If you’re going for a new look this year, and are looking for a one-stop-shop solution, the Mumbai-based fashion label The Little Black Bow should sort your needs. The brand has found a stunning response from Gen-Z influencers and Bollywood owing to its quirky styling and fresh, couture-inspired designs. One look at their slinky tulle lehengas will give you enough reason to explore their line-up.
“The brand literally started with a conversation between us, we wanted to do something that designers weren’t doing back then,” says Boo who founded the label with her best friend Ann. TLBB is trying to fit saris into the global sartorial spectrum, by making it wearable and hassle-free and syncing them with the millennial aesthetic of easy chic.
“In India, so many girls are giving up the sari in little towns and villages because they think denim is cooler. We beg to differ. Spending a day in The Big Apple in our saris wasn't just a whim. It's our own tiny movement in trying to bring back the sari and making people understand it's never been uncool or irrelevant,” the two friends wrote on their Facebook page, alongside a picture of them spending a sunny morning in New York in pastel saris.
“Our line-up is wearable and fun, it’s niche but then again it works for everyone,” Boo tells us. The brand’s focus on toning down celebration wear into something effortless serves them well, especially for their newest line-up which is a destination wedding collection. Luckily, the collection has a fantastic resort-inspired vibe, which is largely missing from the lookbooks of some major names in the industry but is clearly the need of the hour.
“We have ankle-length skirts, resort numbers, we are doing colours which are fresh and new, we are using lace, there’s a bohemian vibe to it, which makes it really versatile. We mostly use hand-woven fabrics which we source from across the country, tulle is the only fabric we use that’s not hand-woven,” Boo reveals.
Besides being stunningly Instagrammable, TLBB’s designs are made to bring a sense of urbane romance into statement wear, without going overboard with heavy embroidery or flashy sequins. That’s also the reason why their line-up is a hit with influencers across the globe, especially those looking to explore desi, homegrown fashion. The label’s bralette and skirt pairings and easy-wear lehengas, give a facelift to the perceptions of Indian festive wear.
“We never really had a budget for PR, it grew by itself. I think people saw pictures and they started approaching us. There’s a quirk to everything we do, it adds to the resonance. For instance, for our summer line, we are doing a travel-friendly collection which will feature tribal hand-embroideries and unusual colours and prints like bandhini etc," Boo says.