(Image courtesy: New Indian Express)Making a fashion statement doesn’t need design skills. It just needs a good vocabulary. L Suresh demystifies an exotic world that is held upright by the four Ps of fashion – Pret, Pout, Party and Page 3.
The genesis of fashion
It all started with Adam and Eve racing against time for their autumn collection "The Forbidden Line". (They had to finish before the last leaf fell.) They launched it before the High Priest of Fashion who unfortunately preferred ensembles to separates. (“Even Noah’s Ark contained a pair of everything.”) "Whatever it is, let it be brief," he thundered. That was how minimalism came to be. And ever since, fashion shows the world over have featured tiny clothes.
Fashion for dummies
If it's haute couture, it's so exclusive that you're out. If it's pret-a-porter, it's so expensive that you can't touch it. If it's ‘a fearless accessorization of a haphazard mix of colours’, you can't understand it. Moral of the story: Don’t try to understand fashion. Just be ‘in’ with it.
Something’s gotta meet
East meets west. Purity and tradition meet depth and modernity. Bohemian meets city chic. The essence of fashion is that something’s got to meet something – even if it’s the neckline meeting the waistline.
A career in fashion
There are three things you could do in fashion – be a designer, a model or better still, get sozzled and write on fashion. Take your pick:
1. Fashion Designer
The first golden rule of fashion - what you are called makes a difference to how often you get quoted. Couturier, Prêt Designer, Corporate Stylist…everything sells, until the day someone labels you a veteran. That’s when you know it's time to acquire an alternate career - forget the ‘pret’ part of fashion and focus on the ‘porter’ bit.
Make sure that even if your clothes aren't eco-friendly, your designs are - so they can be recycled for the next season. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to give fashion tips every season. Be global, use phrases like ‘keep it light’, ‘go for colour’, ‘experiment with shapes’... Don't wonder about why they needed you to say it. Some people never take crucial wardrobe decisions without haute tips.
2. A Fashion Columnist
Sorry dear, but these are sad times for you. (Legend: Anyone you meet for the first time is a ‘dear’. Anyone you know on a first-name basis is a ‘dah-ling’.)
Designers and models can get away (and in fact make a fortune) with minimalism, but not you. You gotta write all you can. Of course, you need to have the inherent capacity to craft sentences that string together ‘georgette kurtis, floral jaal work, peach crepe silk pants, uppers with shimmering threadwork’ and stuff like that.
Dream (up the) Theme
Fashion is like modern art. The theme makes all the difference. And there’s constantly a demand for coming up with beauties like ‘the white-walled splendors of the Taj on a moonless winter night’, or ‘a Russian worker in the St. Petersburg Baltika Beer Factory’.
Pardon my French
Fashion is one field where you don’t have to. From a cloche to an ombréd, let it rip…all the way to gay Paris.
Mix’n’match
Since it will be difficult to constantly come up with newer ways of expressing the latest collection, here’s a helpful tip. Draw a table with two columns. In column 1, fill in words like hippie, boho, vintage, depeche, etc. In column 2, add words like chic, mode, look, expression, inspired, etc. Now, mix and match freely to come up with the most delightful expressions - hippie nouveau, boho chic, vintage chic, depeche mode… Of course, the day you come up with gems like ‘mismatched mixed mosaic look’ or ‘style based on a harmonious balance of perfected intentional messiness’, you’ve arrived.
3. Model
Being waif-like could involve a prolonged battle with the waistline. However, all is not lost, for there are easier ways. Cricketers and out-of-work actors are the most sought after – on the ramp and in various fashion shows.
Lastly, remember to distinguish between boho skirts and hobo handbags. Or your next pret line could well turn out to be the Boohoo Collection.
The genesis of fashion
It all started with Adam and Eve racing against time for their autumn collection "The Forbidden Line". (They had to finish before the last leaf fell.) They launched it before the High Priest of Fashion who unfortunately preferred ensembles to separates. (“Even Noah’s Ark contained a pair of everything.”) "Whatever it is, let it be brief," he thundered. That was how minimalism came to be. And ever since, fashion shows the world over have featured tiny clothes.
Fashion for dummies
If it's haute couture, it's so exclusive that you're out. If it's pret-a-porter, it's so expensive that you can't touch it. If it's ‘a fearless accessorization of a haphazard mix of colours’, you can't understand it. Moral of the story: Don’t try to understand fashion. Just be ‘in’ with it.
Something’s gotta meet
East meets west. Purity and tradition meet depth and modernity. Bohemian meets city chic. The essence of fashion is that something’s got to meet something – even if it’s the neckline meeting the waistline.
A career in fashion
There are three things you could do in fashion – be a designer, a model or better still, get sozzled and write on fashion. Take your pick:
1. Fashion Designer
The first golden rule of fashion - what you are called makes a difference to how often you get quoted. Couturier, Prêt Designer, Corporate Stylist…everything sells, until the day someone labels you a veteran. That’s when you know it's time to acquire an alternate career - forget the ‘pret’ part of fashion and focus on the ‘porter’ bit.
Make sure that even if your clothes aren't eco-friendly, your designs are - so they can be recycled for the next season. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to give fashion tips every season. Be global, use phrases like ‘keep it light’, ‘go for colour’, ‘experiment with shapes’... Don't wonder about why they needed you to say it. Some people never take crucial wardrobe decisions without haute tips.
2. A Fashion Columnist
Sorry dear, but these are sad times for you. (Legend: Anyone you meet for the first time is a ‘dear’. Anyone you know on a first-name basis is a ‘dah-ling’.)
Designers and models can get away (and in fact make a fortune) with minimalism, but not you. You gotta write all you can. Of course, you need to have the inherent capacity to craft sentences that string together ‘georgette kurtis, floral jaal work, peach crepe silk pants, uppers with shimmering threadwork’ and stuff like that.
Dream (up the) Theme
Fashion is like modern art. The theme makes all the difference. And there’s constantly a demand for coming up with beauties like ‘the white-walled splendors of the Taj on a moonless winter night’, or ‘a Russian worker in the St. Petersburg Baltika Beer Factory’.
Pardon my French
Fashion is one field where you don’t have to. From a cloche to an ombréd, let it rip…all the way to gay Paris.
Mix’n’match
Since it will be difficult to constantly come up with newer ways of expressing the latest collection, here’s a helpful tip. Draw a table with two columns. In column 1, fill in words like hippie, boho, vintage, depeche, etc. In column 2, add words like chic, mode, look, expression, inspired, etc. Now, mix and match freely to come up with the most delightful expressions - hippie nouveau, boho chic, vintage chic, depeche mode… Of course, the day you come up with gems like ‘mismatched mixed mosaic look’ or ‘style based on a harmonious balance of perfected intentional messiness’, you’ve arrived.
3. Model
Being waif-like could involve a prolonged battle with the waistline. However, all is not lost, for there are easier ways. Cricketers and out-of-work actors are the most sought after – on the ramp and in various fashion shows.
Lastly, remember to distinguish between boho skirts and hobo handbags. Or your next pret line could well turn out to be the Boohoo Collection.
(Appeared in the New Indian Express Sunday Supplement as 'Of necklines and waistlines' on 01 May, 2005)
No comments:
Post a Comment