Eighteen years after starting his namesake business, Bibhu Mohapatra described the wax and wane of being in the fashion industry Friday night with the CFDA’s Marc Karimzadeh as part of the CFDA Curates FashionSpeak Fridays series at the National Arts Club in New York City.
Mohapatra, who was born in India, spoke of his early days as a Fashion Institute of Technology student and having the gumption to slip unsolicited resumes under office doors. He said, “The first time that I came to New York it was all that I had heard about. It was a good balance of fear, anxiety and excitement.”
Mohapatra also recalled how, after he finished working at night during his stint at Halston, he would admire the famed designer’s samples that were stowed away in a closet. Mohapatra then joined Gilles Mendel at J. Mendel, where craft, teamwork, top-shelf service and know-thy-client design approach were among his takeaways. Asked to design something in fur, Mohapatra created a fur bikini and repurposed the leftover black sable fur for a jacket for his little dog.
“Two days later when I was walking the dog on Fifth Avenue, someone wanted to buy that,” he said. “I thought, ‘It’s a prop.’ But I sold it.”
Here, are some of the other highlights.
Coming to the U.S.
“I hold onto my experiences as an immigrant in this country and every day I can tell people about it… I believe that this is the best place to be for anyone to be who they really are. And I still believe there is goodness and good will in this country; that is why I feel at home.”
Meeting Michelle Obama
“Fern Mallis wrote me an email saying that the White House was trying to get in touch with me…I did something for Michelle Obama for an appearance on The Jay Leno Show. She was on tv for over an hour wearing one of my outfits that was a sample. They were so proper about it. They were making sure that it wasn’t $4,000.
Then [in 2015] I did something for her for President [Barack] Obama’s State Visit to India. I was in the country at a dinner party, and I received a text saying that she had deplaned in Delhi wearing one of my outfits. That moment changed the trajectory for me. That was clearly the highlight of the career.
Later at a party [for fashion designers] at the White House, she was holding my hand and I said, ‘If this is not the American dream come true, what is?’ No one can tell me this is a fluke. This happens only in this country. I said to the President, ‘Mr. President, thanks to you this is my husband [Bobby Beard.]’”
Overcoming Challenging Times
“Whenever I speak with students, I always tell them about what didn’t work first. [In 2017,] the company had to file for Chapter 11 [bankruptcy protection,] because one lender did not pay on time…My sister had been diagnosed with breast cancer so I sort of focused on that. I also got my team together and went through the whole process [of restructuring.].
By 2020, a new partner, one of our licensees for outerwear, had come in. We were back in business and then COVID happened. The company made some mistakes, and as a result, they lost the license. My team started making masks. I had been part of the Supima Design Competition for years, so they gave me cotton for the masks. We made about 5,000 masks that were shipped to hospitals.
As we emerged, I used whatever I had [for the company] to put my team together. The money that had been unpaid came back to me and my husband, who is my business partner. We opened our first store with a short-term lease on North Moore Street. A year and a half later, I lost my brother to COVID and thought, ‘Maybe this is the last blow that I can withstand.’ I knew that I could not live life and do business in the same way. I made changes. Before COVID, it was 70 percent wholesale and 30 percent retail. We flipped that [ratio] to focus on direct-to-consumer. We signed a long-term lease with the option to buy a space on Duane Street, where our atelier is. Change is everything.
What’s on the Horizon
“I’m just getting started. I am sure that many people know that the Japanese have a theory called ‘Ikigai,’ which involves dividing the day into four parts so that each day will give you a new beginning. Starting my own brand was a big dream and I have done that. Also, I am creating products that people like to keep as collectibles, and not just as clothes for a season. One of my dreams is to take the name back to India, which has a booming economy and there is a lot of demand for it. Some discussions are going on for clothing, ready-to-wear and also a factory. Hopefully, by the end of this year or the opening of 2027 we’ll have some news for you. [Marc Karimzadeh: ‘Like a homecoming.’] Yes.”
