Putting the dream into Dream Girl tailors

‘It’s hard to please a woman,’ Kamal Makhija confesses over a cup of masala chai at the legendary Dream Girls of Dubai in Meena Bazar.

I can see what he means. There are at least five women at the counter, reading their thoughts aloud to his staff. One of them wants a black and cream Chloe dress she has seen in a magazine, the other a pencil skirt (the print-out of which she holds tightly), and the third cannot decide between a Givenchy gown and a fuchsia dress from a Marc by Marc Jacobs ad. There is also a girl waiting to be fitted for her wedding dress and another holds a bagful of jersey material, running her fingers through the catalogues on display.

Makhija smiles. ‘I don’t think even God can satisfy a woman. I just try my best.’ Almost 42 years and more than 100,000 happy customers later, Makhija is the go-to man for the women of Dubai for all things sartorial.

‘Ladies, ladies, I tell you,’ he nods his head and smiles sheepishly, ‘they are very delicate you see, and they need to be praised all the time. If you please them, they’ll be the sweetest things. But if you don’t, you have it the hard way. We please 90 per cent of all who walk in through this door. It’s only a bit tricky with the remaining 10.’

From a simple shirt to a fabulous gowns, from a sari to a salwar, from padded shoulders to nipped waists, from original designs to the perfect copy, Makhija has mastered it all.

He came to Dubai in 1969. Alone. He was 22 and it took him five days to reach the UAE from Mumbai on the Dwarka, a passenger ship.

Like most young men at that time, who believed Dubai to be the new El Dorado, Makhija was confident of building his fortunes here. He started working at a company and then a friend suggested a tailoring business. ‘There were no good tailors in those days,’ he explains. So even though he had no experience in cutting or stitching clothes, Makhija decided to give it a go. With two boys from Mumbai and a small table at a corner store he began taking orders. ‘I started very small but I was able to win the trust of my customers.’

In 1975, he finally got his own trade licence and opened the first Dream Girls Tailors in Meena Bazar.

He chose the name after Hema Malini, the film star from Mumbai known for her dreamy looks. His early customers were mostly Indian and Pakistani women.

‘We were stitching a lot of salwar suits and blouses, even saris. Women those days were so fashionable, they were well-travelled and were up to date with current styles. Some sent their chauffeurs with yards of materials, demanding a suit a day, 30 a month. The drivers used to come and collect the ready suits every morning and the bill was cleared at the end of the month. Then we had women coming to us with fancy designs for parties. Catsuits were popular, so were animal dresses. We had to do a quick turnaround. Sometimes mothers came with children in tow. The demand increased and so did the number of tailors,’ Makhija remembers.

Today he boasts 300 men across the three units of Dream Girl Tailors in Meena Bazar, Karama and Satwa. ‘Earlier we took two days to finish an order. Today it is no more than 24 hours. Women had a lot of time those days. They came to my shop, had a cup of tea, and spent a great deal of time with the masters who would talk to them for hours and stitch their clothes. Now they come on horseback [in a hurry] but I make sure they enjoy a cup of tea as they are waiting for a trial or a delivery. We never fail to give them the red-carpet treatment. And yes, their clothes should be ready on time.’

The tourism boom in the 1980s was a huge boon for Makhija’s business. ‘We suddenly had tourists coming from England and Europe,’ he says. ‘Tailoring during those days was a costly proposition in those countries. So they came to us with the material and the designs, requesting us to stitch both formal suits and casual dresses. Some even wanted copies of famous designs, and we did that for them. But of course, instead of stitching the designer label, we gave it our own Dream Girl label and they loved it. Word spread and very soon even the western expats living in Dubai started coming to us. I started the branch in Satwa just to cater to the expat demand.’

Aware of the changing styles and fashion trends, Makhija strongly believes that it’s best to let women suggest their own designs. ‘We never impose our judgement. One day it will be halter necks, the other day bell sleeves or cold shoulders. Sometimes long maxis and at other times, short hem lines. It’s best to let the customer decide. That way we are all happy. We still have our customers going back to 32 years who will not have it any other way. Even those who have migrated to Australia or Canada come and visit us during their holidays and get their best clothes stitches. They still have their favourite masters working here in the tailoring units and know who to get in touch with.’

Some of Makhija’s tailors have been with him for years. There is Magan Bhai who’s been with him for 24 years, Idris for 26, Umesh for 22 and Mohammad Abed for 24 years. There are 12 cutters and each cutter has 6 tailors under him. The master cutter understands the design and then explains it to the tailor, who then stitches up the garment. The workshop in each of the units has its own rhythm and the heaps of laces, satin, brocades, silk and sequins make them look straight out of the cave that Ali Baba found himself in.

‘We give our customers two to three trials. And while to tailor a wedding dress it would cost anything between Dh2,000 to Dh20,000, a would-be bride can only try it out once for the final fitting. It takes a month of hard work to make a wedding dress that is really intricate,’ explains Makhija.

Makhija met the woman of his dreams in 1969. His wife, Rachna, manages the Satwa branch of Dream Girl Tailors and has played a huge role in his success. ‘She’s my queen,’ he says fondly. ‘While I still continue to work for 16 hours a day, she has seen it that my home has functioned well and supported me completely,’ he says. ‘Our early years have been a lot of hard work. But today Dubai has offered me everything I’ve ever dreamt of. My children have been well-educated, my business has grown manifold and there’s nothing more that I could ask for.’

Part of Makhija’s charm lies in the way he addresses his female clients – they are all his ‘darlings’. He is endearing enough to make a woman be at ease in less than two minutes and is all ears to their demands. So be it the busy bylanes of Meena Bazaar, or the chaotic streets of Satwa or Karama, his clients are ready to travel halfway round the world and still come to him for that snug fit, the delicate finish and the cup of tea that’s always ready.