As you push past the butterfly embossed glass door of Marmalade located in the city’s retail nerve centre, a flurry of attire and accessories vie for your attention. As do the quirky knick-knacks that immediately define the space you are in.  

Marmalade is an apt name for a store that mingles the diverse collections of upcoming Indian fashion and jewellery designers. It is this mélange that makes it a distinctive stopover for women who are looking for one-of-a-kind Western and fusion pieces that project their identity.  

With a passion for fashion and style, Gauri and Shauna set up Marmalade in October 2005. Gauri studied textile and fashion design in Mumbai and then photography and styling in London; Shauna is a trained graphics designer and dabbles in silver and fashion jewellery.

Typical of the Marmalade collection would be Delhi based designer Smriti Ahuja’s brand ‘Am Alive’, with dramatic silhouettes in jersey and cotton. Or a favorite with Bollywood, Shaheen Abbas’ ‘Flower Child’, a jewellery line of silver and gold-plated pieces embellished with pearls and semi-precious stones.  

“You notice a movement in what people are wearing and what is available,” Shauna says. “What we add to the store also springs from what we think can fill a void in the fashion scene.” Gauri elaborates, “There is a lack of simple, stylish, well-cut evening and day wear. Indian trimmings are appealing to the West, but it is run-of-the-mill at home. There is so much room for experimentation here; especially considering the variety of fabrics we get in India is so vast.” The brands stocked here are interesting too – ‘Pink Papaya’, ‘Half Full’, ‘Vitamin K’, ‘Blue Bean’.

Marmalade can be dubbed a laboratory for stylistic experimentation just by skimming the surface of what is on offer. Indeed, it can take an entire leisurely afternoon for the store to unravel all its contents. From kitschy baubles and peppy sundresses to chic, innovatively cut shirts and festive fusion wear. Designers combine and deconstruct the elements of style to reinterpret them in new and creative ways.  

Shauna describes the Marmalade woman as one who is “aware of fashion, but her personal style is not necessarily defined by what is in fashion. She likes to stand out, and likes clothes that emphasize who she is.”  

A fine balance between the quaint and the funky, the store’s décor speaks of the sisters’ Anglo-Indian roots. Rose patterned pastel wall paper, deep mahogany colored furniture, and tendrils of pink and cream fabric flowers threading through the store hark back to the Victorian era.  

 Considering Marmalade is next door to their Spratt Salon & Spa, it is not hard to imagine why it often doubles up as the last stop on the client’s tour of pampering from head to toe. Marmalade has just the sandal to show off the new pedicure, and a blouse that will highlight the latest hairdo.  

The store’s clientele is a wide cross-section of Bangalore’s style conscious, who have an eye for original pieces. You are unlikely to find the same outfits again, as the designers are rotated and new pieces brought in every week. Nonetheless, the collections will find favour with varying expressions of style as the garments are selected to offset each other.  

With an escalating following and growing demand for personalized style in an age of mass production, Gauri and Shauna are now planning to open more Marmalade outlets around India, starting with Mumbai in 2008.