MEET AMBIKA LAL – Lawyer turned Fashion Designer

We bring you the Dareact story of an ingenious young Image Consultant in Kolkata who has launched her signature clothing Line under her label, Ambika Lal.  

What is interesting is that the young lady who has wooed the fashion industry was a capital markets lawyer once. Her fascinating journey from the hallways of capital markets to the fashion corridors is a story to tell. An avid traveller and an army kid, who has enthralled many with her natural sense of style and fashion. She also dawns the hat of a motivational speaker whenever she can make time for it. 

Let us take you through our Dareact chat with her and discover how she converted her creativity into a successful profession. 

As a kid, Ambika was a good student and scored well in  the tenth board exams. People around her would often tell her that she could get out of situations and was argumentative. These comments stayed in her head and made her believe that she has the skillsets of a great lawyer. Her love for fashion was innate, but the very thought of pursuing it as a career choice did not strike her back then, since she could not envision it as a successful career. In a family filled with lawyers, doctors and consultants, the obvious choice was to pursue careers that were more known considering she had good grades. It gave her an insight into how demanding the profession is and what drill is required to make a good lawyer. No weekends, no soft corners, just lots of cut throat competition. She had the opportunity of working with great lawyers and realized that people who were well known in their profession were ready to give that time and energy to the profession. So she developed the skill of pushing herself to be her best version.  

As she entered the realm of capital markets, she realized there was a lot of learning since the subject was not taught in law school. Her earlier internship experience helped her shape herself into a thorough professional. “Be very very sure that you are ready to learn. You can’t expect yourself to know much since we haven’t been taught this subject in law schools. Practical knowledge is what gets you to be a good lawyer, and the kind of team u are surrounded with.” 

The next few years were pure hard work while she worked for different organizations, it helped her excel in her career and be a sought-after lawyer people wanted to poach.  

At the time of her marriage, her love for fashion and make up rekindled while she was trying to make preparations for her own wedding. She followed a few Instagram influencers and before she knew fashion had become her calling. She pursued a course overseas and took the plunge of quitting law to start her own fashion label. “I am open to ideas, not stringent. I am open to explore what is new and whether that will work for me”. Within 6 to 7 months of the launch of her label, she was awarded “The emerging fashion designer of the year” award. Before she could absorb that, she was invited to showcase her work at Lakme Fashion Week. “When opportunities knock, you do not refuse!”. And the rest, as they say, is history. 

Ambika is a known name in the fashion industry today though she did not have a professional qualification to run a fashion label. She candidly states, “You feel intimidated when you start growing, a lot of people will give you advise to guide you. Some people will pull you down, but you learn. I am open to criticism because that is how one grows, the main aim is to grow, to become the best version of yourself and make the most out of what you can do. If u take it positively these things actually help you out, every single time.” 

She also uses her time to motivate others. Being someone who has faith in herself, she states she adores and loves herself unconditionally. “In motivating others, I motivate myself”. While taking the career changing plunge, she never wondered what she will do, she always knew whatever she does she will do it well.