Support Local: Saloni Rathor

Increasingly over the past couple of months, there has been greater support for local designers and it is very heart warming to see that local talent is finally being appreciated. One clear support for local designers has been through Parco and the Parco Next NEXT initiative, where promising young talents are given a small retail space as a stepping stone to further establish their brand. This year’s group of designers and their collections are a mix of edgy, quirky, sophisticated and vibrant designs. Seeing such an interesting mix, I decided to showcase a couple of designers in a series of posts and highlight the experiences of the designers thus far & at the same time, you’ll see a tinge of me in their designs.

The series will start off with Saloni Shrestha of Saloni Rathor!

Hailing from the Himalayas, Saloni Rathor is a brand that encapsulates beauty, power and strong emotions. The collection was conceptualized for the ‘modern woman who is a multi-faceted being and not a one-note beauty’ because the modern woman takes on various roles and responsibilities. Similarly, you’ll notice that the designs also vary from casual to sophisticated elegance because Saloni Rathor wants to reach out to the various lifestyles of today’s women.

When asked what made Saloni decide to become a designer, she succinctly replied that her mother was her biggest inspiration.

My mum was the inspiration that led to my desire for a life in fashion. She always had the best fashion sense, putting together outfits with accessories that made her stand out amongst the crowd. Her fashion sense was quirky and bright. I loved watching her get ready for work and seeing her final ensemble. When she started designing garments for her friends I watched her design process and design aesthetics that was her individual creativity yet suitable for her clients. Textiles that were rich, vibrant and full of details always surrounded me. This made me take dressing up seriously and I used to design my own outfits, buy fabrics and get them tailored to my personal style.

I clearly remember the excitement before our school carnivals for which I used to take dressing up very seriously and commit time to designing what I would wear, buy the fabrics and get it tailored. I also used to rally my friends to dress up and even pick out outfits for them sometimes. There was this particular red dress with bell shaped chiffon sleeves I had designed for my final year carnival, it was simple yet chic.

Ideally, Saloni Rathor is all about prints and colours and the vibrancy of fashion. Saloni herself is an avid supporter of prints and feels that Singaporeans should experiment with their wardrobe more often. It is no wonder that her collection has a wide array of rather ethnically inspired patterns.

We can say that Singaporeans will generally stick to one look, either edgy, romantic, quirky etc and they will hardly try on another style. Instead, Saloni feels that Singaporeans or rather everyone should live by the following fashion motto, ‘open to experiment’ because we all know that experimentation is always fun!
One day you could be edgy and the next you could experiment with a romantic dress. There is no wrong in switching up your style day by day, it only shows that you’re open to the ever changing facade of fashion and that is what makes fashion fun.

Generally, many would find it unwise to be based here as a fashion designer because Singapore is such a small market (we’re only at a population of 4+ million). However, it all boils down to the amount and the prevalence of the support one receives from the market. A small market is equally capable of skyrocketing a brand to international status but the initial support needs to stem from the local market.
If we were to look back, the now internationally acclaimed brands were once started in small hometowns too.
Interestingly, the one challenge Saloni has faced as a designer in a small nation like Singapore, was the limited access to fabrics, trims and production factories.

There are a lot of designers and fewer factories for us all to go to. My costs go up when I travel to different parts of Asia to source the fabrics and trims. If there were many options in Singapore that would have been much more cost effective for my business.


Beyond the challenges, Saloni is persistent in going further with her brand by expanding into other Asian markets and remains hopeful that Singapore would become a fashion hub in Southeast Asia. We are small but if we were to come together, then the East could become the fashion focal point in the future.

So there we have it, Saloni Rathor is a brand that brings a touch of romance, beauty and luxury at lower price points and very nimbly creates a careful calibration of prints and vibrant colours into her design aesthetic. Do drop by Parco next NEXT for an up close interaction with the collection and I assure you that you will find it hard to leave the store empty handed (and that is a good thing)!

Recent comments

Blog comments powered by Disqus
Answer Questions