to the Boston area. She has two sons living in Arlington, MA and Manhattan, NY with their families. She lives in Bedford, MA with her husband.