Don't throw your old clothes away just yet
It is said rather patronisingly that women dress for each other. That is when we are not being accused of tarting up to attract the male gaze. Both these statements are so off the mark that I am mostly amused when I read these sweeping generalisations. The truth is smart women actually dress for themselves. No one else. In the early days we test drive what works for our bodies, later when we get more experienced we dress for comfort but try and pull it off with great style.
Self-reflection when it comes to fashion is a good thing. What no one tells you about the business is that it is largely peopled by talent that is wonderfully self-absorbed. People who don't really care what you wear as long as they are on trend.
Sounds at odd with the frenzy of the what, wear, how that surrounds the business? Absolutely. Specially since the flurry of international fashion weeks has just settled down. Starting September, it is time for a new season and new collections. The fashion capitals of New York, London, Milan and Paris are all about the latest trends to watch out for. Back home, the big fashion week in New Delhi - Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week - is also done and dusted and forecasters are scrambling around to define your wardrobe for Spring/Summer 2015. All this while magazines are doing a critical edit of your current wardrobe. It begins with the big September issue that invariably has a cover line dictating what you have to wear for Autumn/Winter. Then comes the October issue detailing the key investment pieces you have to stock up on. And by November and December your festive / party looks are laid out for you. Did I mention that every communication spells out how you need to shop, shop, shop or you will be dead and dated…
In all of this I would like to make a case for the old. For sticking with the tried and tested. Because under that din the reality is no one notices what you really wear. I know, from first hand experience. A long time ago, purely for the purpose of research, I decided to wear the same dress for the finale show of an Indian fashion week - for four straight years. A one-shoulder cocktail dress in black. From the more accessible range of an international designer label. The first two years I dressed it up with different accessories. Think French girl style of adding a statement necklace to change it all up. Then I just slipped into this dress, sans distraction. I was still complimented and gasp… horror of horrors no one outed me for daring to turn up in the same old. A year later, I asked friends, fellow editors, colleagues if they noticed that I had set my wardrobe on repeat. I was informed with great authority that I was joking - they would have noticed. Clearly they did not.
More recently I have committed the cardinal sin of stepping out rather unfashionably. By choice and not for the purpose of investigation. In a decade-old Rajesh Pratap Singh dress - off shoulder, pintucks, black. An Ashish Soni dress of the same vintage - black, backless with neon detailing or a tuxedo dress from the same season. A ten-year-old dress is firmly in the realm of "not cool". It is not mature enough to qualify as vintage, heck it doesn't even garner the tag of retro. I think a quick recall of these terms is called for here because not everyone makes them part of daily vocabulary: An antique is any item of clothing pre 1920. The term used most commonly "vintage" is for clothing from the 1920s to 20 years before the present date. And Wikipedia defines "retro" as "imitative of a style, fashion, or design from the recent past". The term "thrifted" is being used these days over the more pedestrian "second hand" but I assume you get the general gist.
What made it worse is that I was making appearances at uber trendy spots where Zanotti shoes and Alaia outfits were the norm. Let's just say places where you are not forgiven for perpetuating the ultimate fashion faux pas. But that's the beauty of an old friend. You don't care what other people think. You know it looks good. You know it is comfortable so there are no unpleasant surprises lying in wait. No nipplegate, no embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions. The best part about fitting into your dress from a decade ago is that you can throw away your weighing scales. You can see that you are still in good shape.