Sneak Peek: Le Mill

The store is spread across 15,000 sq ft in an old rice mill.

In December, we listed Le Mill as one of the 10 most anticipated openings of 2011. Spread across 15,000 sq. ft. in the mill area in Wadi Bunder, Le Mill will be one of Mumbai’s very few concept stores, a short list which includes Bungalow 8 in Colaba and Bandit Queen in Lalbaug. A “concept” store is really an elevated version of a boutique, a one-stop shop that has a variety of select goods usually spread across a single floor, as opposed to a department store, where individual departments are spread across multiple floors. Le Mill is modeled after places like 10 Corso Como in Milan and Colette in Paris, and will sell everything from clothes, jewellery, accessories and books to bed linen, stationery and carpets. Unlike Bungalow 8 and Bandit Queen, it will also house a cafe, a lounge area (with free wi-fi!) and a flower shop. Two weeks before they officially open on Saturday, March 12, two of the three owners, French expats Cecilia Morelli Parikh and Julie Leymarie (the third is Aurélie de Limelette) took us through the space. Here’s what you can expect:

The Concept
Born out of a mutual frustration over Mumbai’s lack of stores selling “basics”, Le Mill is very much an extension of its three founders and their chic aesthetic. “We wanted to offer brands that were between Zara and Louis Vuitton,” said Morelli Parikh, who came to India four years ago to work as a fashion writer for Vogue. “All our friends would complain: Oh, we can’t shop in India.” Yet, when the trio found themselves stocking up on goods on their travels abroad, they discovered most of the labels said “Made in India”. The realisation that most of the best stuff made in India was being shipped out of the country has been a driving force behind Le Mill. Seventy per cent of the selection has been manufactured here, and a substantial portion of which has never been sold in India before. Mirroring a rather muted—Le Mill’s signature colour is a dove grey—but “fresh” aesthetic, everything has been designed purposefully, if not for India, then keeping in mind an aesthetic that “moves away from bling and is more subtle”, according to Morelli Parikh.

The Space
An old rice mill built in 1935, the property has been in Morelli Parikh’s husband family for years. Without it, the girls confess, the rent alone for a space so large would have killed their business plan. With decorator Ashiesh Shah, the three decided to keep the structural integrity of the space intact. Other than polishing the roof tiles (which was done painstakingly by removing them one at a time and then putting them back), painting the walls, and re-installing the electricals, the mill has been left largely untouched. The only significant modifications have been additions of wood-panelled walls in the clothes section, and the placement of a shipping container in the middle of the shop floor, which will house the jewellery collection. The container is elevated at a slight tilt so someone atop the mezzanine clothes level can see right through at the jewellery.

The Goods
Despite its boutique concept, there is quite a diverse and huge selection of merchandise, ranging from kids clothes and toys to bespoke stationery and linens. Imagine it as a very chic one-stop-shop for your pied-à-terre and its stylish occupants. Some of the goodies include leather bags by French label Yvonne Yvonne (made in India), colourful hand-stitched textiles by Seema Krish, jewellery by Jade Jagger, Adeline and Sara Beltran (all three make their baubles in Jaipur), as well as capsule collections by Savio Jon, Anamika Khanna and Rajesh Pratap Singh, who will only sell their non-Indian wear through Le Mill.

There are three collections of elegant porcelain and stoneware crockery, designed by de Limelette, who has spent eight years creating the window displays for Hermès; bed linens in monochromatic hues (only in cotton and linen, and in 10 different shades that you can mix and match), rugs, 100 different styles of cushions, and custom-made stationery. There are books by Assouline (they publish high-end coffee table books), durries by Jaipur Rugs, cutlery by Italian company Skitsch and coloured glassware by Italesse.

In terms of clothes, there are racks of day dresses in dusty pinks, beige, grey and white, the dominating palette of most things at Le Mill. Saloni, the London label beloved by celebs like Emma Watson, and The Row, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s high-end line are both here, as is Vanessa Bruno, Heimstone and Les Fées de Bengale, all French labels worn by chic Parisiennes. For kids, there are lines from around the country, and wooden toys made in Sri Lanka. There are also light fixtures, floor lamps, desk lamps as well as an entire range of furniture, from contemporary sofas to reproductions of eighteenth-century French chairs (a lot of it, including the fabric patterns, designed in-house).

The flower shop will be run by florist Nazneen Jehangir with most of the arrangements in “light pinks, whites, with lots of plants”. The in-house cafe, called The Cafe at Le Mill for now, will be helmed by London-born Arjun Gadkari, a recent Mumbai transplant, with the kitchen run by an Indian chef who has spent several years working for Gordon Ramsay in London. The food, Parikh says, will be substantial but healthy, “a roast chicken with polenta for example as well as lots of sandwiches and salads”.

The Prices
To remain competitive, the store will absorb import duties, so all products will be priced in tandem with those charged in foreign markets, or in some cases, as with Saloni, 30 per cent cheaper. The range varies from Rs100 for stationery to Rs2 lakh for jewellery, but most items are priced in about the same range as products at Good Earth, Bungalow 8 and Bombay Electric. A leather sling bag from Yvonne Yvonne for instance is Rs6,000, a couch Rs40,000, durries are Rs7,000, rings made of precious stones are Rs25,000, while daywear, smocks and maxi dresses, etc are anywhere from Rs4,500 to Rs13,000.