Hi divas and divettes! Let me introduce myself, my name is Richa, the face behind the account @richatupe on IG.

I have worked in fashion as a content creator and stylist for years now, having started my journey in college. I played around on TikTok and got a jump start with my career when my videos started to go viral featuring quirky outfits I used to wear everyday, that soon moved into styling concepts for which I began to become popular within the US.

I moved from Boston to New York right after graduating college with a bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Media Studies when I got signed to a big agency at the time. I continued creating, working on contracts with big name companies in fashion and also freelanced, styling music artists, working with local vintage and thrift stores and aiding Parsons and local fashion students in their thesis projects, with experimental concepts.

After moving back to India in my mid-20s, I continued to work with local brands, emerging desi designers from India and all over the world and realised that shopping in India is hard when you want to find smaller emerging designers. I used to spend my Sundays walking along SoHo on my days off and always marvelled at how so many showrooms there were, bringing fashion from all over the globe, but rarely did I come across desi designers.

Having been born in the US and having spent half my life in both India (13 years) and the USA (12 years) I have been in and out of the fashion spheres of both worlds. Having felt out of place in both countries, the bridge became fashion. The art of styling myself became a way to express myself and that’s the idea behind Ira’s Avenue.

One of the biggest gaps I noticed was the absence of championing Indian Made Labels, a lot of labels I worked with in the USA all made their pieces in India, but I always felt as though the designers in India never got to share in the growth and publicity as well.

Ira’s Avenue is born from that dream to showcase emerging Indian brands, that truly operate on principles of showcasing Indian craftsmanship, sustainable design and a deep profound care for their customers. Honestly it’s astounding when you delve deep and realise a lot of our favorite western couture online have borrowed so heavily from Indian fashion over the years. I also spent hours over months compiling lists and links for my viewers and realised it would be lovely to have an integrated platform so it’s as easy as pie to discover the new coolest designers all over India.

We are starting our base in India, my home, my pyaar, as we aim to slowly build our journey internationally. But for now, do enjoy perusing through my virtual baby, each brand has been carefully selected as I pride myself on making sure it’s as easy for you to find the perfect fashion fix.

Lots of love to you all, please feel free to reach out to talk about anything (fashion related mainly of course! I’m quite the workaholic and do love to hear for what you are looking for or if you need any help!)

Xx, Richa