Diipa Büller-Khosla on the culture of celebrity and her armour of jewelled talismans

Before Tiktokers became red carpet royalty, before content creation became du jour, and fashion’s front row started to fill up with faces of social media legacy-makers, there was the original crop of influencers that gave birth to the concept of measuring online popularity and monetizing it. This was the space that law student-turned-content creator and entrepreneur Diipa Büller-Khosla had chanced upon, during an internship at one of the first influencer agencies in Europe. “Back then, Instagram had just started. I thought to myself, what is an influencer? On my third day at the internship, I was closing a deal for Chiara Ferragni with Mango for a huge amount of money, and I thought: who is this girl, why is the brand paying so much money?” remembers Büller-Khosla, who now has a whopping 1.8 million followers on Instagram and multiple brand deals.

Büller-Khosla walks in on the Vogue India set in a cropped tank and relaxed trousers, hair pulled back, beaming with excitement at 8 am on a Monday morning—a default setting that feels like she never breaks character. The influencer and owner of the beauty brand Indē Wild had just flown down to Mumbai from New Delhi, where she had conducted a champi workshop with her mother the day before. Throngs of girls had lined up to take pictures with a sari-clad Büller-Khosla.

For what may seem a common Indian household practice, it was clear by the look of the eager crowd that the effect of the champi was of less importance than the chance to get a picture with a sari-clad Büller-Khosla. “I don’t know if you saw some of the videos we shared of the people who came. There were so many tears and laughs and hugs—so many emotions,” she gushes, still unable to get over the special moment.

Her mother has been integral to this entire journey from the beginning, Büller-Khosla tells me. She took a chance on her and invested €300 in Büller-Khosla’s wardrobe so that she could create content on the streets of Amsterdam with the labels carefully hidden away from sight. Today, Büller-Khosla has her own beauty empire; has spoken at the Harvard Business School on her entrepreneurial venture; is a regular on the Cannes red carpet, standing tall and proud amongst top-tier celebrities from around the world; and has graced the covers of magazines. Büller-Khosla’s constantly rising online popularity rivals the kind of following that only the products of Bollywood have enjoyed up till now.

Moments of nostalgia

In the early days of her career, it was Büller-Khosla’s effortless but tailored style that first garnered attention, and she has maintained that quality over the years. When not in extravagant frothy gowns, or high-octane red carpet uniforms that include archival Givenchy and Rahul Mishra couture, a normal day in Büller-Khosla’s world sees elements of new-age cool girl chic remixed with high-end luxury. This translates to classics that circumvent momentary sartorial fads—a Marine Serre skinsuit with timeless Philo-esque crisp trousers, for example—all of which are requisite staples of her wardrobe.