India's fashion industry is starved for innovation

Hindustan Times

a day ago

India's fashion industry is starved for innovation The jadedness in India's fashion space is sometimes punctuated by some radical and uncompromising experiments from the non- lehenga landscape. (PTI)
In India, the Global North and, before that, Eurocentrism have been convenient pegs to hang every failure to innovate or revolutionise. We haven't got our due only because the world is against us. It always has been so. This persecution complex is a potent amalgam of the unwillingness to think beyond instant gratification and the colonial legacy of mass production for the mothership. Almost all of our industries ail from it, and fashion is no different.
Our aesthetic expectations from our fashion stalwarts are so low that even a change of format draws accolades. This Gordian knot of subpar demand and supply in terms of innovation is particularly tragic in a country that gave the world some of the finest textile and embellishment traditions. When our A-list designers conceive 'new' ideas, chances are they are borrowed belatedly from their western counterparts. Whether it's the silhouettes, colours, or even the show choreography, the curse of derivative design is upon us. The few exceptions in our fashion firmament prove this rule. And, mostly, they are the enfant terrible of the scene.
The behind-the-eight-ball personality of the mainstream Indian fashion industry is all too evident. It has taken more than two decades from when pastels first made an appearance in lehenga couture — yep, it deserves a separate category of its own — to making them acceptable for a bridal lehenga. Designers cautiously pushed the pastel boundary by giving us cocktail, mehendi, or reception lehengas in pinks, whites, olive greens, and mauves. Rarely a ceremonial piece for D-Day. It was not until some film stars decided to ditch the reds and magentas that designers got a shot of courage.
This hankering for acceptance and accolades is design's Achilles heel. Fashion is, at its core, transgressive. By definition, transgression cannot exist in the arena of exclusive clap-clap, kiss-kiss. Roland Barthes conceptualises fashion as a language — one that reveals meaning while hiding it in plain sight. Fashion theorists like Valerie Steele are excited by this possibility of decoding meanings. Where is this process in our landscape?
We are, fortunately, somewhat redeemed by our diversity. The jadedness is sometimes punctuated by some radical and uncompromising experiments in form, material, style and iconography. Such designers, young and bold, are primarily from the non-lehenga landscape. Bridal lehenga, mind you, is the song of sirens in Indian fashion that few can resist. This is not the space to name the names, but close observers of the fashion scene in India can easily guess.
Like all spaces, fashion is also deeply riddled with cliques and politicking. Who gets a prime slot at a fashion week is about how well entrenched you are in the organiser's coterie. But there's a special dishonourable mention for fashion writers, who are all competing with or becoming influencers, who have sold the art of criticism for front row seats and goodie bags.
Where is an Indian Susannah Frankel who called out her close friend Alexander McQueen for not being rigorous enough? Or, a Suzy Menkes intellectually ripping apart John Galliano at the peak of his career at Dior? Does it have something to do with the hierarchy in journalism that sees fashion as a frivolous beat that can do without even an iota of serious engagement? Additionally, access masquerades as knowledge. In that regard, the film critic community shines bright as a beacon of hope. There are at least some names there that stay unfazed by the power of celebrity and the pull of personal friendships.
Nobody benefits from a catty review or blind pieces, but an educated and honest appraisal is the least that the profession demands. Yes, the world of art, in all its forms, is built around arbitrariness and subjectivity, but even that doesn't justify the unquestioning obsequiousness that permeates the writing of professional fashion writers. It is a statistical impossibility that a designer will churn out 'brilliant', 'luminous', 'divine' collections season after season.
We cannot relegate the responsibility of demanding accountability and better performance to anonymous social media handles. Salute to a steady diet of criticism, but we deserve more.
Nishtha Gautam is an author and academician. The views expressed are personal.