Photograph: Shrey Bhagat
With the online retail industry growing exponentially, the first-mover advantage is important. Anjana Sharma, COO and fashion director at Stylista.com, hopes to get a piece of that pie and democratise fashion in the process.
Ever thought that you could buy an original Masaba Gupta or Wendell Rodricks for under Rs.5,000? Not only is this possible, but the deals are about to get much sweeter for the online shopper who takes her labels seriously. Former fashion director at IMG-Reliance, Anjana Sharma has used her experience organising Lakmé Fashion Week to rope in top designers into the collaboration platform Stylista.com. The website is the latest venture by digital start-up incubator Ant Farm, and offers limited edition designer garments that are priced under Rs.5,000. And not just capsule collections, it offers a steady supply of labels for less.
Anjana has experience catering to many fashion and beauty clients, thanks to her advertising background. Together with entrepreneurs Rishi Khiani, Avnish Chhabria and Rishi Rajani, she started Stylista.com in November 2013 and serves as fashion director. And she has many reasons to be excited about the road ahead.
Fashion for everyone
Thanks to the foray of a large number of international brands in India in the past few years, the Indian consumer has opened up considerably to the idea of high street fashion. This, Anjana feels, has also helped make designer fashion desirable to a larger audience. During her two-year stint with IMG, she understood how designers felt. “Many of them were unhappy with the business model of the fashion weeks, as they felt that they were getting big orders only during those months and their collections weren’t reaching the masses. Stylista offers designers a platform that allows them to stick to their design philosophy, and make their work available at affordable prices throughout the year,” she says. Stylista’s collaborative platform allows co-branding with designers and 15 labels are already on board. Anjana’s priority now is to get a bigger repertoire, and soon venture into accessories and menswear.
With online shopping in India booming—the e-market consumption is estimated to touch a whopping Rs.163 trillion by 2020—and with big players like Myntra, Jabong, Flipkart and Amazon in the fray, buyers are spoilt for choice. But Anjana is unperturbed by the competition because she has a spade up her sleeve— handpicked designer collaborations. She has successfully roped in designers like Wendell Rodricks, Nishka Lulla, Priyadarshini Rao and Tanya Sharma to create exclusive collections for the site. “These collections are not available anywhere else, have no re-runs and have been priced competitively,” says Anjana. “I have also got on board Monica Dogra, Masaba, Shivan and Narresh, Neeta Lulla, Nikhil Thampi, Kallol Dutta, Sailex and Pankaj and Nidhi, who will design limited-edition high street lines and, if all goes well, designer Nachiket Barve too will create a line for us that will not be mass-produced.”
Who makes the cut?
Besides designer collaborations, Stylista also sells its own label called Stylista Original, which is curated with the help of trend forecasting. This allows the site to offer on-trend clothes without cramping designers’ style. “The designer collaboration effort would be defeated if I were dictating terms about what they should design. I want interpretations of their main collection for high street. I have only offered input in terms of fits, silhouettes and what works online.”
One of the most significant issues that the e-retailer addressed was that of sizing. “The problem with most international brands is that the cuts aren’t compatible with Indian body types. Static pictures of garments on most websites don’t allow you to see the fit and flow of the garment. Many of them are pinned at the back or Photoshopped. We even have 360° videos so that the buyer gets the true picture.” The website also has a 30-day return policy and ships internationally.
Hatching new talent
Anjana admits that she’s in this for a reason besides profit: the chance to make a difference. “I want to leave behind a legacy and make a difference to the fashion industry. With this in mind, we started the Stylista Incubator Project; Monica Dogra is part of its fi rst launch instalment.I would like to launch a designer every quarter. Young design graduates shouldn’t lose their sense of design and creativity by simply working with large manufacturing companies or assisting other designers.”
Anjana has her share of angst over the current state of affairs in the Indian fashion industry. “Numbers wise, what we call the fashion industry isn’t even a small-scale industry. For things to change, we need a serious organisation that can drive policy change at the government level. Can you imagine a world without the Kalamkari designers of Andhra or the weavers of Assam? Thacould be our future because our artisans and craftsmen aren’t making enough money to survive.” Anjana feels that the only body that can really make a difference is the Fashion Design Council of India. “It needs to redefine its objectives, move away from doing fashion and couture weeks. If we address the pain points at the grassroot level, we can move up from there.” While it may take a while for the industry to expand and meet global standards, Anjana is focussed on pushing Indian fashion in the way she knows best—by bringing it to the wardrobes of all who love it.
PHOTOGRAPHS: SHREY BHAGAT