THE notions of beauty, of the unattractive, the idea of revisiting and accepting what’s new and discarding what’s old have differed at different times. Underlying this is also the conflict about what we do and what we cannot do. The world of fashion has served as a key site of that contestation and the supplied definitions have helped us again and again to fashion our own sensibilities.

What we understand and what we don’t understand, what we don’t like and what we like and how it is okay to admit that one does not comprehend something instead of blindly following it – who is to decide that? The designers, the experts or the followers or the newly-glorified short-hands like the hashtag that will remind you of that old telephone keypad and how it seemed so useless at that point of time?

Categorizing, directing people towards an idea, creating a new lingo and letting the world know who is talking about what is utilitarian in the new age of releases and hits and flops is, finally, what we are left with. Such multipurpose tools can maybe sum up an idea, but why go so minimal on expression and detail? After all, we Indians have always had a love for detail, so why change that?

Fashion is a difficult industry – brutal deadlines, free-flow pressures and constant demands to entertain. The ideas are constantly evolving, there are creative negotiations that affect the further processes and there we end up building a factory set-up to constantly produce and reproduce. Designer J.W. Anderson in a recent interview said, ‘I think it’s at the perfect speed, because fashion has to articulate where we are today and fundamentally we are in a day where media is incredibly quick, boredom is at an all-time high – the minute you see something you’re over it.’ The context is right here. For some the rush matters, but it is not necessary that it becomes a given if you are working in fashion. There can never be a simple answer to this question but it’s time to at least address it.

Why something that is a way of life, struck by deadlines and a well worked-out coping mechanism? Stop, think, and talk. Are we spreading naturally or trying too hard to reach out? We are far away from relevance, creating collections, naming them to fit the bill and on top of everything, justifying it in a million ways without even thinking about what we are leaving behind. We have misunderstood terminology, using the wrong labels for what we create and admire. We don’t even see the difference between fashion and anti-fashion. It all goes in a bowl, is mixed together and we pick-up one idea and try to live by it. We have introduced survival fashion; quick, practical, eye-catching and short-lived.

 

Indian fashion has been coping with western trends for some time now, be it a certain fashion statement, reasoning, understanding or seasons. Time and again, we lean towards the tools of comprehension, possibilities and forms that have been accepted in other cultures to frame our own. Inspiration is great but are we ready with the correct micro-notes? Where is the vision? Why do we fail to join the dots for the future, or fail to put our foot down for something that doesn’t work for us, and yet stand by for the sake of a certain following. We overdo with hashtags like #heritage, #craft, #organic, #trending. What is the fascination with these keywords? Are we scared to define something that we create or nurture, just keen on fitting in, and scared to protest or is it that we are just in a race, not knowing whom we are competing with and for what results?

 

Is it a fear of being left out or admitting to a lack of comprehension? For example, handmade is such a luxury now. It’s exclusive, personal and niche. And yet, all of a sudden, it is done by everyone and applauded by everyone in the Indian design industry with generous taglines appreciating the big change the Indian market has seen and how we are revisiting our culture. Why is #wearingsaree #sarilove so in right now, whereas it has been there for as long as one can remember, and in a wonderful way. We cannot claim it in the genre of new and trending.

When asked about a certain collection, we don’t get to hear about an innocent inspiration, a line from a poem or a painting one came across or a story that touched. Maybe, it doesn’t matter. What one gets is a typical structured response like how one wanted to reinvent a certain fabric and revisit cultural patterns and go back to the basics. Why did khadi all of a sudden get such an overwhelming response when its inception, in the first place, was defining for us in so many ways.

 

To be seen is very important in fashion. To be accepted and followed, as well. But conflict is also a very significant part of fashion. Agreement and disagreement is what makes this field so endearing. Why do we fail to raise our voices when we see a clear rip-off and choose to remain quiet in the process? Where is the powerful symbol for that? On the other hand, for many it is very tough to even point out a rip-off. When did fashion become a complementary set-up, based on mutual acceptance and admiration?

Do we really have a dream here? Even though the Indian fashion market is booming, we are still way behind the West in creating a statement of our own. Making an impact, touching lives, saying what you want to say and the right judgment of ‘craft’ is what we need to put under the scanner and not what ‘trend’ is going to hit us next and how we feel so obliged to hop on. Prediction, mood, behaviour and sentiment must cast it. The crafts are reinventing and reviving us and not the other way around.

 

Seeking credibility in a variety of mediums is inevitable and important as well, but in the process we seem to have left behind the possibility of the unexpected, of fluidity and breaking out of boxes. Beyond the appealing photos, the anxious realities and the airbrushed perfections, the sentiment of fashion – showing solitude or betrayal in a garment or narration of a journey – is somehow lost. In spite of a few designers attempting to bring in that element, it is either overlooked or misunderstood as it is all about fitting to please and going with the market flow and then one gives up and surrenders to the cycle of the dated and outdated.

When we look back and cherish nostalgia, remember that our grandmothers never wore a gown and let the #trend word feature in the picture, justifying and qualifying the nature of the garment or their state of mind. I came across an article on Women’s Wear Daily, ‘Is Fashion Heading for a Burnout?’, where Livia Firth, founder of Green Carpet Challenge and creative director of Eco-Age, the brand consultancy that focuses on sustainability, said, ‘Since I started focusing on the fashion industry a few years ago, I keep hearing the voices of designers and journalists all saying the same thing: The fashion cycle has become mental. Too many shows, too many collections, too many looks, styles, pressure. The result? Designers’ creativity is compromised, journalists are running on empty and we – the famous consumers – are bombarded day and night with the "latest thing we must have" if we want to be cool.’ Constant content upload is definitely the need of the hour but we fail to back conversations, ideas and debate and just mechanically generate content.

Are we content with our content? Is it enough to put a package out there and sell it in the name of quick results and re-posts. How about #wedoingitallwrong?