New Delhi, Dec. 28 -- Beauty baroness Shahnaz Husain, who turned 80 last month, was one of India's OG influencers long before the term was coined. As the pioneer of organic green beauty in the country, she brought with her great business acumen, unabashed in-your-face marketing chutzpah, and a prescient sense of future trends. In her, the India of the 1970s and 80s found its combination of Anita Roddick and Coco Chanel.

Such was the power of her marketing that thousands of young women wanted a totemic vial of cream vial from Shahnaz Husain, her eponymous brand. Naming it after herself, as though she were already a celebrity, was a mark of her self worth.

Starting in 1971, she invited Indian women to enter the hallowed portals of haute c...