LIKE MANY YOUNG GIRLS, I grew up watching the women in my family adorn themselves with elegance and poise, but it wasn’t just what they did—it was how they did it. For me, it was my grandmother who personified this effortless style. She dressed in front of an ornate piqué dressing table, a piece of art with its three mirrors creating an ethereal trifecta. I watched, mesmerised, as she draped her saree to perfection, spritzed Guerlain’s Shalimar with a delicate precision, fastened a diamond brooch near her shoulder, and completed the look with a coiffed updo. A silk-embroidered clutch, lipstick, lighter, and a packet of Jintan were her essentials. The scent of oud and vanilla, the clink of glass bangles, the clack of heels—she swept out into the night, leaving…
