Copycat Fashion

For the uninitiated,Zara is a Spanish clothing brand that specialises in copying the latest catwalk lines,way faster and probably better than the original labels can sell them. Maybe in some exalted circles it isn’t really cool to be seen sporting a Zara label,but hey,if it’s good enough for Sienna Miller and Lara Dutta,it’s good enough for most of us. In Europe,among the high street labels,the craze these days is for celebrity-designed,celebrity look alike fashion: take H & M,a label that Kate Moss and Madonna design for. But Zara relies on a bunch of anonymous 25-year-olds straight out of design school to churn out a pretty fantastic product,not original maybe,but who cares as long as it looks good?

The interesting thing about Zara in India is it’s the first store that offers you a full cash refund if you change your mind about the purchase within a month. Almost all other fashion stores like Mango or Promod only offer credit slips,valid for six months. “This is our brand policy worldwide,” says Misha,Communications Manager for Inditex,promoters of Zara. This reeks of supreme confidence in the product,not misplaced,considering 700 people thronged Zara in Delhi by 11:30 am on day one and the store allegedly did business to the tune of Rs 40 lakh on the first Saturday. Then again,Zara is the only store open till 10 at night every day making it accessible to everyone. It’s a game changer since you can buy pants for Rs 1,700 and dresses for Rs 2,500 and the Indian collection is exactly the same as what’s available in Paris and London. It spells doomsday for Indian brands like Pantaloons and Wills Lifestyle who simply cannot compete,designwise or on price points. Zara Men is impossibly cool and the few brave Indian designers who do menswear are also in for a tough time. The fast food of fashion has arrived in India,I’m only surprised it took this long.

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( Leher Kala takes a quirky look at social trends and life in general in her weekly column)