What: Fashion and flash sale site by Amazon, visit www.myhabit.com, membership free, discounts up to 60%.

Why: Many hours and salaries from the bpb office have been dedicated to My Habit since they started shipping internationally a couple of weeks ago (the site launched in May 2011). We love the slick design of this fashion website, which features deeply discounted merchandise by designers such as Vera Wang, Chloe, Nina Ricci, as well as super viewing features like mannequins and multiple angle shots. In our shopping cart now: Naeem Khan tulle butterfly dress, pink L.A.M.B booties and a leather and silver cuff by Ranjana Khan.

When: You want to be Ricci rich.

It’s a thing of beauty, the new Hermès store at Horniman Circle, 1,500 square feet of grace, gloss and greed, manned at the entrance by bearded faces carved into archways and uber efficient store staff that talks in hushed tones, offers tall flutes of champagne and even rescues your car from early-afternoon traffic jams.

Of Coats and Coats of Arms

Housed in an old, pretty building, at street level the store is all business, every square foot of space a canvas for merchandise that oscillates from staid (double-lined cuff links) to mad fun (signature scarves printed with psychedelic puffy-fish, nailed onto a wall and lit from behind). Another notable scarf is that depicting “the dance of the Marwari horse”, proceeds from which will go towards restoration of the Asiatic Library next door. Rani pink and limned with regal white horses, it is ridiculously appealing both as apparel and, like the Marwari half of the Secret Scouters joked, a coat of arms for our front door.

Caught as our eye was by the above described scarf, we found plenty of other things to covet as well – square-dialled wristwatch with tan double strap; cobalt blue canvas tote with leather detailing, tapered-toe perforated leather loafers, orange leather cuff with metallic spikes and wide, floral printed bangles. And yes, for all those that are wondering, the Birkin was there too, in all its unimaginative, wincingly-expensive glory. Exactly how expensive? If you have to ask, darling, you can’t afford it.

What: Hand bound notebooks by Kaagazi, call +91-9687458602, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or view the Facebook group here, start at Rs 200 plus shipping costs (minimum order of Rs 1,000).

Why: A friend in NID is a friend indeed: you’ll be glad we introduced you to Kavya Agrawal who while studying at the National Institute of DesignAhmedabad, crafts the coolest notebooks, featuring exposed stitch work, recycled milk cartons, mock leather book bag covers and stand up easels. These are much more fragile than your exercise book, so handle with care.

When: Now, because you are Kaagaz ka fool.

What: Design umbrellas by Kanika Jain, call 9980801144 or visit the Facebook page here, price on request.

Why: Cutting chai, samosas, Airavata (seven-trunked elephant who carries the rain) – all these monsoon motifs ride on Kanika’s mad, graphic umbrellas, guaranteed to perk up the gloomiest days.

When: You want to rain supreme.

Ah, the sweet sight of marked down labels, scrambling shoppers and crazy shovers. It's sale season in the city! bpb handpicks not just the stores you should visit, but also the loot you should be gunning for.

Creo: The Creo sale might have ended, but they still have a marked-down rack of fun jersey dresses, including this turquoise version with measure-tape straps for Rs 2,550 (from Rs 4,000). Also check out their new collection of Manish Arora jersey dresses. Creo, Kemps Corner, call 66101227.

Chamomile: At Rs 4,000 (from Rs 7,800), this high-waisted Gayatri skirt is a steal. Also on sale are pieces by Gauri & Nainika, Cue and am:pm. Look out for fun beaded belts in the back, starting at Rs 2,000. Chamomile, Palladium, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, call 40049987.

When Neha Sahai puts a bird on your shoulder, they won’t call you Captain Sparrow. Elegant, quirky, fun maybe, but a pirate? No mate!

Recently graduated from NIFT, this Delhi based designer sent a flock of her fun accessories to Mumbai stores last month - brooches, pins, neck pieces and rings all preoccupied with the birds and the bees. “I wanted to give a cheery twist to regular jewellery pieces,” says Neha, who works with brass, copper and iron.

For the Skinny and Scurvy

Leaf through her oeuvre on our slide show and you’ll see winged creatures perch on kundan-like necklaces, filigreed pendants, antique safety pins, stop watch lockets, ceramic rings and glass vials filled with coloured stones. These, she tells us, go as well with a summer dress as they do with a crisp white office shirt.

bpb’s favourite is the double brooch chain where a butterfly pin hangs on your jacket button connected to a sparrow in a nest that sits on your shoulder. Parrots are really Neha’s favourite, but “who’d want to wear a parrot on their coat?” she asks matter of factly.

The designer’s currently working on a crazy batch of long tassel scarves hung with all kinds of fly creatures. Neha undertakes personalised orders as well.

Getting there: Call Neha Sahai on 09811086131, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or view the Facebook page here, also available at Attic (Santacruz), Sobo (Hughes Road) and Creo (Warden Road), start at Rs 1,000.

We finally know where to send our souvenir-seeking, budget-bound, out-of-town friends to shop, a place less chaotic than Colaba Causeway and less musty than the Bombay Store, where they can find prints and puppets, books and bracelets, enamel boxes and earth bags, all displayed against a breathtaking view of the former Prince of Wales Museum.

Mumbaikars though, will find little that they haven’t seen before at the newly opened Museum Shop at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangralaya (formerly Prince of Wales Museum). Bright and linear, the space is dotted with the usual carved elephants and colourful enamel boxes, woven durries and sepia prints of Old Bombay. But there is pleasure to be had in the familiar, the Museum shop showed us on the rainy afternoon we visited, while also bringing us some surprises.

Picture This

Take for instance sepia toned re-prints of old maharajas, bejewelled, pointy-shoed and majestically fat (Rs 2,250); or a collection of greeting cards (much nicer than the banal postcards) limned with a slender kohli woman carrying her catch and an etcher at work. Also check out letter paper sketched with different representations of the female form in miniature paintings and cheap, convenient pocket diaries stamped with coins.

bpb Review: am:pm at D7

Here are the hues of summer, white and aqua, navy and lavender, red and a pale, warm yellow. Set against the swooping white lines of am:pm’s just-opened Mumbai store, they make a compelling case for a whole new wardrobe, one that stretches from work to cocktails, moderately expensive to brow-raisingly exorbitant, a.m to well... p.m.

Fit Or Miss

Concentrating on Indian wear and confined to the abovementioned colour palette, am:pm offers simple tunics made enchanting with quiet details like an asymmetric yolk or barcode of pinstripes, a pretty bird sown over the nape of one kurta, buttons scattered over another. There are also some dresses, including an incongruous white lycra sheath with navy piping and much draping (Rs 8,000) – a bizarre misfit here, it seems much more suited to Morphe or even the Cue store next door.

Other weird, one-off pieces pepper the racks, like a baby pink ombre kurta in crushed chiffon that might have opened a collection in 1999 (Rs 8,500) and a thick, stiff navy satin dress with a dreadfully matron cut.

What: Wooden tissue boxes from Cacophony, call 9833389960 / 9820009008, also available at Taxxi and Vitamin K, Rs 600.

Why: Make some noise for Cacophony, a new home accessory brand that’s the antithesis of all things kitsch. Crafted out of wood and painted in solid colours, the oeuvre – launched by the girls who used to run fashion store Barefoot – features neat chopping boards, lamps and storage boxes. bpb especially loves pretty tissue boxes with a single stripe running across. Perfect for the wipe A personality.

When: You want to come Kleenex.  

What: Design Temple’s new store, Churchill Chambers, behind Taj Mahal Hotel, “First Vaid” box for Rs 550.

Why: Designer Divya Thakur launches her first store, stocking it with cleverly named storage boxes (we loved the First Vaid first aid box, featuring a stern swami wearing a vermillion cross); pencil kits; incense sets; two disconcertingly naked mannequins; and prints from different collections including the recent Animania line. Also in the works is a cafe, slated to open next week. Watch out for the full bpb review!

When: You want to get what you pray for.