Purnima Raheja, Founder, Siren

From being a six year-old mesmerised by the couture of comic books, Raheja is now the co-founder of Siren, producing designer wear inspired by the extraordinary. “I was fascinated by Barbie after the paper doll books came out. I grew up with colours, fabrics and silhouettes,” she says.

However, the world of fashion and design had not always been on the cards for Raheja. “After completing my BCom, my parents gave me the option of studying chartered accountancy, law or management,” she says. Told that fashion was nothing more than a hobby, much less a career, she nonetheless remained determined to make it her life.

Raheja, meanwhile, earned a two-year diploma from the National Institute of Fashion Design, Mumbai, going on to work as a designer for Pretty Secrets nightwear.

Then, in September 2008, her life changed completely as her father passed away. “I felt lost and didn’t think that anything would be the same again. Months passed, and my life was a haze,” Raheja says.

She took up work at a local boutique, working from 10 in the morning to nine at night, six days a week. “I hated the job, but it was still better than staying at home, which seemed empty. I had lost all hope, my dreams were beginning to vanish,” she says.

A few months after this, as life would have it, Raheja stumbled upon Ankush Modawal, the author of Black Book One, on social-networking site Orkut. “We became online friends, and conversation was limited to daily greetings and exchanging anecdotes,” she says.

“One day, he asked me if I would like to read his book. I said ‘yes’, so he couriered a copy to me. Since I read the book, my life has not been the same. The change is so much that it seems miraculous,” Raheja says.

Raheja and Modawal are now business partners and the founders of Siren. “It is our very own clothing brand. I work from home and enjoy the freedom of being my own boss,” she says. Established in 2009, Siren is a high-end unisex designer brand, with gothic, punk, rock, emo and haute couture being their forte. “Bling is what we do best!” she tells YourStory.

Whenever Raheja walks into a store her eyes fall on the strangest of colours and the most bizarre silhouettes. “What we create at Siren is the extraordinary. Our inspiration is drawn from snakes and aliens, mermaids to Cinderella, from Adam to Criss Angel!” the fashion entrepreneur says.

Siren’s head office is in Mumbai and branch office, in New Delhi, and its designer wear is now available at a sister store, Gothic’s at Malad, Mumbai. “We will soon be supplying to other retail outlets and plan on having our own store in Mumbai, before branching out to other metropolitan cities in India,” Raheja says.