Tone down, dress up

Monisha Bajaj returns from obscurity to set up a new design retail chain.

Designers may open or shut their salons with the rapidity of restaurateurs, but their labels usually survive. Bajaj, who studied fashion in Los Angeles, then worked in the design department of Fashion Destination, chose to go underground five years ago when, in quick succession, she had her two babies, choosing to spend her time in mothering rather than in cosseting fashionistas. But you can’t keep a designer down, which is why Bajaj is back, in a new avatar, as creative director of Store One, IndiaBulls’ retail foray aimed at creating a Debenhams-like experience for Indian shoppers.

Store One has got off to a start not, as one might imagine, in the metro cities, but in Nagpur and Pune, destinations where IndiaBulls had space available, and where Bajaj believes consumers are looking for the right opportunities to ramp up their lifestyle. Which is what Bajaj is promising them. The last months have been spent sussing out designers where, from looking for buyers, she’s now turned buyer. “I have a trained eye,” she explains, making it easier for her to advise designers on what could work at Store One. “I tell them to tone down the embroidery, or dress up something,” essentially tweaking their couture or prêt lines to create volumes for the diffusion range that she hopes will work best for her chain of stores.

Not that she’s restricted to playing buyer: “I’m the head cook and bottle washer,” she laughs, looking through samples at designer Hemant Sagar’s swish factory in Gurgaon. Sagar, who shows off the lines he’s working on — soft leather jackets for Balmain, leather underlined with pashmina for the Lecoanet Hemant chain of stores — has put together embellished skirts and shirts for women, and slightly daring suits for men, bags and belts for both — for the store-in-store experience on offer at Store One. Among the Indian designers Bajaj has picked to show there are Ritu Kumar, Fightercock, Manoviraj Khosla and Anju Modi; among the Western outfits, there are Boggi, Forever New, S Oliver and DLP Alcott, besides UCB, of course.

“But it’s beyond just fashion,” Bajaj explains — there is a home section, accessories, and of course, a cafeteria, “even the music that will play in the background, or the design for the store, has been supervised by me …

I want it to be an aspirational and a happy experience for shoppers”. Nagpur’s 45,000 sq ft and Pune’s 65,000 sq ft will soon be surpassed by the flagship operation in Mumbai’s Phoenix Mills this time next year, with Delhi to follow.

Meanwhile, Bajaj is already goading the designers for their next lots — “each collection,” she promises, “will change every 45 days”. Sufficient reason, perhaps, to include Pune and Nagpur among your shopping destinations of choice.