A pioneer in her field, she launched her label in 1990 when India was still awakening to the couture era. The prima donna was the first designer who
stormed the catwalks of Paris with her label and was anointed India's Fashion Queen.
Empowered, being the protégé of the French embroidery maestro, Francois Lesage, she
fused Indian aesthetics with global fashion trends, just as India began opening its
borders to international trade. It culminated in Time magazine declaring her “The First lady of fashion in her country", Beri being the First Asian to head a French fashion house, Jean Louis Scherrer; and adding to her string of “firsts”, BBC credited her business skills
with a resounding headline: "Indian fashion takes a hold in the form of Ritu Beri." Beri, entered the International Privy League of Power dressers when she created for the likes of Bill Clinton, Nicole Kidman, Prince Charles and Ivana Trump, to name a few. Her creations were objectively evaluated by fashion connoisseurs across the world. Rating, qualifying and quantifying her acumen, Lesage lauded her in his generous
accreditation: "Ritu's contemporary expression has given to an Indian tradition of
clothes, a mood of the Yves Saint Laurent collection of the eighties." Retro as
well as eclectic, signified her versatility as a marquee designer, futuristic, and
who had leap- frogged ahead of her localized peers. To acknowledge her path breaking contribution to fashion and design, she was awarded
the prestigious French honour, Chevaliere des art et des Lettres and the Spanish
title of 'The Lady of the Order of Civil Merit', one of the rarest of rare halo's. Her visage is amongst the most recognizable faces of India in her sphere, being listed amongst the 50 most important people of the country, and counted amongst the
galaxy of the Top 15 Women of India. A nominee for the Economic Times Business Woman of the year Award in India, she is noted to be amongst the 20 Best Dressed Celebrity Icons of the country, being voted “Delhi’s Most Stylish’ in a nationwide poll
conducted by Hindustan Times. Tag Heuer endorsed her as their ‘Link Lady of India’. The ex- prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, virtually acknowledged her as the
progeny of that era, recognizing her as a paradigm of change: “Ritu Beri represents
resurgent India.". It in a way exalted her to the Hall of Fame of a re- imaged India, of a nation that was proud of showcasing its calibre to the global business
community, conferring on her as one that could be compared against finest international bench marks of excellence. Sobriety and statism are alien to Ritu Beri as she creates the tectonic shifts in revolutionizing India’s interface with global fashion.
