Dedicated to those who loathe fashion.
Don't judge me because I spend my hard-earned salary buying fancy shoes, don't judge me because I swipe my credit card till it is so exhausted that it begs me to stop, don't judge me because I have no savings but new clothes to wear every weekend (actually, every day of the week), don't judge because I am in love with fashion!
You raise your eyebrows at the models who strut designer wear on the ramp but you secretly sigh every time you spot a magazine picture with the model wearing a short dress and high heels, admit it, you secretly wish it were you.
Fashion is easily misunderstood and widely criticised-from accusations like 'fashion promotes size zero' to how it makes you spend obscene amounts of money. You can claim to be 'above' fashion but you don't realise the statement you make with your I-am-so-not-into-fashion ensembles.
Fashion does not mean carrying an LV bag or wearing that dangerous pair of high heels that threaten to throw your back any moment. Fashion is important for the same reasons that eating right, yoga and a healthy lifestyle are-to be good to yourself.
The phone you carry, the shoes you choose, the notebook you write on-are all an extension of fashion. The only ones who hate fashion with a passion are the ones who 'think' they are too fat to care or the ones who want to fight with a feministic fervour towards a cause they like to call anti-fashion. But honestly, it is harder to hate fashion than to love it.
I'm passionate about the smell of new brown paper bags, freshly cut price tags, piles of clothes and the thrill of finding innovative ways of storing all of it in my compact flat.
But for those who are laughing themselves silly at this point, think about the envious glances you get at a party when you enter the room in your new LBD, or even how your red peep toes make you feel so sexy and suddenly make the world a whole lot better!
Fashion is not frivolous, in the right doses it is just another way of making you happy. Start enjoying the offerings of the modern world and know that it’s okay to be a material girl, once in a while.
Relax in your Victoria’s Secret pyjamas on weekends and travel the world in your Juicy tracksuit. Then the next time I walk past you in my new gladiators, bright pink nailpaint and my short designer dress, don’t judge me.
Written by Jasleen Kaur Gupta for iDiva.com, The Times of India
Fantastic... Fashion, like any other art form is an extension of a oneself!
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree with your every word MORE! :) Very well written! Liked it!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Thanks for the wishes! I am psyched to be listed on WIW ;o)
ReplyDeleteThanks guys. I loved this piece too and thought of sharing it. Glad you liked it :)
ReplyDelete@Tanvi, congrats once again. It's one of my favourite blogs :)
too good! very well written:)
ReplyDeleteThat's a well written one!! Really good!!!
ReplyDeleteFashion Panache - The Stripey Dress
hey jasleen, quite a well written case you're making for consumer culture! :) agree with the spirit of what you say since we all indulge in guilty pleasures. but i do also worry that the pervading culture of its-ok-to-binge-beyond-control propagated by the blitz of fashion mags, fashion shows, newspaper articles etc make it the centrepoint of existence and not just another aspect of aesthetics. but thats the general problem with consumer culture, it celebrates consumption over creation anyday and the crossover from hobby of fashion to obsession is a thin line indeed :)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely well written! Totally agree to each and every word of it! Really appreciate your writing skills too. :)
ReplyDelete@ Yay! Arpi! Welcome :)
ReplyDelete@Mitr and TamannaWow! I'm sure Jasleen is going to love this admiration :)
Thanks guys for all your thoughts and comments.
@Culture, I agree, to an extent our world does seem extremely commercial. But one must find the right balance of the two.
Dear Jasleen,
ReplyDeleteI happened to come across your blog on an arbitrary day of blog-hopping. I am compelled to comment on the same.
While one can easily admire the point you are trying to make about fashion being an organic entity that is a necessary part of the Self, I find that some of your arguments are not cohesive. A few examples:
You seem to have confused an innate
love for fashion with an ardent desire to consume the objects of fashion. I do believe the two are fairly disparate.
You seem to suggest that all of those who raise eyebrows at fashion models who dress a certain way are unable to dress similarly for some reason. Do you really think that women lack agency?
It is certainly agreeable that being fashionable is about being good to oneself, but you seem to not suggest how, save the feeling of gratifying sexual power that it brings.
To suggest that those who disregard fashion do so at the call of what you deem 'feministic' is essentialist. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the recent concerns of feminism or have a skewed notion of feminism as decidedly anti-feminine.
Your tone seems terribly apologist for someone whose blog, which at first glance, espouses a wonderful confidence and panache. It seems innovative as well as informed and you certainly seem to know your way around fashion as a stylist. Are you also a professional writer, though?
All the best,
Mira C.
Hey! I just stumbled on your blog and you have some really cool posts! Do you guys write for the Times of India? It's definitely a great idea to collaborate and write with a friend and btw your article is really funny!
ReplyDeleteJSo girls....i know i am late on following you(where was i???) but now that m following you, super stuff!!
ReplyDeletesuper!!
*high five*
Great stuff, J! :) I would say fashion is not frivolous and it's not for the frivolous either..
ReplyDeletei can so relate to it!!!!...nice...i like!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks all you guys for your comments. This piece was written for The Times of India publication for iDiva and hence is in context of that issue it was written for. I'm glad so many people enjoyed it :)
ReplyDelete@Culture
I totally agree with you. I just came back from Malaysia and I can tell you that I didn't shop as much as I thought I would because there were just so many stores, so many shopping malls and so much to choose from that I had a breakdown! You have to know where to draw the line between passion and addiction, I'm pretty borderline I can tell you that :)
@Mira Celano
I appreciate that you took time out to analyse my piece in such detail--this piece is supposed to be a dark, humourous take on the subject. The 'apologetic' tone in my article is actually just a humble request from a fashion lover and consumer. While I agree that fashion is not all about buying and owning fashion objects, for me, buying is a big part of who I am and that's what I wrote about. I am no authority on fashion, merely a fashion lover who wants to share a bit of her view point with the world :)
Yes Sonu and I, both professionally write for The Times of India group. Do keep visiting our blog and commenting, it's such an eye-opener. Thanks.
Hey..First timer on your blog. Loved it beyond words.
ReplyDeleteYou mirror my feeling, I have failed to understand how can people dread fashion, how is it that they manage to escape it. you rightly said, that its not about carrying a LV hand bag or a skimpy black dress, its about carrying a tracksuit in style, its about mix matching every piece of cloth, accessory, and ensemble. the world seems a lot better when you feel good about yourself, and fashion aka clothes, accesssory alone can make you feel good.
Keep writing girl, you write amazing..!!
i so totally know where you're coming from. i'm studying electrical engineering in the netherlands and there are SO few women here. If i ever want to wear a nice, short, fitted skirt, i have to think a hundred times!! I don't want my prof to think i'm flirting with him or something! Which these men just assume!! This so wouldn't be the case if there were more girls and we could all just wear fun stuff together. gah :) c'est la vie :)
ReplyDeleteYou Got Me Girl!!! :)
ReplyDelete