Fashion is about allowing you to be someone you think you can be. It gives you so many more tools. I never understood why people consider it such an imposition on their lives. It should be a pleasurable thing to do.
– Sally Singer, from here
I’ve always felt like an outside observer (in a good way, I might add) when it comes to fashion – both within the industry and in my own life. It’s been an area of absolute interest for me from a very, very young age. I must have been seven or eight when I started paying attention to it, and from then to now, it remains one of my greatest loves, along with poetry, flowers, dogs and prose.
What I wear and why I wear it; why people dress the way they do; the story spun into the warp and weft of a length of fabric; the craftsmanship and history of textiles; and the sheer genius of designers – all of these are topics I constantly think about.
Whether you agree with the argument or you don’t, the truth is that choosing what you wear is an act of fashion – whether the item you pick out is from a mass brand, handcrafted by an artisan, handed down to you, part of a limited collection or identical to all the others in your wardrobe.
I am always amazed by those who believe that they are entirely divorced from fashion, as if it is a candy-coloured, flossy, silly entity that cannot be taken seriously. Fashion is an incredible mix of creativity and commerce, which reflects the socio-political-economic reality of the times. It is a graph for how people are thinking and feeling, and what they are hoping for.
Where the fashion industry in every country goes wrong is that it tends to not help its own case by talking down to people who stand on the perimeter. There are elements of hyperbole and drama that can feel intimidating – a touch of the “you can’t sit with us” attitude. Which is part of the excess of fashion. It can be funny to observe in popular culture and oddly addictive to participate in, but it also makes the industry seem like a circus to watch instead of a world to be immersed in.
In the conversation with Singer, she is asked about this in terms of Vogue and its air of hauteur and I really liked her answer – she says it’s about how you approach the magazines. Are you going to flip through the pages and wish you could buy that bag, or this dress, or those shoes and then feel terrible because you cannot? Or are you going to use these images and text to offer you another point of view?
To inspire yourself to approach your own clothes and life differently, and create something new for yourself with the tools you already have? She points out that she still cannot afford many pieces featured in the magazine but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t enjoy seeing how others interpret them.
Particularly for women, fashion is an inevitable part of the journey.
Our clothes are the witnesses and custodians of our lives. Each one of us has a favourite piece, which tells a story that is dear to us. A sweater knit by a loved aunt. The first pretty dress that was purchased for us. A shirt that is softened by too many washes and is, therefore, the most comforting thing to wear.
Fashion is, at once, armour and talisman, and the least we can do is enjoy it. If you are interested in fashion as art, commentary and commerce, I recommend these excellent documentaries –
Scatter My Ashes At Bergdorf’s
The Day Before (Tip: The episodes with Alber Elbaz, Diane von Furstenberg and Isabel Marant are particularly excellent)
[The picture is a wonderful one of Indira Gandhi, via Life. I admire her sense of style, and the thought she put into choosing what she wore. Every saree, every fabric, every weave had a purpose and a message.]
Chinmayee Manjunath 
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