Every city has its own unique sense of fashion.
Catering to each metro state are their popular market streets.
They are fashion capitals of their city.
That's what makes Chandni Chowk the fashion capital of Delhi or New Market of Kolkata.
There's Commercial Street in Bengaluru, Chennai's Pondy Bazaar and Mumbai's Linking
Road.
We decided to visit the 5 metros and explore their fashion capitals and along the way hopefully
learn a little bit about how India's style statement is made.
This is India ka Fashion Capital powered by Flipkart Fashion and our first city is the
definer of latest trends in popular culture, Aamchi Mumbai.
In 1661 the British procured the island city of Bombay in dowry from the Portuguese.
Since then Mumbai has become the melting pot of various communities, cultures and has a
rich heritage.
It was India's point of contact for all things western being a port city.
Christian and Parsi women in Mumbai pioneered a western taste in styling as early as the
1920's.
The 1960's brought the first Indian fashion houses and saree clad Bollywood heroines.
And the fashion boom actually happened in the 1980s.
And, if Mumbai has a fashion Capital then it's undoubtedly Bandra.
Hello and welcome to India ka Fashion Capital powered by Flipkart Fashion.
We find ourselves in the midst of the Mumbai monsoon in full swing.
The rains, bring with them a little chaos and a slowing down of pace in this maximum
city.
However, the most torrential rains aren't enough to slow Mumbaikars down from seeking
out the latest trends on the streets.
Bandra is known as the Queen of the suburbs.
Geographically it is the first suburb, separated from the older parts of the city by a narrow
creek.
It is smack dab in the middle of the extended city and does not feel too far from either
the north or south ends.
Bandra definitely deserves to be the first in our series of fashion capitals.
Linking Road, runs through Bandra and is its main fashion hub.
Here you can find premium brands or fast fashion that trickles down to the streets and it's
truly affordable.
This is the high street and the best place to go shopping in Mumbai.
Obviously we decide to interview someone who has had a long history with the street.
Zahir Jaffer's family has dealt in leather for 4 generations and today he owns one of
the oldest stores on Linking Road.
Ira: So typically in a week let's say, how many customers would you get in Sole to Soul?
Zahir: Maybe about 500-600 customers would walk-in, in a week.
Ira: Wow!
Zahir: And now, it's gone down by about 30-40% over the years.
Ira: How many stores has the family had over the years, on linking road?
Such a historic place!
Zahir: It was a joint business before, in the 60s and 70s.
Ira: Oh my God!
Zahir: So that time Linking Road was like concrete jungle.
There was nothing over here.
Ira: What are you saying…
Zahir: My father told me, he used to come…they used to live in town, so he used to take the
morning 9'o clock bus, he used to come here and he used to be waiting sometimes 6-7 hours
for one customer to walk in you know…
Ira: So there were hardly any stores Ya, Bandra was not developed at that point
Ira: So, what would your advice be to guys who want to buy shoes in India?
Zahir: See, I'd say that a cheap shoe is not always a good shoe.
A cheap price doesn't mean the shoe is always good because there are a lot of components,
lot of materials that go into shoes.
Ira: Like for instance this guy here.
Zahir: Ya, so this guy is like…
Ira: Tell us about him…
Zahir: It's a nice dremel kind of leather, slip-on kind of a shoe.
It's got a few elements to it.
It's got a nice TPR sole.
It's got a nice lining.
And it is comfortable.
Ira: Ya it looks like the softest shoe I've ever seen.
Ira: Let's see some of those shoes…some of your favourite ones.
Zahir: So I'm going to talk about the current fad, which is now the white sneaker look,
with the full white element.
Ira: This is very on-trend.
Yes, this is very on-trend.
Zahir: Lot of kids want to be tall so you can have, on the inside a little heel.
Ira: Oh, it's got heel inside?
Zahir: Yeah it's like a wedge.
Ira: Oh this is like a wedge heel sneaker!
Zahir: So, in the wedding collection, earlier it used to be like this heavy, chunky bling
things, but now it has gone daintier like this laser cuts Swarovski diamonds.
Ira: Right, let's take a closer look at this.
This is a very intricate shoe.
Zahir: Lot of work there.
Ira: Very intricate shoe.
Zahir: So we are also adding like a little new kind of a material.
Like a TPR, which is more comfortable, easier to grip as compared to the leather which used
to slip.
Ira: So you are really keeping up with the trends in terms of the materials also
and that's awesome.
Ira: So we have a lot of comfort shoes here and I have the whole store yet to go through,
so I'm going to see you later.
Meeting Zahir made me understand the amount of hard work that goes into a high quality
shoe.
And with my feet taken care of, I decided to walk on to our next destination.
In today's scenario, high-end fashion too has a base in Bandra.
Almost every designer has a flagship store here or is stocked in one of the high end
stores in the green lanes of this suburb.
To understand a bit more about why fashionistas seem to flock here, we met up with someone
who has carved a niche for herself in the scene.
Devangi Nishar Parekh is the Director of Aza Fashion.
One of India's most respected chain of multi-designer stores.
Today, here she is to tell us more about trends in Mumbai.
Ira: How do you figure out what people really want?
How do you figure out trends?
Devangi: So trends is kind of a mix of two different things.
Ira: Okay Devangi: One is the top down approach and
one is the bottom up approach.
Ira: Okay.
Can you explain to us illiterate people what this is?
Devangi: So in terms of the top down approach, it's designers working with their teams to
really innovate and come up with what are the trends for the season.
So in that case they will look into colors, fringes, tassels, tribals…these are the
things that are currently trending, for example.
And the other way is when it actually trickles down…it goes through our stores of course,
it goes into more mass market stores.
It trickles down and the way the customers actually receive the trends and the way they
interpret it – that creates new trends altogether.
So for example, if you walk on the streets you will see a lot of street style right.
I might wear sneakers with a lehenga.
I might wear something really interesting and mix and match in my own way as an individual
and that then inspires designers again.
Right, because they see things, the way trends are being interpreted and it creates new inspiration.
Ira: This is very interesting what you've just told us.
Because I think there's like a cyclical sort of thing.
Everything is reinforcing the other thing.
So, what is happening in the designer stores and the luxury space is actually going into
the streets.
And vice versa.
Ira: How often do trends really come back?
Devangi: So trends come back in different ways.
So for example, what my mum wore maybe 20 years ago, I too would wear it but not in
the same way.
So I might wear Zara sneakers with a particular designer jacket with an heirloom saree which
my mum bought in Benaras.
Ira: Do you shop outside Aza?
Obviously, you have to.
Devangi: Actually I am an avid online shopper.
Ira: Everything is online!
Devangi: I don't get time to go to the store.
So yeah, I'm all about e-com.
Ira: Do you believe that a lot of the trendy, sort of fashion forward people and the fashion
forward ideas come from Bandra?
Devangi: In Bombay, I definitely think that Bandra is the melting pot.
And the way people in Bandra interpret trends and the way they style their looks is truly
original.
Right now, accessories with pom-poms or animal motifs are really trending.
So you'll see like shoes with pom-poms which are tie-ups and they are all over linking
road.
Ira: My God!
Devangi: And you can go buy it and style it with a designer dress, why not?
Mumbai has a population of more than 1.8 crores; this makes it more populated than one third
of the countries in the world.
Obviously not everyone can afford to shop in stores like Aza.
So where do the average income people shop and how do they manage to still be more stylish
than their country cousins?
To learn a little bit more we took a walk through Bandra's favourite high street Linking
road.
Ira: Can you give us some tips on how to bargain?
Shopper: This price doesn't work.
Please say a correct price.
All those common things.
Yeah, and they will come to a price that you are actually comfortable with.
Shop owner: If the shop owner is stating the price at 250-350, you start the bargain at
half of the price point.
Ira: Half of the price point, always!
Shop owner: Start at half of the price point and he will bring down the price.
Ira: Oh perfect, half of the price point, always!
Ira: How do you keep up with the trends and do you think Linking Road is up with the trends?
Shopper: Absolutely, yes!
You can just look around, it's just perfect.
Ira: So tell us a few things you like to buy over here.
Shopper: I think the shirt dresses, or something like dungarees, or ripped jeans for that matter,
is really cheap and really nice.
Ira: How do you come to know about what is trending, or in fashion?
Shop owner: We import the clothes.
So we come to know what is going to be trendy.
Ira: How long have you been shopping here?
Shopper: Every week we come.
Ira: What do you think, what is so special about Linking Road?
Shopper: It's cheap and easily available.
Ira: What is the cheapest thing that you've bought from a market like this?
Shopper: A shirt worth 500 rupees.
Ira: He is gifting me a pair of earrings people.
Ira: So what is in fashion the most these days?
Shop owner: These days dungarees is a lot in trend.
Ira: Dungarees Shop owner: Like this one
Ira: This one, how much is this for?
Shop owner: This is for Rs. 900.
Ira: This is too much.
Only when you know the pulse of each and every local fashion scene can you understand what
India's fashion rhythm is.
Flipkart is the Fashion Capital because it pays attention to everything that happens
around the country.
To tell us a little bit about why Flipkart loves Bandra we met up with Priyanka Misra
and Arindam Mukherjee.
In the last one year, it has been a fantastic journey.
We at Flipkart have tried our best to bring the latest fashion, the hottest styles, whatever
is you're seeing on social media, what you're clicking on Instagram, things that you're
watching you favourite film stars wear, it's all on Flipkart.
A lot of work has gone on, and we've tried to work with our brands, our sellers, got
you a lot of exclusives to ensure that there is something fashionable in everyone's wardrobe
in India.
What's actually trending is something we actually want to kind of figure out.
So our machines on the technology side of things really try to do that.
Scanning the internet to figure out what's trending across the globe in terms of fashion.
We capture all of those trends and try to bring that selection in front of the users
on Flipkart.
And that's why Flipkart is kind of one of the premier shopping destinations online where
users shop for the trendiest fashion of India available.
You don't need to buy a ticket to Mumbai to shop there.
Flipkart makes sure that the minute something is on the shelf of the trendiest boutiques
of Linking Road, it's also available to you anywhere in India.
But what are the other metros like when it comes to fashion.
In this series we are going to the fashion capital of each and every metro in India.
We are going to pay homage to the style setters and the taste makers and all those people
who have kept fashion alive.
My name is Ira Dubey and I hope you come back for the next leg of my journey where I go
to the fashion capital of our nation's capital, where things might get loud and boisterous
but it never gets dull.
I will see you in Delhi.
Till then: Viva la fashion.
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