After a three-month trial run, a confident Sujata Robin Singh officially opened her Grapevine boutique in Adyar to the accompaniment of hors d'oeuvre, music, and a short fashion show.
Sujata's first coup is the choice of hangers. Amazing what multi-coloured, bubble-encrusted triangles can do to attract buyers! Hanging from them is a variety of tops in mostly stretch material.
Team them up
You could choose one with needle spaghetti straps or puffed sleeves, and everything in between. There's hardly any repetition in the elegant works — be it beadwork, embroidery, bling or lace. Colours are black, white and muted, except for the few red ones. Wear them as they are or pair them with tights, jeans, trousers, churidhars and shorts. Sourced from across the country and abroad, they're priced from Rs. 800.
Says Sujata: “I always looked for these on personal shopping. So, I reckoned there's a market for this. What I have here has international styling with Indian embellishment.” Chennai's vibrant evening culture will bring in the buyers, she hopes, and adds people are looking for clothes with a ceiling on cost. “I see Grapevine as a meeting place for exchange of ideas. Eventually, it might include a tea / coffee shop offering juices, salads and light snacks.” The upstairs space will stock men's casual wear, but it's primarily for women, she says.
“How will these look when worn?” was answered by cool-looking models at the fashion show choreographed by Karun Raman. The show displayed a lovely selection of tops with bling on silver grey, short dresses with a smocked front, light short skirts, off-shoulder leopard-spotted dresses, sleeve-free tops, and one-piece non-creasy ensembles with zari. The whites came with self-prints in light, breezy material — pearl-embedded or glossy for those who wish to stand out. The partywear-cocktailwear black collection included a black ruffled short dress with a red belt, beadwork on a short dress, flow pants and sleeveless lilac top.
The highlight — a black no-shoulder evening dress matched by a lovely blackstone necklace. A total incentive to run to the nearest gym!
