Dress to impress: Designer Raghavendra Rathore's smart tips to help you be ready for the party season

Want to make a good impression this party season? Designer Raghavendra Rathore tells us what to keep in mind.

When it comes to dressing up for the party season, what you wear and the price tag attached to it aren’t some of the only things to consider when you want to dress to impress. In fact, according to designer Raghavendra Rathore, it’s actually something that doesn’t involve attire that will probably get you the most noticed.

“Grooming!” says Rathore. The suave designer says, “I think hygiene leads to good grooming. These are good habits to pick up at an early age. I went to a boarding school and I learnt all the tricks of the trade there.”


Rathore says that grooming not only helps in your overall look, it can have subtle benefits as well. “Grooming basically is adding a layer of confidence to your personality. And people judge you, now more so than ever. It’s a very important part of personality development,” he adds.

Trend time
While there are loads of trends out there, Rathore warns that we should make sure our grooming and dressing reflects who we are. “We live in a dichotomy, we live in a hypocritical world. You know, we love our culture, we love our rituals but we also like somebody posting something on Instagram in a different part of the world, so it’s really about being able to see what works for you. We have this amazing ambidextrous quality – Asia actually – where you can maintain your heritage, your own style but also get influenced by what’s happening around the world. So it’s a good balance actually.”

Be you!
Rathore seems to echo the statement that trifles make perfection and so, he says to take care of the smaller things. “The shoes, socks, pocket scarf, the little things that people take for granted is actually linked with your personality. So the choice of what kind of hair you’re going to have, the kind of products you’re going to use for your face, deodorants, soaps and shampoos, body washes, all of this needs to actually connect eventually to the personality that you are.”

When it comes to these small things, Rathore wants to drive home the point that it should be unique to you, because that is what will make you shine this party season. “Don’t be a walking cardboard replica of someone. It has to be from within. So the choices that you make, of how you want to groom yourself, where you want to go and get some advice, are actually inbuilt on your personality. And never should it ever mismatch.”