RITZ catches up with Dia Bhandary, the amazingly gorgeous fashionista and hostess.
Call her the perfect hostess, a fashionista with an eye for all things beautiful, or the lady with the maximum numbers on her iPhone, Dia Bhandary ticks all those boxes and then some. She’s the hostess with the mostest and the petite beauty, originally from the Garden City, who now calls the City of Nizams her home, is also on every elite guest list. RITZ catches up with the gorgeous fashionista.
Circa 2008 when premium lifestyle brands made an entry into Bengaluru with designer stores opening up in the lavish UB City mall. Brand heads were looking for someone who could bring the uber-rich spending strata of the city, those with a penchant for high fashion and luxury goods, to come to their launch party and get a taste of merchandise that was till then only available to them at stores abroad. Clients had to be among the best, the richest and the most sought after people in the city. And they wanted a person who knew them all and could ensure their presence at these events.
Dia Bhandary hails from one of the city’s oldest and most well-known families. Her parents, who have lived in Bengaluru for several decades, were a social couple and mingled with the who’s who of the city. Dia and her sister Anisha grew up with the children of several of Bengaluru’s most wealthy and influential families and these connections have been maintained well over time. Dia’s warm and friendly personality has endeared her to many and her large circle of friends and well-wishers is always happy to attend an event when she issues an invitation.
She has hosted events and trunk shows for nearly every premium lifestyle brand available in the South – ranging from fashion brands like Paul Smith, Canali and Jimmy Choo to Judith Leiber and Bottega Veneta. There are also lifestyle brand names like Roche Babois, Fendi, premium alcohol brands like Blue Label, Taliksker, Ciroc and others that have used her connections to better their reach in each city.
“Sometimes brands come to me for just an appropriate guest list, others want to plan a sales driven event, while some want to have their brand familiarised among the right crowd. Over the years and with experience I have understood how to curate the right guest list for each event,” explains Dia. Her own innate sense of fashion and etiquette have worked well in her favour to make her the first choice for anyone who wants to host a premium event in the South. “Outside of Bengaluru, which is my home and where I do the maximum number of events, I have curated events in Hyderabad (where I now live) and even in Chennai,” she tells us. Her contacts and connections spread all over the three major Southern states and Dia is often shuttling between Bengaluru and Hyderabad on work.
“I like to give each brand who approaches me the best, and hence I host no more than one event a month and plan every last detail,” she tells us. Though many might consider her job description to be pure fluff, it takes a meticulous mind and a strong set of organisational skills to ensure that everything is planned down to the last detail, the right guests are included on the list, invited personally and then reminded periodically of the event till its actual date.
“It’s a lot of hard work to plan and put together each of these soirees,” Dia says. “Not many think of it as a proper job, but look at the number of people now who do the same thing I do. Everyone needs the right crowd and the right setting for an event. I have the experience at planning and executing them to the last detail and I’m happy to offer my expertise to brands who need it.”
