Malvika Poddar is a fashion entrepreneur and custodian of one of Delhi's ritziest address "Sabyasachi @ CARMA" at Mehrauli , the jewel in the crown of Carma Creative, which also operates a multi designer store CARMA at Malcha Marg, Delhi and its online estore CarmaOnlineShop.com .... all stocking high quality Indian and trousseau wear ..... It is pretty  difficult to tick in Malvika Poddar into a neat box labelled fashion entrepreneur and near to impossible to slot the Carma Boutiques as only a multi designer store because both the person and the stores are so much a part of the legendary growth of the organised fashion retail landscape of India !! .... We at DSB have been blogging for 2 years, and almost every legendary Couturier and Designer we have come across personally till now has sometime or the other, been a part of the Carma journey .... After all, Carma is India's first fashion boutique !! ... Two decades back when it started, there was hardly any designer label to speak of ... and the present Gods of Indian fashion were just about starting their careers ... One of us at DSB, was not even born when CARMA was launched by Mrs. Lekha Poddar, Malvika's mother in law ... at the historical site of Lalkot, the first of the seven cities of ancient Delhi, also home to the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Qutub Minar .... In the early days of Indian designer wear, Carma was THE fashion destination to launch a fabulous design collection .... and what once housed the carriages of Delhi royalty, housed all that was the best and new in Indian fashion luxury, leading it to be listed in British Vogue as "one of the trendiest stores in the world". 

Malvika Poddar

The first time i met Malvika, was in her office at Carma Creative headquarters at Gurgaon. We were there for a "getting to know each other meet" which happened because we were in the vicinity of her office, and a coffee meet up planned previously did not happen because of conflicting schedules .... So there we were, tired and in our usual work gear of ripped jeans and shirts over ganjis ... and i was telling Aanchal that maybe we should postpone that day's meeting too cause we were anything but the well groomed fashion bloggers that people generally expect .... Not that we mind being ourselves the way we are ... but when the name is as socially prominent as Malvika Poddar, one wants to appear clean and not scruffy at least :) .... Well, we went up, was ushered in to her office suite and a very pleasant lady offered the usual refreshments as we waited ... Within 2 minutes, Malvika strides out, in a pair of denims(yayy Thank God) and handloom shirt and ushers us in ... The thanking in my mind was partly due to the fact that there is hardly a picture of her on the internet where she is not swanned out in a jaw dropping Sabyasachi, or another equally jaw dropping designer get up ... It is pretty hard to get streetstyle comfortable with couture clad connoisseurs of fashion you know :p 




















Malvika Poddar has seen the unveiling of Indian fashion design's finest and first pretty close up all her life ... The second time we meet at the uber posh Sabyasachi flagship store at Mehrauli which is better known as Sabyasachi@CARMA ... Malvika is in another jeans and cardigan ensemble .... By this time, we were chatting away with ease about each others domain ... she telling us about the Carma evolution that ended up as their online retail venture CarmaOnlineShop.com ... and the need to adapt fast to the digital age customer .... In us, i think she found the many questions about the nascent blogging space in India answered and clarified .... For a lady who likes to be anonymous and behind the scene, she is trying to adapt to the realization that Digital demands a recognizable face to identify with brands ... So what must be done, will be done is her motto for now .... Even when she chats away with Aanchal about being on Snapchat, because her kids already are .... i observe the old world grace of Sabyasachi's hand picked retro ambience Showspace perfumed with ittar and rose water ... the old moneyed Delhi matrons with their discreet solitaires .... the new gen uber confident Comme Des Garcons mini backpack toting bride to be ... all swirling in a very privileged haute couture experience of planning their trousseau where nothing but Sabya will do .... I sip on a Nimbupaani served by a well groomed gentle lady named Gauri, who like any other CARMA employee has a signature air of refinement and discretion and zone in and out of the conversation .... Malvika is very curious about the snobbish term we bloggers like to use for ourselves "Social Media Influencers" .... She holistically wants to understand how we do the "influencing" and why must brands make an effort to understand this curious business of blogging .... It is very evident that she has studied the terminologies .... She is familiar about Google Analytics, SEO, SEM, Affiliate et al .... She like any other online retailer employs an in house digital team .... So we tell her that we make branding come alive .... We put a human face to the business of Fashion .... We are essentially Unicorn Groomers :D .... "But why do you need to profile me" she says .... We tell her that the problem with all established brands and enterprises is that they think people know about them because they have been around for a long time ... The fact is, in todays young generation, the dominant 18 - 30 year old segment reared on digital gadgets do not know or care to know about a brand unless it is "trending" .... and we are in the business of "trending" people and brands in a lingo which they understand :)











In the CARMA Malcha Marg store, (above), we saw and photographed the latest cool IT accessories and collections from designers whose designs we had documented with our own personal commentary on Instagram and Twitter while seeing them for the first time on ramp .... Apart from the customer who buys from the stores at Mehrauli or Malcha Marg, the latest volume of customers of CARMA are shopping online on their website from the comfort of their homes .... Though there are pictures and descriptions of the items, these online customers also google the product/runway reviews on the internet ... A far cry from hosting swish soirees for clients to introduce the latest designer collection .... This ever changing nature of the business of fashion has kept smart cutting edge entrepreneurs like Malvika Poddar on their toes .... understanding a fast expanding global clientele ... adapting to changes in dissemination of information through new avenues like social media ... From Rohit Khosla to the first profiling on a fashion blog, Malvika Poddar is killing it like a pro ... keeping it up with the times ... read our rapid fire round to sneak a peek into the world of this chic fashion connoisseur :)


The first outfit that you remember from your childhood?




Malvika Poddar is one of those sharp entrepreneurs who is curating designer luxury with the finely tuned instinct of someone who imagines clients, comfortable in their own choices and tastes ... for that she is comfortably armed with a native understanding of age and taste by generations, by geographical or global trends or even by new fangled social media channels ... Do join us in this series of Fashion People in Profile, as we bring you some of the most essential fashion players in the country. Until next time,

DSB.