Style and sophistication

Everything about them is beautiful, vivacious, elegant, contemporary yet timeless and together they put together trendy fashion — in clothing, accessories, and bespoke décor items. The divas — Sussanne Khan, Malaika Arora, and Bipasha Basu — each with a distinct passion, work closely as style editors at TheLabelLife.com.

The Mumbai-based lifestyle brand, which has a physical store in Bandra, Mumbai, recently hosted its first ever offline shopping experience in Pune. We caught up with the dream team to find out how they curate the collection, what is their style philosophy and what makes the brand resonate with today’s women. 

TheLabelLife.com has clothes for women of every age, size and shape. Sussanne, an interior designer who owns The Charcoal Project, a unique design concept store, talks about her fashion philosophy that caters to fellow 9-to-9 women. “My designs are for the women who have to be prepared for 9 am meetings and let their hair down with 9 pm drinks. Their days need impeccable styling with just right accessories. Their homes need elevated essentials for the times they play host,” she says, to which Bipasha adds, “The three of us are 9-to-9 working women who actually lead hectic lives which demand that we stay on-trend (while being comfortable). Apart from that, a large part of our customer base is also working women, so they resonate with our perfect-for-work styles in comfortable silhouettes that can actually take them from meetings-to-mocktails in a heartbeat. Also, since Malaika, Sussanne, and I are all different shapes and sizes ourselves, we keep a keen eye on sizing and hues to keep it on-trend for the modern Indian women.”

These gorgeous women, who influence thousands of women in real life, add their own personal sense of style and aesthetics to the brand. Says Malaika, “Since our interest and expertise lies in different areas, it was quite natural that Sussanne would curate and design the home décor section, Bipasha would cull statement jewels and accessories, and I would style and curate clothing pieces.” 
Bipasha says that each of them has an individual sense of style and that’s their power card when it comes to curating styles for TheLabelLife.com. “It adds diversity and eventually a variety for the customer,” she explains.
 
Sussanne points out that it’s important to keep in mind what the customer wants. “We marry form and function in every piece we make,” she says. 

The pop up in the city featured the gorgeous trio’s Fall Heroes collection which included classic staples you can wear to work and during weekends. Made of cheerful hues for sunny afternoons and cosy fabrics for breezy evenings, the belted trench, long line trench, lace co-ords, satin ruffle jumpsuits, pleated pants, and tulle dresses with asymmetrical necklines, promise to keep you in style all winter. 
Says Sussanne, “The pop up exhibitions make for the perfect opportunity for people to come, see, touch and feel the fabrics and try our silhouettes for real.”
 
But how do they ensure that they pick and curate the right outfits, accessories and décor pieces? Answers Malaika, “Based on trend forecasts, we zero in on one theme and work towards incorporating colour palettes and design aesthetics from that theme across home décor, clothing, and accessories.” 
Sussanne admits that doing it is no cakewalk and the trio does face challenges while curating and styling the collection across these three categories. “As trends change, it sometimes gets tough to keep up with what’s in vogue and what’s not. That being said, you’ll always find closet essentials on TheLabelLife.com that will always remain closet classics. For instance, a wrap dress, a white shirt, comfortable bottoms, and so on,” she says. 

Talking about her personal style, she says, “I prefer to wear skater or shift dresses in pared down hues as I’m always on site. They’re subtle enough for me to be on site for hours and yet polished enough to wear to meetings post.” Malaika, known for the elan with which she carries off every outfit, says, “When I’m on-screen, I’m required to go all glam. But off-screen I’m more relaxed, and always in casual tees and bottoms.” 

For Bipasha, who is a fitness freak, athleisure works the best. She says, “Athleisure best describes my style. I love sporty gear that can be worn even outside the gym. Comfort is paramount for me.”