The haute ‘M’issary

Masoom Minawala is living what every girl who loves fashion dreams of — a life where some of the top fashion brands come packaged at her doorstep, that too as freebies. And this happens at least once a week for the 22-year-old CEO of Style Fiesta, an online fashion portal launched in 2013.

“Beauty products, clothes, candles and even a tablet… It does get random, but I still get excited every time a package is delivered,” says Masoom, who lives in Mumbai and works with a team of 12 — with the conscious decision of them being under 27 years as “under-30 is the target audience’s age group.”

It all started with a blog, Style Fiesta Diaries, which Masoom launched when she was 17 while studying at HR College, Mumbai. “My father (Rajesh Minawala) is a jeweller, so perhaps that’s the closest link I can find when it comes to fashion in the family. Even in my early years, I was a tomboy, my school’s (Bombay Scottish School) football team captain… I was never into the designing aspect, but I gradually started loving styling, advising friends and family how to mix and match clothes, it was because of this passion that I started blogging.

“The blog encompasses personal outfits, inspirations, trend reports and the daily low-down of what’s happening in the style circuit,” says Masoom, who manages to post three times a month despite her hectic schedule.

“I was studying B.Com, which was not in any way related to fashion. But I am sure that brands such as Calvin Klein, French Connection, Giorgio Armani Fragrances and others felt my content was worthwhile because they wanted to collaborate only after eight months,” she says.

Over the course of time, Masoom felt she wanted to contribute to the market in a much larger way. “I was interested in the business of fashion. The thought process was that when someone checks my posts, likes what they see and wants to buy the exact same thing, I can give them an option where they can shop for it. The merchandise on international fashion websites mostly doesn’t make it to the Indian markets and even if it does, it’s very expensive. I wanted to reverse this trend. Thus, Style Fiesta was born,” Masoom reveals.

Style Fiesta is an online destination for fashion jewellery and accessories. “Up until now, 90 per cent of our sales have been organic with little or no advertising spends. We have a registered user base of more than 20,000 and Rs 15 million was predicted for 2014-2015 FY,” she says.

The website features sunglasses, watches, necklaces, earrings etc. that sometimes might look a lot like the designs in the market. “That’s purely coincidental. It is never a conscious decision to make an accessory look like a copy,” she clarifies.

Even though she had interned with her cousin, who is a fashion designer, Masoom felt she needed more to get into this field. “I did six diploma courses — fashion styling, business of fashion, buying, merchandising, how to build a fashion business and digital fashion — over a period of four months from London College of Fashion and Central Saint Martins, UK. I wanted to gain a foothold into what I was getting into,” says Masoom, and adds that even though the entire process has been thrilling, there were a lot of challenges.

The merchandise on the portal is updated every week and going by the trend report and sales, Masoom explains what’s selling the most. “The list includes trendy spectacles, dainty jewellery and statement earrings, keeping in mind that the wedding season is still on,” says Masoom.  “In future, I want to focus on having more categories and giving a wholesome experience to customers.”