When the photos started flooding in, Ines Aryaniputri wasn’t prepared for what she was seeing.Women were wearing Eila (Hebrew for bright, shining light) – the backless maxi slip dress from Saya’s very first collection – everywhere. On tropical holidays. At destination weddings. In maternity shoots and sunset dinners. On social media, the sexy yet roomy dress had taken on a life of its own, far beyond anything Aryaniputri, 34, had imagined when she and her co-founder Dharu Dwihutami, 35, conceived it as a simple warm-weather piece for their womenswear brand.
Saya's signature Eila dress. (Photo: Saya)
They had tapped into a growing appetite for clothing that felt distinctly suited to life in Southeast Asia.
“Suddenly everyone was wearing it and tagging us,” recounted Aryaniputri to CNA Lifestyle via an email interview. “It quickly became our signature piece.”That was in 2020. Saya – which means me in Malay – was barely months old, launched during the height of a global pandemic. Yet the viral success of Eila revealed something the founders themselves were only beginning to understand: They had tapped into a growing appetite for clothing that felt distinctly suited to life in Southeast Asia – pieces that were light enough for the heat, versatile enough for travel, and polished enough for life’s special occasions.GRAPHIC DESIGNERS BY TRAINING
