Shweta Bachchan-Nanda's first fashion recall: Helping mum Jaya adjust Kanjeevaram saree pleats

She’s one of the biggest names in fashion. The other a style icon for many. What happens when two powerhouse women combine their sartorial sensibilities – a brand that’s as much for daughters as for their mothers.

Designer Monisha Jaising was in the middle of customising an outfit for friend Shweta Bachchan-Nanda when the idea for their new label - MXS - struck.

Something that started off completely unplanned has now turned into a major fashion label.


“It was a common friend’s birthday, and Shweta wanted to make something special. She had a vision in her mind that she wanted to convert that into a garment. So she came to me and said, ‘this is what I want, and can you make it?’” Jaising tells us the story behind the brand as we chat with the two ladies at the Delhi launch of MXS. Earlier, a star-studded Mumbai launch saw the entire B-town, in solidarity, turn up in MXS creations.

“I loved what she came with and I didn’t change it a bit. I made it exactly as she has envisioned and it turned out beautifully. It was her vision and my knowledge that created the magic that night,” the 52-year-old designer adds, revealing the idea behind MXS .

Several brainstorming sessions later, the two women have launched their first collection which they reiterate is for an ‘age-fluid woman’.

Bachchan-Nanda who has three generations of women sporting the brand - mum Jaya, daughter Navya, apart from herself - says about the MXS girl, “She’s not just a girl. She’s a woman, she can be a grandmother, she can be a very young girl. She is just someone who wants to have fun with what she wears.”

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My mother truly embodies Girl Power. She’s brought me up to be strong, brave, and soft. She holds us all together and drives us to do more be more. My strength and guiding light. ♥️

A post shared by S (@shwetabachchan) on Sep 1, 2018 at 4:21am PDT

While discussing their love, and now business, it is only a must that we go back to what they now remember as their first fashion memory.

Having grown up in the middle of Bollywood, Bachchan-Nanda’s first fashion recall takes her back to her actress-mother Jaya Bachchan. Reminiscing about her days as a young girl, she says, “My mum’s Kanjevaram sarees that were spread out on the bed. That’s how I would know that my parents are going out. And when she would be pleating her saree, I would sit on the floor and help her adjust the pleats.”

For Jaising it’s about what can be called her first assignment, “My first fashion memory dates back to school when I was chosen to make the march-past uniforms for sports day,” the Mumbai-based designer tells us.

While the duo are retailing their label, priced between Rs 8,000 - 70,000, out of a Delhi (DLF Emporio) and Mumbai (Pali Hill) store, the collection, that they define as cheeky, preppy and playful as well as whimsical, is also available online.

“Many people don’t want to come to stores, they prefer to shop online. It just saves so much time,” Jaisingh says, while Bachchan-Nanda adds that she, too, hasn’t been spared. .

And both agree that it’s easier to compare brands and their products online which, in turn, decides buying patterns.

For now, these two new friends-turned-partners, certainly, seem to know their target audience. What remains to be seen is if the ‘Girl Power’ T-shirts from the brand can power the newbie MXS in an ever-expanding designer label collective.