Fashion designing is one of the most productive, engaging, and exciting career options in today’s world. Fashion comes with great talent and creativity. If you have a penchant for creativity, style and innovation, then this is the right path for your career
We caught up with the founder of Arora By Roma, to understand more about the brand through her own perspective; to purposely fish out a few tips to aspiring fashion entrepreneurs.
About Arora By Roma
The ready-to-wear fashion brand Arora By Roma was established in 2014 by Roma Azmat. Roma wants to give women a line of fashion and style that compliments their lifestyle like no other brand has ever done and to make sure that women truly embrace the essence of their style and lead the way.
Whether made consciously or not, clothing choices signal a great deal of information about each individual shopper. And Roma just knows and understands how each woman shops for clothes, where she looks for fashion inspiration, and what qualities are most important when buying a new garment.
By providing the latest ready-to-wear garments across Pakistan, Roma Azmat has become known among women of all ages. Arora by Roma was envisioned by a young girl, Roma Azmat, as a solution to the growing demand for fast fashion by the Pakistani woman. No wonder Roma just began with the western collection, but, over time, she expanded her business, and introduce a new product line i.e. eastern clothing. Today, her ready-to-wear womenswear brand provides fresh stock and designs she has put her heart and soul in.
How has the global pandemic and this crazy year impacted on your brand?
I found myself impregnable during the whole period. I stood strong and kept my eyes on the positivity and that how can I add more colors in a world that was being colorless at that time. I felt like having a strong connection with Allah SWT so I didn’t fall down. I rather found myself more focused on my work with a positive mind approach. Sales started getting better for me because people got more attracted to online retailing. I must say that online shopping might have been a relief to some and convenient for many. So global pandemic didn’t affect me at all.
What is Arora’s aesthetics? Do you specialize in Eastern? Or Western? Or both?
Well, I’d call myself a trendsetter. I don’t like couture and I don’t do couture. I have never studied eastern fashion, I rather fancy western fashion. I’ve got my degree from Italy, so basically, I’ve studied every tiny detail about western fashion e.g. western trends, colors, western cuts and prints. So, I’ve always envisioned western fashion. That’s my signature working style that I’ve brought the western side of fashion into eastern wear/ Ethnic wear. I create western prints and cuts and merge them into eastern wear.
While designing a collection what do you keep in mind? What do you focus on?
While designing a new collection I always keep trends and colors in my mind. Apart from that, I keep my target audience in my mind. I value my customers pretty much, so I always care about what my customer would want to wear, what excites their spirits, what can they afford easily and what style would they like to see in their wardrobe. I think likewise while creating my prints for every collection. I also try my best to keep a direct connection with my audience. I always prefer to get their feedback. So, all of these aspects help me while styling or designing a collection. This somehow brings me peace of mind that I’m delivering my people exactly what they expect me to.
What fashion advice would you give to young people who are figuring out their own personal style?
I would advise, be who you want to be rather than copying someone or listening to people’s opinion about how you need to dress up. This is the real dilemma of the society that youngsters are allowed to dress up in a manner the society wants them into. I believe if you would like to express yourself through the way you dress up, it would also give you confidence and of course the same advice will be followed for the young struggling designers. I’d suggest standing tall on the ground for what inspires them.
We’ve noticed you’ve also dealt into the market for kids’ fashion, what piqued your interest in that?
When I started off with ABR (Arora by Roma) right after my degree, I think I was very immature myself and it is the kid in me that I sometimes see in ABR. As a child, I was always fascinated by vibrant colors, glitters, shimmers and sparkles. So that has always piqued my interest in making kids’ collections. And soon after realizing that the Eastern world has always lacked to provide this all together to eastern kids so I thought to take initiative and blow my customers with something exciting, that’s when I launched ABR Junior
What is the unique selling point that differentiates you from other brands?
My unique selling point is that I’m the only designer in Pakistan who introduced mother and daughter twinning clothing. Apart from that I also launched 3D hand embellished digital printed off-beat ready-to-wear and unstitched attire for young women. Every single piece is handmade by myself with the assistance of my laborers. Every shirt is made with handwork of an average of 2-3 hours. I use my personal efforts in every single step of creating a collection. From creating a print to getting the shirt stitched and then the embellishment. I make sure to get the best out of my client. That’s my way of pampering my customer. Besides, I’m also working in digitally printed wear which includes linen, lawn and kidswear.
What inspired you to start Arora by Roma?
I was a fashionista since I was a kid. I was very observant about how other girls of my age would dress up, I always watched very closely to the cuts, colors, and every tiny detail of their outfit. I believe that’s what has always been pushing me to what I happen to become today. I can still remember that I was in grade 5 when I designed my very first outfit. Later I designed a wedding dress for one of my cousins which became really famous after that. I figured everyone copied it afterward so I would consider that my specific moment which leads me into this direction later in life. I’d rather say I didn’t choose fashion; Fashion chose me.
What other experiences do you have other than online retailing?
I did costume designing for a lot of premiers, which includes international movie premiers and Pakistani movie premiers. Apart from that, I’m currently doing social media marketing for my dad’s university. I’m also a board of trustees for my dad’s university.
What do you do at leisure time?
I fancy outdoor sports. I love to workout because my physical health is as important to me as my mental health. My biggest priority is to spend quality time with my family in my leisure time. Besides, I adore my dogs and I love being around them.
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