'I'm just a Punjabi peasant,' says Mohanjeet, whose creations adorned Jane Fonda, Brigitte Bardot, Cameron Diaz and YSL

At 94, Mohanjeet Grewal — known simply as Mohanjeet — sits in her eponymous boutique in Paris's chic Saint Sulpice district, supervising work for an upcoming retrospective honouring her six decades in the world's fashion capital. Her journey has been long and arduous but one of passion and resilience, with several firsts. She comes here every day. Today, she points to a pair of suede gloves trimmed with faux fur with gossamer-like embroidery on the fingertips resting on a pedestal in the shop window. "The left glove should be more aligned with the right," she tells an assistant who swiftly…