Brides, Lies, and Jackson Heights
By Isabel Ball and Madeline Parrish
Walking off the subway towards 74th street in Jackson Heights, Queens, it becomes apparent that one bridal brand, Rahul’s Couture, dominates the area with just three locations on one street.
“I don’t want to leave 74th street or 74th street doesn’t want to leave me,” says Sunil Chugh, also known as Rahul, the designer and owner of Rahul’s Couture and Armaan’s Bridal Shop.
To Rahul, Jackson Heights is more than just a neighborhood. It was the first place he came when he immigrated to America in 1997, and where he stayed to work, eventually building a name for himself.
A few blocks down on 77th street sits a lesser known bridal shop, Bombay Bridal Boutique, which bears striking similarities to Rahul’s Couture. Both feature heavy curtains and signs posted prohibiting photography.
A destination spot for brides of all backgrounds, Jackson Heights, Queens, hosts not only the successful shops of immigrants, but their family rivalries as well.
In the last few years, traditional Indian wedding practices have extended beyond the country itself. People of mixed ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds find themselves adopting Indian wedding customs. Because of the value and importance placed on tradition, competition between business is inevitable.
Two shops, one on 74th street, one on 77th, split the bridal industry in Jackson Heights in two.
What began as a family business turned into anger and eventually silence, dividing both relatives and the business.
Rahul, 35, said that he came to Jackson Heights from India with twenty dollars in his pocket and a dream.
Rahul came into this industry after working for his uncle in Jackson Heights at Bombay Bridal, counting down the days until he could establish a name for himself, independent of those he worked for.
“I used to be an Indian American, now I’m an American Indian…it’s beautiful,” he says of the hard work he put in to eventually open three Indian bridal shops in Jackson Heights.
Bombay Bridal is where the family continues to outfit the brides who come to Jackson Heights.
“Everything comes from India,” says Sunny Chugh, Rahul’s cousin, who owns and manages Bombay Bridal Boutique along with his parents, who are Indian immigrants. He was born here in New York, unlike his estranged cousin, Rahul, who immigrated with Sunny’s parents.
“People from all over know that here, in Jackson Heights, is where it all started,” said Sunny.
Rahul worked there from 1997 until 2004, during which time he says he faced poor working conditions. He worked for a year under his uncle without salary and with little food and other basic human needs, he said, becoming increasingly emotional.
“We lived in a basement with a blanket with holes in it,” he said.
Coming to Jackson Heights, Rahul and his brother had nothing to their names and became dependent upon their uncle to provide and support them, which put them under his absolute control.
“We worked hard by ourselves, and now here we are, better than them, and they’re just jealous,” Rahul said.
Outside of this familial rivalry between Rahul’s Couture and Bombay Bridal, competition is present within the bridal industry of Jackson Heights. For this reason, both shops ares lined with curtains and signs prohibiting photography because often, employees come in from neighboring businesses try to photograph each other’s designs and store layout.
“I don’t want to be bothered by what other stores are doing,” said Rahul. “I just want to focus on what I’m doing and grow so that’s that.”
On average, a traditional Indian bridal dress from his shop can cost between one thousand and four thousand dollars, with higher end pieces costing around nine thousand dollars. These prices cover the completely custom experience of designing and fitting the dress exactly to your liking.
He plans to expand his brand past the borders of Jackson Heights.
Sunny takes great pride in his customer service, mentioning how his father always taught him how to take care of people and of customers.
“The other stores have no idea what service is,” says Sunny. “They don’t care about people. They just want to take money out of their pockets. Me being born here, I know what good service is.”
With a smile on his face he remarked that his favorite part of what he does is “being able to make the bride and groom.”
Prior to the interviews on Tuesday, which prompted a confrontation on the phone, Sunny and Rahul had not spoken in two years. Relations between them are still tense, in both a personal and professional sense.
Technically, Rahul’s feud is with Sunny’s father, but that doesn’t make it any better for their relationship.
“Everything he got is from us,” says Sunny. “He’s the biggest copy. Our whole life, ever since he was a little kid, his whole family is trying to copy us.”
Although Sunny was born here in New York, he refers to India as being his home. His position as the child of immigrants, being born into a modernized generation in a traditional area, gives him a unique perspective.
“The kids now, our generation, are brought up here in America,” says Sunny. “They’re more Americanized. They still have the Indian roots. The culture back home is a little more traditional. They create a new form of Indian.”
Despite the burden of the situation, Sunny still maintains that he loves Jackson Heights.
“America is my home. Jackson Heights, it could be better, but I love it.”
