Quirky little clothes store. Review on Signature, Cochin

I live in one Cochin’s most affluent neighbourhoods, touted as the fastest growing in the city. Huge cars, houses, influential people (including one union minister), the works. Of course, us working people are at the bottom of the heap, but all this money means one thing: Kadavanthra, my locality, boasts of some of the better shops in the suburbs. And the other day, I made a huge discovery: a little boutique called Signature.

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The background

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It was my husband’s annual office bash – the one where increments are handed out and hearts are broken and careers are made. It’s another story that while others hit the dance floor, I end up hitting the floor – on my knees, running after my hyperactive 10 month old son.

But the big bosses had a sent around a little circular saying that the evening was to have a theme – black ‘n’ white. Now the men were given black Reebok tees with the company logo printed on, so half their problem was solved at least.

Tired of being an old fuddy duddy, I thought I would try and find a pair of black bootleg pants to team up with a white kurti I had. Allen Solly Women and Wills Lifestyle lay halfway across the town and wholly above my end-of-the-month budget. I had an image in my mind but I was quite doubtful whether the suburban stores would have my dream pair. With exactly 10 minutes at my disposal before I headed home to be a good mommy, I hit Kadavanthara’s one supermarket and one export surplus store. Zip, (sorry, bad pun), Zero, Zilch.

Signature was a serendipitous discovery: I looked across the road and there it was.

With just a few minutes to go on the mommy stopwatch, I ran in.

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The store

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A small little store, probably about 5 ft x 7 ft, Signature is not for claustrophobics. On a little platform on the floor, chunnis were strewn in disarray. It looked the way my cupboard did before I went to live with a strict aunt who decided to teach me housewifely graces. But in a strange way, that worked in the shop’s favour – I felt free to rummage, pick up and enquire. A semi-circular little area, enough to accommodate one emaciated individual, was curtained off to form a changing room. Huge plastic bags filled with fabrics were knotted and crammed into every available place. New age chic?

I asked for pants, not really having a hope since the store seemed to stock only salwars. The manageress-cum-salesgirl said, “Oh dear, we have only one pair left – a black pair”. Trying to hide my glee, I waited while she dug about one plastic bag and ‘voila!’ produced just what I had been waiting for. Black bootleg pants in one of those stretch cotton-polyviscosic-lycra-whatever blends, with slits at the ankles. It even had little glittery thingies on the waistband just in case I was planning to do a ‘Kaanta Laga’. The price was just right too.

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Happy endings

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However, a few minutes in the changing room, and I realized that after 2 babies, I was a trifle ambitious in thinking that I could fit into that particular size. Unfortunately, that was the only size they had. Not to worry. The manageress promised to get a couple of bigger sizes for me to try.

So the next day, I trekked to the store at 9.50 am (too early), 11.30 am (the pants hadn’t arrived yet). It briefly crossed my mind, “So much trouble for a pair of pants, what depths have we sunk to!” But I got lucky at 1.00 pm. My pants had arrived. I nearly passed out on seeing what size they had got me, but it was a perfect fit.

Exit one happy lady, clutching a pair of pants.

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My verdict

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Since then I have been to Signature a couple of times to pick up salwars for work and more recently, for a wedding. If there is a downside, it’s that the staff (comprising the lady who run the store and a seamstress) are not hard-core professionals. Sort of very small town in their thinking. Obviously they haven’t heard any fancy customer care slogans. But they are very sincere, to the point of telling you bluntly what they think of what you are wearing. They also never push a sale and that is a big plus.

Most of the stuff here is quite trendy and not a few decades behind fashion, like you’d expect a suburban store to be. Signature is the place to head if you are looking for good clothes, mostly ready-to-stitch salwar sets or westernwear, minus the slickness and marketing frills that the bigger uptown stores use to lure customers.

It’s all about the clothes, here. Nothing else.