Start of 2020, none would have imagined how our lives would change, rather come to a standstill in a matter of months. This never before seen Pandemic, has not only caught the world off guard but also thrown the life as we knew it out of the window. One thing seems very clear, our lives are not going to be the same again, even when we are un-locked. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures and bring unprecedented changes. We all will now form new habits of personal hygiene, will take greater care of following protocol at offices, social distancing will be a norm- our Indian ‘Namaste’ will be the global greeting style (it already is and will stay on), work from home will be more norm than an exception, personal protection will be the core of our wardrobe and style decisions, we now need to be more responsible for reducing our carbon footprints, we all need to chip in our economy’s revival with our buying habits and many more such measures await our timely response.
Fashion has been an integral driving force of our lives and just when the fashion-conscious Indian was getting used to international exposure, shopping experiences, trends and brand awareness and an average ‘Jai/Jia’(Joe/ Jane) was learning the difference between formal and casual wear, trying to align his/ her wardrobe with suitable mix & match pieces that we are all forced to be cooped up in our homes and buying the essentials from our local ‘kiranas’, buying only what we need, staring at economic slow-down and impending recession, working from home with uncertainties, not knowing how long is the tunnel which might have the light at its end.
Despite all the gloom around, it is also a fact that two factors have kept us going bringing cheers to our lives cooped in FOOD & FASHION. Where the former has taken up-scaled prominence, FASHION has seen interesting twists: on one hand, the celebrities have begun sharing their moments for their fans on various social media. We can see two kinds of tribes here, one that has believed in being their natural homebound selves, sharing their casual, no makeup looks, and others who still take pains of dressing up, curate a suitable backdrop, and shoot to keep up with their projected image. This is bound to impact how fashion will stand in times to come. Given the fans’ acceptance with the pressure of looking good off the celebrities’ heads, Fashion is going to be more casual. This bodes well with the newly discovered WFH culture. Personal style will be more important than following trends blindly. A casual striped tee is good to be paired with a jacket/ blazer for video conferencing. The focus shall be on torso dressing teamed with casual pajamas, good hair, makeup, neck & hair jewelry & accessories. Runways are going digital, requisites of social distancing, and may prefer continuing with it, thus broadening their reach and hence buying prospects. The media and buyers save on a lot of costs of review and coverage on location.
The new ‘IT’ accessory here to stay in our masks, face shields, veils, scarves, stoles, face covers. They will accompany every outfit to match, contrast, or highlight a look. Coming in all sorts of avatars like shibori, batik, embroidered, studded it will be seen on and at every juncture. The good old bikini has already been updated to ‘trikini’, served with matching masks! It will be exciting to see how they will take runways by storm, being served with couture, prêt, avant-garde, bridal wear, casual, vacation, formal, and uniform wear too. School dresses too will have masks prescribed in school colors. We can see, how designers in India and abroad are already dedicating their resources to create masks for distribution as their contribution to fight against the pandemic, the same limited set of artisans might just continue as mask unit to produce for the lines to come.
Along with masks, gloves too will be important accessories and will find their way to our regular wardrobe. We shall see our favorite jumpsuits graduating to overalls. Extreme silhouettes will be used as a tool to facilitate social distancing.
The current trying times have served as nature’s warning to mankind about how we are treating it. Sustainability is another key, not only organic, purely natural raw material but also a versatile wardrobe mix will serve the purpose. Zero waste is the new purpose of fashion for it is one of the top three dumpsters in the world. As Stella McCartney’s zero waste, 100% compostable line of up-cycled socks, in collaboration with Osom Brand. This line not only didn’t use any chemicals or pesticides but was also made 85% out of upcycled yarns. This is the beginning of something big, which will soon be the norm among designers and brands i.e. to turn the fashion waste into their raw material resource. This is one of the key elements of zero waste. It also reduces the demand for fresh raw materials considerably hence reducing the exploitation of resources.
‘Slow fashion’ is also the key to sustainability. It is the most direct and universal way to contribute to reducing fashion waste which can be practiced by anyone and everyone. Prolong & repeat usage of products, which is newfound by the West, with celebrities like Duchess of Cambridge and the FLOTUS being hailed for repeating their outfits, will be the new norm. However, we Indians have always followed this dictum since times immemorial and it was the digital exposure that was prompting us into being consumed by Fast Fashion to be counted ‘in’. ‘Slow Fashion’ means going back to our wardrobe ways before our internet days. We bought what we needed and only when we needed, as much we needed, passed on what we didn’t need/ want, discarded only when fit to be, recycled to DIYs before dumping as waste. This prolonged the waste cycle of any product. This is only possible when we dress per personal style, balance our wardrobe with staples with fewer trendy pieces and developed the knack of mix and match i.e. discover styling and be okay with being seen in the same outfit more than once on our social handles, however, we can style ourselves differently each time. More than trends, learn to experiment with looks and find your style, this goes a long way, among Indian celebrities, Rekha & Vidya Balan have found their style mantras.
Reducing carbon footprints has now gathered steam in the wake of preserving nature. This is a big prompt for designers to source locally. Today, thanks to the digital world, no part of the world can be labeled a fashion laggard as we all have quick access to information now. This ensures that our designers, even our city-based local designers are abreast of the latest trends and give us the same. We need to put faith in our local sources and resources and patronize them as much as possible. We have the best of craftsmen, heritage textiles that the world imports from us, natural dyeing techniques, organic/ natural fabrics like ‘ahimsa’ silk & khadi and amazing talented designers who know how to give a trendy and contemporary twist to these resources and they all deserve to be valued. All we need is to get over our brand fetish and start buying from them. This not only reduces our carbon footprints but also serve to boost our economy in testing times ahead. Let’s all not only be responsible designers but responsible consumers as well and let fashion be a bearer of happy times!
Shipra Anand
afclko@rediffmail.com
