Season’s Greetings

A just-concluded fashion week opened a Pandora’s box of incongruities. The biggest one is the oldest chestnut — do we need a fashion season? Even as the order of the day was an oxymoron called Resort/ Festive,the designers liberally took advantage and offered an anything-goes or two.

A few designers are of the point of view that seasons matter only when a city or a country literally has extreme changes in temperature to speak of. Anything south of Gujarat is warm all year round,so to have a Winter collection,as enjoyed by Delhi and the rest of the north,is ridiculous. “I’m never going to make coats and boots,” says a Mumbai designer just setting out into national terrain. “Winter collections work only in Delhi but are wasted on the rest of the country,” says another designer,with almost two decades of experience behind him. “As far as anyone else is concerned,there are only two seasons: Summer and Festive,” he adds.

This perspective isn’t entirely incorrect— just over a decade ago,designers across India brought out only two collections a year — Summer and Festive. But as the economy grew and we were (to borrow from Wendell Rodricks) “malled over”,the fashion industry saw many changes. The biggest one was the demand to produce seasonal collections.

Of course it was market-driven: fashion knows you don’t need another dress but its business is to make you believe that you want it. Fashion works on the fact that human beings want change to stay interested in anything. And ‘fast fashion’ is the answer to the consumerism boom in this country.

We were a country of prudence,we bought a new outfit for Diwali or Eid or when a cousin or chacha got married. Now,the driver wants three pairs of jeans a year (black,blue and ripped) even though one pair of good denims would last anyone five years. The ready-to-wear market is on a high,and clothes have never been more affordable and as accessible. The stores at Colaba Causeway that sell decent quality unbranded apparel,have men’s shirts for as little as Rs 150. That’s the price of a one-way cab fare to Worli,and you are still in south Mumbai. We want new clothes every month and there’s no stopping us.

There are other cities,like Los Angeles,that do not follow a Winter in their fashion calendars,calling their post-fall line Resort. We have aped them. But fashion seasons bring order to the industry; they also bring integration and a collective vision of future trends. Classics are important too,but everything that’s ‘timeless’ is actually in tune with a larger fashion cycle. You wouldn’t wear vintage when neat lines and sophisticated glamour are the norm,would you? Classics can only work when you can update them with something au courant.

Pick any fashion magazine’s September issue (the beginning of fashion’s Winter,also when the shopping season begins),it will be anywhere from twice to four times the size compared to any other month.

There are too many customers in Mumbai,Goa and Hyderabad who’d like cashmere over their frocks,a velvet choli with their saris and Prada’s square-toed leather pumps in burgundy that retail at US$ 600. Now in India,there’s a season for everything. (namratanow@gmail.com)