Malavika Mohan is no stranger to new beginnings. Her clients might know her as the face behind Label.Malavika, a design studio in the city but there’s more to this enterprising woman who has dipped her toes in quite a few jobs to find the right ‘fit’.
“When people are overwhelmed by the transformation and begin to value themselves, it touches something in you,” she says. While being a personal shopper for the well-heeled can mean scouting for clothes and accessories anywhere on the globe, from London to Dubai, or right here in Mumbai or Thiruvananthapuram, it is that phone call or message from a client about how the makeover has turned their lives around that Malavika treasures.
In a past life, she used to be an engineer, one whose career graph was on an impressive incline with tenures in India and Europe as a business transition specialist. That is till she shot off a resignation letter on a flight back home. All Malavika knew then was that the time had come to move on.
Moving on
Chance meetings have played a crucial part in her life. In between biding time, pursuing activities that caught her fancy — from ikebana to tarot reading, and walking dogs, one thing led to another. It started with event management, instructing carpenters for stage sets to coordinating wardrobes for Bollywood celebrities and conducting recces for performances before moving to boutique events.
“When I was done with that, I thought photography was it,” she says. A long-standing correspondence with the late fashion photographer Prabuddha Dasgupta led to an apprenticeship under one of his disciples. Training mostly involved making tea, she says with a laugh, but on a day when the regular stylist failed to show up, Malavika was asked to fill in. The client went back beaming and Malavika spent the next four years as a freelance stylist.
Assignments from leading names in the jewellery and textile manufacturing industries filled her kitty. She also began to style celebrities in Sandalwood and ran a 15-member tailoring unit.
For someone whose clothes were entirely handmade with perfection by her mother, Sudharma, till Malavika enrolled at university, it seems inevitable that she would find herself pursuing the same love for fabric and colours. One fine day, she decided to pack her bags again — to Thiruvananthapuram. Soon an assignment to style actor Prithviraj for the posters of Teja Bhai and Family materialised, taking her to Kochi. More assignments followed with Malayalam actors as she shuttled between Kochi and Bengaluru where her unit was still functioning.
It was during a walk in the park in Bengaluru that she met her first potential client to whom she would soon be a personal shopper. Malavika developed a rapport with the elegant woman, then in her 80s. Bonding over tea, the woman showed her photographs of a younger college-going version of herself wearing sharara suits.
“I spent the next many days excitedly putting together outfits for her. She was thrilled after attending a wedding in her new look. The next thing I know, a group of her friends had shown up saying they wanted makeovers too.”
That was six years ago. The client, now in her 90s, still calls Malavika every Christmas. “I always say dress up for yourself. It is secondary what others think,” she says.
Wide range of clients
Malavika’s clientele has grown to transform new mothers upset about dresses they don’t fit into anymore, excited brides who are raring to experiment, diffident young women who have learnt grooming essentials and post the Malavika-intervention quit gnawing at their French-manicured nails and men with high-flying careers who needed the attire to match. Suggestions on new luxury brands to hit the market also come from husband, Rahul Subhash. “Unfortunately, we live in a shallow world that judges us first by our appearance. I know a client who went for the same job interview twice in a span of a few months and was hired the second time after her makeover,” she says.
Though not as ruthless as British stylists Trinny and Susannah who have reduced women to tears on their television show, Malavika mentions cases where she has walked through her clients’ wardrobes only to have heaps of clothes given away or burnt.
Malavika finds herself in a fix when clients refer to screen shots of style patterns worn by celebrities. “I can replicate the clothes but I cannot give them the same figure. The first step is self-acceptance. There are clients who expect to fit into the clothes from their pre-maternity days. As new mothers, they also do not have the time to pamper themselves or feel valued. When they are introduced to styles that flatter their figures, it boosts their confidence.”
“I don’t believe fashion is expensive,” Malavika says. “There is nothing more comfortable than a ganji and a pair of jeans, and nothing looks better on a Keralite woman than a well-tailored blouse and a cotton sari. It is just about knowing what to buy and being able to get it for a little less than that. I like to keep myself affordable so my charges are nominal too.”
Sessions begin for most clients with lingerie. “Invest 50 per cent in lingerie that fits well and develop a grooming routine. It isn’t just about makeup and high heels. A makeover is a shift in lifestyle, like choosing to have your morning tea in a pretty cup simply for how it makes you feel.”
Who would require a personal shopper, one may wonder. It could be someone who needs a second perspective or even those who couldn’t be bothered about shopping and would rather have someone do it for them. Then there are others who have the money but do not know where to start, she explains.
Label.Malavika is a reflection of her many interests – design, clothing, gardening and cooking. “We are all about making people and things beautiful. The transformation is from the outside in,” she quips.
A close encounter with people and places in the city
