Why I'm LOVING Le Mill India! (Pardon me for not having discovered it sooner)

We Indians are big fans of luxury designers and love nothing more than to put on our best outfits paired with fabulous accessories and head out to socialise. However, at some point, due the lack of variety with International brands things started getting a little saturated here. It was only the usual Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel that we would end up seeing on people and quite frankly it tires the eyes out. Not to say I don’t adore these brands, in fact, I am a loyal Gucci fan and Chanel, well if you’ve been reading my previous posts, you’ll know that I am currently saving for another 2.55 bag. But beyond a certain point, you want to see other fun brands in the fashion circuit, like an Alexander Wang Pelican bag or maybe a super fun Jason Wu clutch.

I recently heard about a Mumbai based multi-designer boutique, Le Mill. Yes I know you’re probably like raising an eye brow, thinking ‘WHAT, you JUST heard about it??’ Hey, better late than never right? This new, albeit a late discovery has got me extremely excited. They also have an e-commerce site to make their goods available all over India, which is fantastic since I live in Delhi. I went through every product on their website to check out their merchandise and I have to say I am so impressed. I wanted to see how competitive their prices were as it just makes my life easier if I can buy these brands in India itself, so I decided to compare the prices that they are selling their stuff at with international e-commerce sites.


The Le Mill boutique in Mumbai

First up in my comparison list was the Proenza Schouler PS1 leather Ipad case on the Le Mill site which retails at INR 37000. A similar leather Ipad case on net-a-porter was working out to be INR 46,415 and that’s if I choose to deliver it to Dubai. For some reason when I clicked ship to India the ipad case wouldn’t show up. Ordering it to India anyways would be more expensive as duties are higher. So for a similar ipad clutch which differs only very slightly in dimensions (on Le Mill it’s 11x8.5 and net-a-porter its 11x9), surprisingly, it’s cheaper in India! Granted that colourful Ipad cases are last season as they recently went on sale everywhere, however, I checked the Barney’s sale price and it was 24,000 INR not inclusive of shipping and duties which pretty much works out to be the same price eventually.
Next up was the Alexander Wang IT bag, the Rocco. The Rocco Black Dumbo retails with Le Mill for INR 50,450 and when I checked the retail price on the Alexander Wang website (I made sure I checked the dimensions and all) the price was INR 56,983 and this doesn’t include the US city taxes if you were to buy it there itself or duties if you were to order it online from an e-commerce site. I had featured an orange Rocco that was on sale on My Theresa for a previous post where the sale price was INR 37952 again, not inclusive of duties or shipping.

Reese Witherspoon with the Rocco bag

Rihanna with the Rocco bag

Moving on, my next item was the Peter Pilotto Abbey top. It retails at Le Mill for INR 67,650 and for INR 68,256 at net-a-porter which is pretty much the same price as the net-a-porter price is inclusive of duties. However, at least when you order it from Le Mill, and the top doesn’t fit you get the ‘free returns in India’ option which honestly is very important. My mom ordered a pair of Salvatore Ferragamo shoes from Saks Fifth Avenue which didn’t fit very well and for her to send it back meant losing out on roughly 200 dollars!

After careful research on these items (there were more I researched on but I wont bore you with my in depth analysis), I am now more excited than ever to start shopping from this fabulous boutique and their online site. And other than the prices, the list of designers they stock is amazing! Isabel Marant (yes, they have the absolutely MUST HAVE Bekett sneakers), and even Shourouk!! Funnily I just spoke about Shourouk in a previous post and I find out the brand is available on home turf. The Row, Pamela Love and even Alexander Wang’s diffusion line T by Alexander Wang; Le Mill is now a part of my internet explorer favourites.

Anna Dello Russo wearing a Shourouk necklace

Gisele Bundchen in the Isabel Marant Bekett sneakers

Seriously I want to hit myself on the head because I was in Mumbai last week and I never went to the boutique! It’s all good, when I spend two months there during April and May, I know exactly where I’ll be lingering.