Attack of the clones

STYLE

Fashion shows have often been called boring. But what is even more boring is watching those who have come to see these shows. The women and, increasingly, even men, are dressed in clothes that are identical.

And that is true on most social occasions. Enter a party and you could mistake a Sheena with a Sonali, a Sonali with a Saika as they are all likely to sport blonde highlights (someone has to break this gently to the ladies that blonde clashes violently with Indian skin tone), black clothing from head to toe and a couple of solitaires in the ears and maybe one on the hand.

The handbag no doubt would be brown with LV (Louis Vuitton) embossed on it. This rather depressing sameness has made me want to run out screaming with pain from many a social do in Delhi. I mean, fashion is all about or should be all about standing out, making a statement and not help you blend into the background or be part of a herd.

But the socio-economic segment that is aware of fashion trends worldwide and have the means to buy into them seem to be willing to be part of a herd. If it's a nightclub tonight, woe betide if you didn't show the right amount of cleavage and skin. And if the blonde highlights are not blonde enough then, horror of horror, you could stand out, not in a nice individualistic way but in a sore thumb kind of way.

But why am I rabbiting on about it in a business newspaper which surely has much more weightier matters like the state of the economy to discuss than what the newest socialite on the block is wearing?

Here's the thing: even as India tries to put forward its shiny new face as an about-to-be economic superpower, the way we dress signifies anything but that. Superpowers don't dress and look like clones. You have to look the part as well as be the part.

The problem is that Indians still haven't shaken off the colonial mindset. And it shows most glaringly in the way we have started dressing. The gora sahib still knows better. If the dreaded balloon skirts are in, not only will our designers race to show it on the ramp but the ladies who lunch too will buy it with equal alacrity.

Not so long ago and faraway, if you were of a certain demographic, you could be considered fashionable if you wore a salwar kameez to a party. Try doing it now and you are guaranteed to be called a behenji no matter how beautiful and occasion-appropriate your outfit may be.

A prominent designer whose speciality has been Indian clothes told another designer that she is almost "ashamed" to show saris and salwar kameezs on the ramp anymore. The reason for her shame is that no one including those who buy want to be associated with those kinds of garments anymore.

The bitter truth is that next time someone calls us an emerging superpower, I would correct it by saying that we are a wannabe superpower.

In fashion, only wannabes imitate the real icons, who fearlessly set trends. Only wannabes want to blend in for they have no real design philosophy of their own and, hence, are forced to copy those who have it.

It may seem a trivial point to quibble over but in the long run it's how we look that will dictate how we behave, and that in turn will dictate what we as a nation become. And that ain't no trivial matter.