Masaba with mother Neena Gupta (left) and Moon Moon Sen at her store in Quest mall. “I like the way she does the prints, a little faded. I think they should catch on in Calcutta,” said Moon Moon. Riya (in picture top with Masaba) loved the combination of “colour, print and border” of the sari she was wearing.

We were supposed to meet Masaba Gupta at 6pm at The Park, an hour before her fashion showing on Wednesday. As our car turned around the Park Street bend, the 25-year-old messaged to apologise that she was stuck in a traffic jam. On reaching The Park, she was all smiles, ushering us to her room. Tired, but ever so professional. One more reason to love Masaba.

You’ve had a crazy day...

I’ve had and there’s more to come!

Masaba Gupta announced her label’s arrival to the city with a fashion show on Wednesday evening at The Park. Saris, cropped tops, dhoti pants, dresses with Masaba’s signature colours and prints were sent on the runway. Even the fashion show invite (inset) was done keeping in mind that individual connect. Pictures: Rashbehari Das and Pabitra Das

What’s the secret of this energy?

Ah! I don’t know! I really enjoy it, I think. It’s really weird because when I was younger, I was the laziest kid. I wouldn’t want to get out of bed or do anything. I used to play tennis and even to get to practice, it was a task. So, I think it is because I really, really like doing this… today I realised that you are excited about your new store, but that whole nervousness isn’t there anymore. The store is looking fantastic. We just set it up. It’s not as organic as my other stores are. It’s far more evolved... the interiors and the way we are functioning. It’s the first one with a computerised billing, for example. We have a lot more system in place for the Calcutta store because it’s a franchise (Surendra Choraria and Santosh Choraria are the franchisees). It’s in a mall and you are on a par with some of the best brands. The level has been upped a bit.

How special is this fifth store?

It’s very special. I never thought when I was doing my first show that I would be opening five stores! (Laughs) I was very happy working from home. I used to go to people’s houses, take my bag and sell it to them. That’s how I started. That time we used to have just six or seven pieces to show. If they wanted changes, I would even go with them to the fabric shop and buy fabric with them. I had no lookbook or assistants. And I would sell it at the cost price and I used to feel really excited that I have earned money! I did that for a good year. It’s really special because I didn’t think that retail would feature so much in my career. Most designers my age are trying to find a foothold at one odd fashion week or an exhibition. We are doing that and we are doing retail, which is a big deal.

This grounded nature must be in your genes…

People get a little shocked when they see me like this. People are like, ‘Oh, we thought you are arrogant!’ I never thought like that. My father (Sir Viv Richards) is even more grounded than any one of us. He would become pals with waiters at restaurants and the guys who would do laundry. He has this backslapping thing with everyone. It’s a Caribbean thing. They are very laid-back. A Brian Lara or a Viv Richards could be walking on the road and people won’t bother!

Do you get emotional looking back?

It does make me emotional because I have come a long way. It’s not been easy because I had a lot of friends who were way more focused than I ever was and even today they must be way more focused than I am. They had their career and life chalked out as hell. It’s scary… when you have a group of friends and there is one person who has no ambition gets ahead…. I wanted to be a tennis player, an actor, a dancer…. I wanted to be in the limelight. I didn’t want to be a designer… behind the scenes. My mother always used to tell me that this glamour thing is not that great. It’s fabulous if it’s there, but you can get it in any field.

You have been tweeting a lot about Alia Bhatt…

Alia’s mom (Soni Razdan) and my mom are best friends since the past 25 or 30 years. We were the Spice Girls. I was Sporty Spice because I used to play tennis and Alia was Baby Spice, obviously! We used to have rehearsals in my house every day in the evening because I had the biggest poster. All of us were so ridiculous! So, I have grown up with Alia. We have gone on all our holidays together since childhood. I absolutely love her. I can never see her as a star. We have lots and lots of memories together. Highway is her film! There is a preview going on in Bombay right now and I am missing it. I am going to catch it first day first show.

Masaba decodes her 600sq ft store on Quest’s second floor for t2

Decor: We have a standard for all our other stores, which is all-white because we want to let the clothes stand out. And we usually do a black or a grey base. It is sometimes black-and-white stripes too. And we do pink elements. Here we have stone-grey and pink elements and we have these really beautiful steel rods. We’ve just about put a TV screen in our other stores. This store will have it too. We couldn’t afford it (earlier) with four stores. And then we didn’t have access to all our show videos.

Collection: Mixed. It will have spring/summer 2013 up until spring/summer 2014. I didn’t just want to come with my new line. I wanted to come with all the pieces that I have done so far that have been popular… camera, cow… everything. The funniest part is when I was walking into my shop, I saw two people walk in in my fake saris. I see it all the time! It’s flattering in a way that you know there is a buzz in Calcutta, that people are taking to these prints. Of course we are doing a new line in March, autumn/winter line. There is a print inspired by goddess Durga’s eyes. We thought we will especially add this element. That’s the key element. We have done it in three colours… powder-blue, pink and black-and-white. There are saris, tunics, lehngas and shararas which we usually don’t do. I am exposed to only the sari-wearing crowd of Calcutta. I have only interacted with the older lot of Calcutta. That’s the only bit I know will work. So, I want to see whether… like, we have got cropped tops here, shirts to wear with jeans. We don’t know if there is a market for it yet but we are giving it a shot.

Music: We have a lot of Susheela Raman, Midival Punditz, Karsh Kale, Hari and Sukhmani. There is a little bit of Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar because it’s very soft. We don’t like instrumental very much… it’s too hotel-type otherwise! You want a bed after that!