Tardini Jindal:

Muse is a store that we want people to enjoy on many levels. We want to create a totally unique shopping experience, from the products to the music and the approach our sales staff has toward the customers. We also wanted Muse to be a store that could be located anywhere in the world — to help build such an international vision, an overseas team consulted on the products, the branding, and the visuals. We wanted Muse to be a forum for introducing international brands (especially contemporary labels) that, up until now, have been unheard-of in India. We want to promote all the amazing brands that we see in international cities such as London, Paris, and New York, and to help the customer to understand that beautiful products do not need a super-brand label attached to them to make them desirable or validated.

TJ:

In the next few years, there is likely to be a considerable increase in the number of restaurants, bars, and fashion stores. The immediate area already has Indigo Deli and Bombay Electric as neighbors, not to mention Zegna and Gucci, so it is a natural transition for this whole neighborhood to further develop into even more of a desirable area in terms of recreation, dining, and shopping. There is already a slight snowball effect happening, but things do take time in India — overall, though, I think the area on a creative level will go from strength to strength as more people gravitate here, thus creating a demand for more amenities.

TJ:
The Muse customer base is a mix of women of all age groups. The product mix should appeal to all ages. Naturally, some of the brands, such as Junk Food, do appeal to a slightly younger customer, but on the whole we urge our customers to mix and match — fashion should not be about age, but a certain attitude. At present, we have a mix of young, professional women and married women who do not work. We also want to attract a lot of the tourists who might be passing through Bombay, staying in neighboring hotels such as the Taj or Intercontinental. The lifestyle section downstairs is an area that we really want to develop. This should be an area that attracts men and women — and we want to develop our menswear business through this angle.

TJ:
We were looking for pieces that had some sort of "wow" factor — items that just spoke for themselves and were totally eye catching!

TJ:
Going forward, we have a very global mix of bag brands. We have picked up lines such as Corto Moltedo from Italy, Felix Rey from the US, and Lara Bohinc and Luella from the UK. This global approach also extends to the clothing — we are carrying brands from Australia, Italy, London , New York, and Paris. Going back to the ethos and concept of the store, we want Muse to carry the crème de la crème on a global level. We are also very keen to explore emerging markets such as Brazil, where we feel there could be a lot of synergy with the appreciation of color and vibrancy.

TJ:
We are also buying into some cool hair-accessory labels like Stacey Lapidus. We are trying to promote new angles on accessories — not just bags and shoes — and we see hair accessories as new and fun, especially as many of the girls in India have very long hair, which they can wear in many different styles. We are trying to promote a more fun and trend-forward approach to jewelry; for next season we have bought into a very cool line called Matina Amanita which has some amazing cocktail rings in the line. All the rings have specific names, and, in fact, there was one called the Bombay ring which was of course top of the list. What Muse is trying to do is introduce a much more lighthearted approach to accessorizing — we want our customers to move away from a fine-jewelry mentality and to update their jewelry as often as their wardrobes.

We also want them to understand that a bag or piece of clothing does not have to have a super-brand’s label for it to be validated. We want to educate our customers and broaden their minds when it comes to brands. Going forward, we are going to develop the home and lifestyles area, and we want to introduce more products that appeal to both male and female. We definitely see this as a way to develop our menswear business. Aside from accessories, Muse is trying to promote lifestyle more than anything, so we want our customers to feel that there is something on every floor for her to buy, whether it be a True Grace candle or a Cacharel dress.

TJ:
At this stage we made a conscious decision to focus on the new international brands. For us, this is what Muse’s point of view is all about — it is about promoting brands that you cannot find anywhere else. Although, we are definitely thinking about some special projects and collaborations going forward with local designers.

TJ:
Without a doubt, introducing brands. We wanted to be the first store to really introduce "contemporary" into the Indian market. Until now, the focus has really only been on luxury goods.