Fashion By Rohini — Local services in Artesia

We went to LA to visit a few shops to shop for my Cabo wedding and I wanted to visit Rohini’s shop due to her stocking Falguni Shane Peackock who’s designs I really enjoy. I live in Manhattan and while I have a showroom that had a couple of Falguni Shane Peacock pieces, Fashion by Rohini was having a trunk showing. I feel compelled to write a review because of our experience.

First, I made an appointment for 2pm, and confirmed the time with Rohini via text. It was very easy to make an appointment and they would allow me to try on the Falguni Shane lahengas ahead of the trunk show which was to officially start the following day. I arrived 15 minutes before my appointment and found out Rohini had apparently told a customer to come at 2 because she didn’t think my appointment was at 2. We arrived to a small shop that looked fairly cluttered, with harsh blue white lighting and stark white walls and minimal decor.

After this, we sat down, she asked my mother for a budget. She kept hounding my mother until she just spit out a random number. We had not talked about a budget because my mother was willing to spend however much she needed to on dresses that she and I felt looked good on me. The Falguni Shane dresses run from 5k-8k each which was acceptable to us. I am her only daughter so she really doesn’t get to do this again. Rohini was condescending and dismissive towards my mother, giving mostly me attention and ignoring the woman who is paying for all of this. For example my mom doesn’t know much about “Indian fashion” and asked “when is the trunk show” thinking it was some kind of fashion show. Rohini ignored the question and made a face. This is not a term I was familiar with until I started looking for dresses either. Her assistant (who was very kind) answered that a trunk show is just when a designer is visiting. She desired to make two highly educated physicians feel “stupid”, I suppose. She also chided her assistant in front of us for putting the dress over my head. She was also clearly classist and made a comment that a customer came and “spent 250,000 with us”. It really doesn’t matter how much a customer decides to spend with you you should treat them all with respect and kindness.

The fitting room was not large enough to try on voluminous indian lahengas with their large can-cans. I wore yoga shorts luckily. I was asked to walk out in these shorts to put the lahenga on in the middle of the store. (Every other showroom I have been to has had large fitting rooms, with a curtain or door). I am not self conscious about my body and I wore yoga shorts but this could be jarring for someone who is. She also made a dig at my weight (for reference, I am a 5’ 4” woman that is 115lbs and I’m in excellent shape) saying “girls thinner than her have fit into these dresses” implying I wasn’t “thin” enough. I find the idea of perpetuating that brides need to be thin to feel pretty is toxic and I can imagine this kind of statement would really affect someone who is self conscious about weight or worse has an eating disorder. I have friends who have struggled with eating disorders and for that reason alone I wouldn’t recommend her shop to them.

I feel that this kind environment was not enjoyable to shop at. I felt my defenses go up, I could feel my mom was upset and stressed, and I wasn’t in a relaxing environment. We went to other popular Indian shops in this area and in NYC and I have never had this experience. I’ve been to Kynah, Frontier, Shyamal and Bhumika in LA and Ave India and Anita Dongre in NYC and would recommend any of these stores over hers due to the supportive and kind environment, and lack of condescension. My review is not going to make or break her business and I know that she supplies some of the Hollywood clientele, but this was truly a subpar customer experience that’s I’m surprised attracts Hollywood clientele when there are other stores on the same street with a better aesthetic that were actually fun to shop at! We did not end up...

Hi! Firstly, I am not one to regularly post these types of review. But my experience here was so notable, that I wanted to share with everyone out there looking for a pleasant and professional bridal shopping experience.

This store claims to be professional and high end. I read all about this store and their over social media and was excited to visit. I went to shop for jewelry for my upcoming wedding. I visited during normally listed store hours, and when I rang the bell to enter, I was questioned as to the reason of my visit. When I said that I was looking for joy for my wedding, the seemingly disgruntled employee told me that they didn’t have much and that the story usually only takes appointments. She asked me how much I wanted to spend at the door, without letting me to the store. She finally allowed me entry into the store. There were no other customers. The store looked more like a warehouse- I was shocked considered their social media presence. She hesitantly sold me a tikka I thought I liked.

When I went home and tried the tikka on with my jewelry, it unfortunately didn’t match and I took it back to the store to inquire about returns and exchanges. I had the unfortunate experience of meeting the owner, who told me that they do not accept returns or exchanges. i was never informed of this policy when I made the purchase. She agreed to let me exchange the tikka. Even though I didn’t need anything (and with my wedding approaching, budget also becoming thin, as any of you reading this that have been brides understand), I looked for something similar since rohini wouldn’t allow a return. I saw two sets of bangles I liked, without a price on them. They were simple metal bangles, with no kundan work. When I asked her how much they were, she told me, without explaining or checking, that they were at least two hundred dollars higher than the cost of a large, elaborate, beautiful kundan tikka I bought. When I inquired as to how she came up with that cost (it just didn’t make sense, and with an upcoming wedding, I’m sure anyone reading this that is getting married soon has also done thorough research online) and that, it really wasn’t in my budget to pay another 200 to exchange a tikka I purchased less than a week ago for simple bangles that I didn’t even need or love. Plus, the price she seemed to pull out of her pocket was truly outrageous. She then became angry and told me that she would no longer allow an exchange. She then left me for another customer, and told me to leave her store. I hope no other brides reading this are made to feel like Rohini (she proudly called herself the owner)...

I bought a $13,000 Tarun Tahiliani lehenga and a second $5000 custom lehenga designed by Rohini for my wedding and they both turned out to be disasters.

Do not buy from here.

TLDR: The entire experience from start to finish was problematic, including terrible service and attitude from Rohini. Both dresses I bought ended up with major issues (missing pieces, wrong color, disfiguration). I didn’t have any of these issues when buying directly from the designer. I would recommend doing that instead.

Rohini handled the ordering and measurements for my Tarun Tahiliani. Her measurements were so inaccurate, there was no reasonable way to make adjustments. Instead of accepting the error and having a new one made, she attempted to “fix” it, leading to a severely patched up blouse by a local tailor. Of note, a big part of the blouse was a Swarovski crystal chain, which was lost. She found me a make-shift chain that my makeup artist safety-pinned on instead. It's been over a month since my wedding and she still hasn’t found it and has not refunded me any money for the incomplete dress. I reached out to Tarun Tahiliani myself. They made it very clear the error came from Rohini and strongly recommended placing the order directly from them to avoid these issues (see attached image for Whatsapp conversation).

The custom Rohini-designed wedding dress came back the wrong color. She refused to acknowledge the error, even with a room full of people showing her the clear discrepancy and with me showing a text from her with the correct color. There were other issues with the dress and she assured me those would be fixed. Her fixes turned out to be cheaply tacked on fabric onto the lehenga, which had me scrambling at a local tailor who ripped off the fixes two days before my wedding. Rohini stated she did not have time to do this herself. My bridesmaids had to take hotel scissors to my wedding lehenga the night before the wedding in an attempt to clean it up further.

Believe the rest of the reviews when they talk about her attitude problems. Even after spending 18K here, she treated me horribly and gaslit me at every opportunity. And if you do purchase from her, PLEASE pay with credit card. I made the mistake of paying with cash.

Worth noting: I purchased the rest of my and my husband's outfits directly from Seema Gujral, Tamana Punjabi Kapoor, and Sawan Gandhi, and had absolutely no issues. They were wonderful throughout the process. Kynah...