Asma Hussain is one of India’s famous fashion designers, a member of the Awadh royal family and a descendant of Shuja-ud-Daula. She showed her first collection in 1994 and founded the Asma Hussain Institute of Fashion Technology (AIFT) in Uttar Pradesh. However, she is not only famous for her royal legacy, but also for her incredible work.

Her clothes are widely recognized and have been worn by many famous personalities such as Bollywood’s yesteryear actresses Saira Banu, Kirron Kher, Shabana Azmi and even Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath. According to reports, in 1996, the then famous Bollywood star Dev Anand opened a fashion house for her.

Asma Hussain Institute of Fashion Technology is recognized by the National Vocational Training Council, Government of India. Asma Hussain once revealed in an interview that she grew up watching her mother sew clothes. At the age of 6, she learned to operate a sewing machine. She claims this is how she became interested in sewing clothes, and as she got older, her interest turned into a knack.

Asma Hussain further claimed that she gave up her career as a doctor midway through 1993 and came to Lucknow to focus on her dream of becoming a designer. She started working as a fashion designer in Lucknow and began a quest to restore the city’s lost culture and heritage with her craftsmanship. She said when she came to Lucknow, it was difficult to find craftsmen who could do delicate work. She traveled to different corners of the country, looking at various artworks and learning handmade pieces.

After 1995, her life took a new turn when on the advice of her friends, she established the Asma Hussain Institute of Fashion Technology in Hazratganj and even started teaching what she loved to do the most. Asma Hussain teaches design courses to students who are now working in different countries.