BackOut of the Closet | Maithili Ahluwalia
The founder of Bungalow 8 on statement jewellery, voluminous dresses and the growing importance of vintage
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Everyday eclectic
Just before Diwali, Maithili Ahluwalia the founder of Mumbai’s Bungalow 8, the popular fashion and lifestyle destination that turned 10 this year, came to Delhi with a pop-up of her store. Set up as a dowager’s boudoir in a luxury suite of The Imperial hotel, it was filled with mixed fare—closets in washrooms brimming too. Vintage clothes, accessories and jewellery, handloom stoles and scarves, linen saris, innerwear separates and décor items, all bold and eclectic.
On a sofa sat Ahluwalia, in what could best be described as a glamorous denim envelope, a sexy, deconstructed light-blue dress worn with tan-coloured lace-up clogs, an ivory bracelet and red lipstick. She fitted the image of the diva that fashion magazines labelled her as initially, before her persona as the thoughtful curator of a store, that has influenced Mumbai’s taste in clothes, began to take over.
In the 10 years of curating Bungalow 8, what’s been your learning in personal style?
The distinction between fashion and style is my most enduring learning. For me, fashion is more about clothes and what lies in your closet while style is more a holistic world view, a reflection of how you engage with the world, aesthetically, artistically, culturally, intellectually and spiritually. It is about larger life choices: what you eat, what you read, what movies you watch, and what people and things you allow into your life. Bungalow 8 is about a point of view rather than a showcase of products.
What are your wardrobe favourites?
Everything I have is a favourite as I seem to buy less and less and only what I will want a decade from now. I love classics with a twist that can be re-worn and reworked in different ways. The denim dress you speak of with a deconstructed Japanese touch is certainly one. Hand-me-downs from my grandmother like a Piaget watch, a rhinestone-encrusted metallic clutch, a Paco Rabanne disk bag, have a special place.
You call yourself a child of heritage. Does this surface in the way you dress?
I’d like to rephrase that to say I’m a child of plurality. I grew up in an environment of hybrid cultural influences and unusual juxtapositions. My grandmother hailed from a fairly conservative old Mumbai textile family but was progressive in her thinking. Unaffected by the whimsy of trends and ahead of her time, she would pair traditional Patolas with art deco jewellery, silver thaalis with melamine, Kutchi with French. I took this language of dualism for granted, and it informs the way I dress.
As I get older, I like fewer things, and while my brother calls me a bit of a diva, I’m actually low maintenance. I find an excessive indulgence in clothes wasteful and unnecessary beyond a point. As a workaholic, I appreciate quick, fuss-free classicism that suits one’s lifestyle, personality and body.
I’m drawn to bold, atypical pieces, having grown up in my mother Jamini Ahluwalia’s studio. She works with rare materials and combines them in unpredictable ways.
Like clothing, jewellery mirrors your state of mind. I collect different genres, traditional south Indian temple pieces, Western vintage like Dior, Chanel and St Laurent, antique tribal pieces and cheap flea-market finds. I mix them all up. I will often put an old Ganesha pendant, an ivory cuff, delicate gold filigree earrings and rocker-chic punkish rings together. What an absolute bore to wear jewellery in a perfectly coiffed manner.
Don’t you think vintage has become an overhyped marketing scheme?
I have to confess that I naturally gravitate towards vintage. Having spent time in my grandmother’s closet while helping arrange her many finds, made me value provenance, tactility, soulfulness, history and uniqueness over the new and in-vogue. Also, luxury feels more mass these days, with big brands available at airports, runway trends becoming available on the high street within minutes of their debut.
What are the best ways to style a scarf with Indian wear?
I am a bit of a purist when it comes to styling Indian wear. For me, fusion wear and Indian wear are different. The best way to wear a scarf with Indian wear is in its natural form, as a dupatta. Scarves are more of a Western interpretation of a dupatta and best worn with Western or fusion wear. They are much too small in scale to be worn with traditional Indian wear or interpretations of the kurta. “Scarf" has a Western connotation but I don’t like distorting Indian wear.
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