‘No, I prefer the latest designer wear from Rohit Ball’
These are lines often heard in the fashion conscious creme de la creme of Indian society. The story is the same in almost any commercially ‘happening’ city in the world except that the names of the designers keep changing. This does not mean that the national designers have not made a dent in the world market! The Indian fashion world got global attention after Miss Sushmita Sen and Miss Aishwarya Rai won the much coveted Miss Universe and Miss World titles respectively in 1994. Critics look upon these victories as a multinational conspiracy to promote European and American products in post-liberalisation global India. But the reality of the Indian fashion world having made a name for herself cannot be denied.
‘Fashion’ refers to that which is in vogue. It is usually related to one’s dress sense and personality traits. In today’s global village, everything from the colour of your hair to the designer brand of your shoes is a part of your fashion statement. There is a natural desire in all of us to look good and our fashion sense essentially roots from there.
This desire to look good is a primal instinct and should be respected because looking good is feeling good. The appearance factor also plays a very important role in the job sector because a good look obviates a sense of refinement and culture and communicates the right kind of values in one’s upbringing.
The modem obsession with designer products sold at ludicrous prices, however, beats understanding. Some young man with multiple partings in his spiked hair sporting a loud T-shirt with torn jeans in perfect ‘harmony’ with the pierced eyebrows, nose, lip and navel is not sporting any attitude; he is simply epitomising the fall of man to a level of vulgarity which is worse than bestial. Fashion should not be confused with arrogance or impudent disrespect for traditional norms and the values of our seniors.