Jasleen Kaur Gupta (left) and Sonu Bohra

It’s the current law of the fashion-steeped universe: if you are not togged in the nattiest of clothes, you just don’t have it. And if you have a personal shopper, well, you have cracked the code.

A slick set of personal shoppers — they almost come across as wardrobe genies — are changing the rules in the world of fashion for both men and women.

They will sweep through your wardrobe, weeding out the dowdy with precision, not unlike a stern Tim Gunn, the American fashion consultant, or the equally intimidating British fashion advisers, Trinny and Susannah.

Their campaign is to make you fashion-friendly towards everyday wear as opposed to perking up only for special occasions. And they are nifty dressers themselves. They are in the business of making people look like the proverbial million bucks, so they do as they preach — they dress to the sixes and look stunning.

Divisha Maroli (left) and Shazia Kachwala

“Accept it, in India we shop on special days. A personal shopper takes care of pointing out the need of maintaining a spiffy wardrobe for any occasion — be it daily wear, work wear, parties, Valentine’s Day or weddings,” says Sonu Bohra, fashion stylist and fashion blogger. Along with co-blogger and stylist Jasleen Kaur Gupta, she has been providing personal shopper services in Mumbai for a year now.

You know you’re in need of a personal shopper when you lead a busy life with limited time to go shopping or when you don’t have that perfect sense of what to pick up that flatters you.

Payal Jaggi, image consultant and personal shopper, says: “We know where to take you since we’re always doing a recce of the stores. It is easy to know what to pick and from where. We also know where you can find good sales. Just give us a budget, your preferences, the nitty gritty, and we do it all for you. Your job is to sit back and get pampered.”

Wardrobe detox

Payal Jaggi

There’s a method to the madness of shopping before you head off to a mall — it begins right when you enter the personal shopper’s domain. Expect nothing short of a hoovering of the closet.

A session with the personal shopper kickstarts with a consultation, where she spends time getting to know you.

“What is your personality? What shape are you, what colour appeals to you — there are so many questions that go into determining the right look,” says Natasha Chopra, former model and stylist who is also a personal shopper at the mint fresh Style Lounge, a styling service counter at Select City Mall, Delhi.

On an early December evening, dressed in a camel coat and denims set off with a pair of Uggs on her feet, the 30-year-old is getting her new office ready for her three-member team’s first consultations.

Natasha Chopra

Almost everything is in place including a changing room, a fancy make-up corner with an elaborate gilt mirror and a lounging area done up by home store brand, Good Earth. Chopra, who is the head stylist, also has questionnaires in place for her prospective clients along with goodie bags, stuffed with perfume and cream samples. Along with it are the services she provides from personal shopping and makeovers to corporate dressing and gift selection.

Meanwhile, Shazia Kachwala and entrepreneur Divisha Maroli, Mumbai-based stylists who have successfully run Revive My Vibe for two years, have also gone online with www.revivemyvibe. com, where you can register for a session with them.

They usually start by spending time getting to know you over consultations. Then they sift through the impulse buys in your wardrobe and finally — go shopping for you (or with you).

Another experienced hand is Rashida Anees, a stylist and interior decorator, who started dabbling in personal shopping a decade ago. She attends to three clients per week and offers a range of shopping experiences — from designerwear to an affordable Crawford Market assortment and even mid-range Fabindia clothes.

Karishma Rajani

Her forté is to make it a friendly affair when she takes her clientele out shopping. “We end up having lunch together,” smiles the lady who has even played personal shopper to Jane Fonda when she visited India in 2004 with the Broadway hit, Vagina Monologues.

The stylist duo Sonu Bohra and Jasleen, already 15-20 assignments old, fall in line with Anees on developing a rapport with the client. They get to know their clients over coffee.

“The most important thing is that you strike a chatty note. At the end of the day you are opening up your wardrobe to the personal shopper,” says Jaggi, who also offers bespoke clothing (in tie-up with a tailor) and personal designs on the platter. Adds Jaggi: “I therefore see select clients. I have to like you and you have to like me. It’s a two-way street”.

Going personal

You pay them to give you a complete range of looks. But who are these women and why should you hand over your wardrobe to them?

“When you hire a personal shopper, you hire someone who knows what is in fashion. Look at the other advantages — she knows about all body types and dresses you to flatter your silhouette and she does it all within your budget,” points out Chopra.

She therefore has trained stylists in her team. One of them, Namrata Puri, has styled for filmmaker Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar (starring Ranbir Kapoor) while the other stylist, Parneet Kaur, has been an image consultant with various fashion magazines.

Chopra herself started styling with Elite Model Management after training at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York, and followed it up with a make-up course with celebrity make-up artist, Vidya Tikari. Now she is personal stylist to actor Chitrangada Singh, besides conducting classes on styling at Elite. Her Style Lounge in Select City Walk is a one-of-a-kind service in which Chopra sources clothes and accessories from within the 165 stores located in the mall. And she charges Rs 1,000 per hour over and above the amount you shell out for shopping.

Personal shoppers either work on a commission basis or on an hourly basis. Bohra and Gupta, for instance, keep a commission of 30 per cent to 40 per cent over their client’s budget. But they do not shop below Rs 10,000 and spend a couple of days on the project if it calls for an extensive wardrobe overhaul.

At Revive My Vibe meanwhile, Kachwala who was formerly with Elite Model Management and styled for celebrities in Bollywood, has a mark-up of 25 per cent of the client’s budget. You can also avail of her gift vouchers for loved ones who can use them to redeem her services.

(Top) Khushnuma Master; (above) Rashida Anees

Some like Khushnuma Master, a personal shopper in Mumbai with designer boutique Ensemble, do not charge for their services. “That’s because I am associated with Ensemble,” she offers. Master caters largely to a bridal clientele, fishing out trousseau from within Ensemble.

On the other end of the spectrum is Karishma Rajani, a fashion blogger and a mass media student in Mumbai who gives in to personal shopping requests about twice a month from her young readers. She, therefore, does it free of charge and is a regular at street shopping haunts like Colaba Causeway and Bandra. Rajani even gets clothes tailored for those who want customised clothes.

The best bit about these personal shoppers is the fact that they are consciously demolishing the myth that personal shoppers are only for the elite. They might just end up saving you some money. For, some get you discounts because of the rapport they’ve built with stores over the years. Like Anees, who charges Rs 3,000 per day (for seven to eight hours), usually brings a 10 per cent to 15 per cent discount to the table. Kachwala can also swing a 10 per cent discount on occasions.

Fashion forward

Every personal shopper will have you know that your wardrobe has to have a few basics on which you build upon for everyday wear.

Women, to begin with, scout for that perfect pair of pleated pants. “They are more versatile than a pair of denims and give you a formal look. Keep it casual by teaming them with a graphic tee shirt and gladiator flats, or dress them up with a pair of wedges and a clutch bag,” says Jasleen Kaur Gupta. The colour palette is neutral but with a twist — go for powder pinks or blues, camels and olives.

According to Master, a few gowns can work wonders for the night when you have to go for a party. “If you are short however, keep it to knee-length dresses,” she adds.

Another winner is a silk blouse adorned with ruffles for a rich look in colours like black, white, dusty pink, mauve or lime green. “Invest in this one. It belongs to the shut-your-eyes-and-yet-you-would-not-go-wrong-with-it items in the closet,” says Gupta. Wear it with jeans, high-waist pants and pencil skirts. Throw on a blazer or a vest.

For men, the important style tip from Jaggi is to know that formal shirts have to be crisp with no pockets. “They end up stuffing cards, a pen or wallet into those pockets. It’s a big no no,” she emphasises. Meanwhile, Master insists on a classic bandhgala in the wardrobe for dressy affairs.

And while Bohra asks men to buy a good pair of loafers in purples, corals and blues to go with a white-shirt-and-denim look, Gupta says that one has have to have a French cuffed shirt in his wardrobe for the dandy touch.

She adds: “Just remember one thing. Since men do not accessorise their look as much as women, they have to wear good quality clothing. Women however get away with wearing clothes bought on the streets. But they must invest in a few pieces of expensive accessories that scream style. That can make or break a wardrobe.”

Photographs by Gajanan Dudhalkar and Jagan Negi