Dilemma for the designers

"‘What’s new?’ is the first thing customers ask at every show. The challenge lies in coming out with innovative ideas and inspirational designs every season,” reveals Phiroze Shroff who is the vice president of marketing and public relations of their upmarket clothesline, Dilemma, whilst wife Dhun as the president and designer "calls the shots.”
From their base in New York, Dhun creates the designs for every item, a variety of 120 new women’s clothing for each line introduced twice a year. Her concepts are then given shape in India after which they are sent to the US where the garments are put on display at a permanent showroom at the World Trade Center in Dallas, Texas. "We personally do five shows in New York, five in Dallas and two in Las Vegas,” Phiroze responds to Parsiana’s queries by email to give us an overview of their operations.
The speciality of their colorful collections on luxurious fabrics is that every design is created in one size and the silhouettes are so constructed that it compliments various body shapes. The prints are all inspired by masterpieces of modern art hanging in museums whether works by Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Alfred Gockel, Georgia O’Keefe, Evariste Vital Luminais, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Rudolph Gorman… Each piece is individually hand-painted. Their website showcases their caftans with scarf ($ 225), tunics ($ 120), ponchos ($ 90), artist shirts ($ 170), kimono jackets ($ 225) on pure silk crepe de chine.

Dilemma range (from left) inspired by artists Marc Chagall; Pablo Picasso; Maurice Esteve

Phiroze and Dhun Shroff with grandsons Zal (left) and Kaivan

Nearly two decades ago, the couple ventured to launch their own business in 1996 after considerable shilly-shallying. Whilst Phiroze was then director of Fashion and Fabric Applications at Monsanto Chemical Company, Dhun had established a name as a designer and consultant to large corporations in the textile field. "She was always keen on getting her own label, but we never had the guts to give up a well paying income and start something from scratch,” recalls Phiroze, adding, "Our son Zubeen was partially instrumental in coaxing us to start out on our own and see how good we really were as a team. He had graduated with Honors from the prestigious Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania and was already making a name for himself in his field, so a thought like this came naturally to him. We on the other hand were very hesitant and in a dilemma. Hence the birth of the lable — Dilemma Inc.
Operating from their dream house (in the prestigious suburb of Dobbs Ferry, Westchester, New York) which is fairly large, the couple live upstairs, using the floor below which has five rooms as office space and warehouse. There is a separate entrance that permits access to UPS, Fed Exp and DHL services on an everyday basis. Their three full-time employees execute the day-to-day orders, packing, shipping, etc whilst the couple goes visiting trade shows where they earn orders. Since they are wholesalers they take orders from boutiques, specialty stores, museum stores and galleries. Additionally six road representatives in different geographic locations throughout the United States market the Dilemma line and earn 15% on the orders they bring in.
"All our production is done in India,” specifies Phiroze, "We do not buy anything off the rack. Dhun designs each and every item.” Bombay born Dhun (née Rumwalla) had studied at J. B. Vachha High School and then Madam Flo Hyams School of Design and Dressmaking before starting her own school of design and dressmaking where she trained a crop of students before she left India in 1960. Phiroze too is Bombay born and had earned his Licentiate in Textile Manufacture from the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute and subsequently graduated in textile engineering from Bombay University, did his masters in textile technology from the Lowell Technological Institute and Advanced Masters Program Certificate in Marketing from New York University. He takes pride in reporting that he is extensively published and photographed in domestic and foreign publications on the subject of color, yarn and fabric innovation: "To be exact, 555 times in 85 publications, which is fully documented.”

Exterior and interior views of Shroffs’ home

Living room embellished with creative cusions

Dhun Shroff’s creative design

For the Dilemma line, "Dhun selects the base fabric, then designs the print that goes on that fabric, determines the silhouette she wants, makes the paper pattern and the first mock up garment. She is very proficient in photoshop so she positions the print on the garment where she wants it and sends the E-file to the manufacturer in India along with the paper pattern and the sample garment to keep it ready when we arrive. We make two lines a year so we have to go to India twice a year, three weeks at a time. Once she approves the garment we place an order for 50-100 pieces of a style as an initial order.” Always selecting bright cheerful hues for their range, they believe, "Life without color is like dancing without music.”
Catering to a niche market, they "do not have any direct competitors since our product is very unique. So although the market has been depressed since the last few years we have been holding our own and actually gaining sales instead of dropping,” mentions Phiroze who is content that their "sales fluctuate around a little over a million dollars a year. There are no plans for expansion. We are at the twilight of our career. We are happy to work at this pace. We can enjoy life; do whatever we want and yet keep ourselves busy and active. We feel we have been there and done it all. Now it is time to relax and enjoy.”
Refusing to divulge their age, Phiroze is explicit, "We answer every question that is asked to us except age. That subject is taboo. We feel age is a mindset so we put it away on the backburner and don’t think about it. We keep having our eggs, dhansak and a good Parsi peg every evening.”
Fond of traveling and entertaining, Phiroze elaborates, ”We have theme evenings like Evening of Poetry, Evening of Quotations, Evening of Italian Serenades, Evening of Oldies (music from 40s and 50s) when a few of the regulars (including Phiroze) play the piano, and the rest of them sing along. We are now planning an evening of waltzes if I can find a violinist to come and play some Strauss waltzes, so we can sit on our deck and enjoy the strings with drinks and eats.”
The Shroffs’ home, a blend of their design training, artistic taste and nature’s beauty, was brought to Parsiana’s attention by our reader Rashid Khosravi after it was featured in inside outside (December 2013).When probed further, Phiroze happily related, "We always wanted a contemporary home so when we saw this we fell in love with it. It was a 14-year-old house built in the style of Philip Johnson known for his transparent, linear forms. The whole house is built on a ravine. Only the garage sits on the floor; the rest of the house is cantilevered (where the projecting structure is supported at one end and carries a load at the other end or along its length) and rests on metallic columns since there are underground streams constantly flowing under the house.
"We made a lot of changes to it like opening up both the corners and fully mirroring a couple of walls to give it extra transparency. When you sit upstairs you feel you are sitting in an open environment because you see nature on the outside as well as inside, being reflected through the mirrors. Each season mesmerizes you and in winter when the foliage disappears you get the full view of the Hudson River.
"You can’t help commenting on the uniqueness of the house especially when you realize that it is only 20 miles from midtown Manhattan; the so-called concrete jungle. You hear the sound of running water and frequently see deer, raccoons, squirrels and birds wandering around. The best part of the house, we enjoy, is sitting on the deck under the stars wrapped around by nature.
"The only Parsi roots that are reflected in the house is free flowing food, drinks and enjoyment,” jests Phiroze. "Since we were growing up I remember Parsis to always be in the forefront of fashion, fun and frolic and they still continue to do so. They have always catered to the social and cultural scene; so I guess fashion is in their blood.”
When not traveling, the Shroffs "always try to attend the functions at ZAGNY (Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York). We fully support everything that the ZAGNY board and members are doing. They should be applauded,” the duo is emphatic.
Proud to be Parsis and grateful for "the values of good thoughts, good words, good deeds infused in us,” they both pray every morning for a few minutes. Whilst Phiroze wears the sudreh-kusti at all times and Dhun occasionally, the "highly liberal” couple believes that living in a modern society, "interfaith marriages are a way of life and we have to start accepting spouses and children of interfaith marriages into the community.” Son Zubeen is married to Anahaita Kotval (Harvard Law) and their two grandsons are doing their Masters, Zal at Columbia Law and Kaivan at Yale.
With design and Dilemma helping the husband and wife complement each other, Phiroze shares his secret for happiness: "We pretty much agree on everything and when there is disagreement, Dhun has her way. I always tell my friends that when I married Dhun I knew her last name was ‘Ms Right;’ what I did not know, was that, her first name was ‘Always!’