Many of us, growing up, would have watched our mother dressing up and admired her style, hoping to someday be like her. We may have even tried on her jewellery, messed up her makeup or gotten hopelessly tangled in her sarees. But fashion designer Seema Malhotra didn’t just admire her mom – Jamila Malhotra shining in Bengaluru’s elite social circles with her intricate hand embroidered outfits – but also learnt her skills, creating the luxury bridal fashion brand,
Shimmer, in UB City, alongside her. “I think I developed that flair from her because she was always a trendsetter,” says Seema, as Jamila adds, “I used to do all my own designing and embroidery. Slowly, Seema also got interested… It was beautiful because, my mother too, was a great seamstress,” adds Jamila.
What started off as making clothes for friends and family, evolved into more as the pair began to dress Bollywood celebrities like Manisha Koirala, Raveena Tandon, Farah Khan, and more while working alongside foreign designers to create costumes for actors in Hollywood films like Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth (1998), Finding Neverland (2004), and Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love (1998) which went on to win an Oscar for costume design. “We worked on the embroidery for Judi Dench’s peacock gown which got a lot of attention. A lot of research went into it – we looked up stitches and embroidery styles that were done hundreds of years ago. It’s very different from working in Bollywood, where things are churned out a day before the shoot,” recalls Seema.