Ritu Kumar Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ritu Kumar

• She is one of the leading female fashion designers in India who has been in the Fashion Industry for the last 40 years.

• Ritu Kumar was born into a well-to-do family in Amritsar, Punjab.

• Kumar’s parents were highly educated and encouraged her to get higher education in the field of her choice.

• Her background in art history and museology inspired her to pursue fashion designing as her career.

• She met her husband, Shashi Kumar, at Lady Irwin College during her graduation. The couple fell in love with each other and later, got married.

• She started her career in a very small town of Kolkata in 1969; using hand-block printing and a couple of small tables.
  

  Ritu Kumar at the starting of her career

• She began with evening clothes and bridal wear in the 1960s and 1970s and created a niche for herself in the international market within these two decades.
  

  Ritu Kumar’s models dressed for her first fashion show

• After becoming a successful entrepreneur in the field of fashion designing in India, in 1996, she expanded her business by opening several branches of her company in other countries, including New York, Paris, and London. (London branch closed in 1999).

• The annual turnover of her company at that time was around Rs. 10 billion, higher than any other Indian Fashion Outlet.

• She is the woman who introduced Boutique culture in India with the brand name ‘RITU.’

• She got her first designing project in 2002 for the movie “Bollywood Hollywood” (a Canadian movie by an Indo-Canadian director Deepa Mehta).

• In the same year, Ritu, along with her son Amrish Kumar, launched her sub-brand “LABEL.”

• Later, Kumar introduced her fragrance “The Tree of Life.”

• Ritu even designed the costumes of the Indian film “No Fathers in Kashmir.”
  

  No Fathers in Kashmir costumes designed by Ritu Kumar

• Kumar’s book “Costumes and Textiles of Royal India” was published in October 1999. The book chronicles the great history of art designs and textiles in India.
  

  Ritu Kumar’s Book Costumes and Textiles of Royal India

• Her designs focus on traditional printing & weaving techniques and natural fabrics.
  

  Ritu Kumar with a weaver in Banaras

• With her extraordinary work in the fashion industry, she has become one of the top fashion designers in India.

• The only thing that makes Ritu Kumar an outstanding Indian Fashion designer is her intellectual and unique vision towards ethnic wears.

• The wedding outfit of the Bollywood actress, Kareena Kapoor was designed by Ritu Kumar.
  

  Ritu Kumar designed Kareena Kapoor Khan’s Wedding Dress

• A number of Indian Actresses including Aishwarya Rai, Anushka Sharma, Priyanka Chopra, and Vidya Balan have flaunted her designer clothes.
  

  Ritu Kumar with Aishwarya Rai

• Her designer outfits are often used by the contestants of Indian Pageants like Miss Universe, Miss Asia Pacific, and Miss India.

• Late Princess Diana (1 July 1961-31 August 1997) was also fascinated with Ritu Kumar’s work, and she got many masterpieces prepared from Ritu.

• Ritu Kumar has not designed outfits for any Bollywood film yet, and the only reason she gave to IANS in an interview was
  

  The way things are in Bollywood, I don’t think I have the time and patience for all that.”

• Ritu Kumar has more than 35 big fashion stores in more than 14 cities across India.
  

  Ritu Kumar’s first store inaugration at Warden Road, Mumbai

• In the year 2019, a total of 1,658,109 visitors visited her domain ritukumar.com.

• Kumar has created a video campaign “Beautiful Hands” (Based in Kolkata), which aids the sale of the graments and accessories created by indigenous craftsmen.

• Ritu Kumar operates three fashion labels, namely, “Ritu Kumar,” “Ri,” and “LABEL Ritu Kumar.”
  

• Kumar is one of the founders of the All India Artisans and Craft Workers Welfare Association (AIACA).

• Ritu is also credited for bringing back Zardozi work in India, which was a popular art during the Mughal period.

• Here is a conversation with Ritu Kumar: