So Long, Flair Well

Writing fashion for a newspaper has many strengths. Unlike a fashion magazine, you don’t only reach to one type of reader (in their case, a fashion follower). With a newspaper, you take fashion literally to the masses. You catch them unaware and proselytise them to a better understanding of their own wardrobes. Fashion is the most democratic of all journalistic fields: we all wear clothes after all. Clothes are important. We may not know it, or be wont to admit it, but our clothes tell the world almost everything about us. They are almost as obvious as a doctor’s lab coat or a lawyer’s black robe. Seriously.

Clothes are the greatest cultural signifiers. We learn the lifestyles of ancient civilisations based on archeological findings of their fabrics, or hair accessories. In modern times, the jeans and sweater combination is the mark of a Silicon Valley denizen. Apple’s Steve Jobs famously only wore black turtlenecks with jeans. In his biography, he stated he didn’t want to think about what to wear everyday, but he unwittingly created a design template that is as minimal and sleek as his gadgets, as basic as the Apple. We are what we wear.

Fashion writing is never just about what’s new, or the next big thing. It is about taking one item of clothing (Malala’s pink scarf at her UN speech, Sonia Gandhi’s handloom saris, or Sonam Kapoor’s gowns at Cannes) and turning them into a metaphor. What does it stand for? How and why is that item relevant to you?

It is understanding the business of luxury labels and why some succeed and others don’t. It’s about fickle consumer behaviour in our malls and how much of our economy depends on that white shirt we bought last Saturday.

Fashion is about recording a moment in time, a piece of history. It’s about capturing the sentiment of a people, a cultural mood. It demands an eye that sees beyond others’, a ear to the ground and a pen that can proselytise. It is, er, um, ahem…rather serious business.

To sustain a weekly column all these years is a gargantuan feat. Full credit goes to my readers. Most come from a world they claim is far removed from fashion, style, luxury or trends. I’m most grateful for the Persian scholar from a Pune university, for the Pondicherry girl who envied me because my father “allowed” me to wear a bikini, and for the Delhi-based news magnate who wrote saying she was a big fan.

One morning, my eight-year-old woke up with some unsolicited career advice: “Mamma, why must you always write on fashion? You must also write about football.” Er, ok. Meanwhile I will see you elsewhere, still writing fashion.
namratanow@gmail.com