Namrata Zakaria

decoding-the-lure-of-the-jelly-slipper

Sat Jul 20 14:38:31 IST 2024

The monsoon is the best time to visit Mumbai. It’s the best time to understand what the lashing rains can do to a person’s existence, whether she sleeps in a hut or a house. It’s the best time to understand how she goes to work, when the city’s local trains fail her. And the best time to understand how a Mumbaikar dresses for the weather. All of the above employ the good, old-fashion tricks of the Indian jugaad, or an inventive quick-fix.

One evening last week, when it was coming down in sheets, some friends and I had planned a girl’s night at a local bar. I went trudging to the swanky space in a slinky black dress, and a pair of red Havaianas slippers. My monsoon hair was rolled up into a ponytail, or else I would risk looking like Kim Kardashian at the Ambani wedding last weekend—as if Princess Jasmine had just gotten off Aladdin’s magic carpet and forgot her frizz-control serum for the whirlwind ride. My slippers, a swankier version of the humble Bata chappal, was let into the bar without a hitch. Turns out three of the four women came in their rubber slippers, too. There truly is no other way to walk in the rain, even if it’s just from the car to a restaurant, without damaging the shoe forever.

I first heard of the jelly slipper almost 15 years ago. I think it was Chanel that introduced the first one; of course, I had to get myself a pair. Mine was a lime green diaphanous pair with glitter all over. At the centre of the slipper’s thong was a camelia, the brand’s signature flower, in the same material and colour. It was so chic and so incredibly practical, I wore it every day of the year. When it was done, I got myself another pair, a black slipper with a white camelia. And when that was done, I moved on to an open-toed sandal with the flower.

But almost immediately after Chanel’s introduction of the jelly slipper, several big brands launched their own line of the jelly slipper, for a little fun in the sun during European summers. Prada, Gucci, Badgley Mischka, and what have you, each brought their signatures to the slipper.

At this year’s Fall 2024 Paris Fashion Week collection of The Row, the label sent a pair of red-blue vinyl shoes on the runway. Jelly shoes are all over summer collections once again. Gucci has a pair of interlocking G slides; Prada and Miu Miu have platform Roman sandals in rubber that retail for over $600. Even Birkenstock has a range of PVC slippers made in pop colours that are quite cute.

One of the most well-known brands for jelly shoes is the Brazilian label Melissa. I discovered them on a work trip to the Sao Paulo Fashion Week over a decade ago, but they have existed since 1979. They even collaborated with Jean Paul Gaultier in 1983, and several designers after that, including the late superstar architect Zaha Hadid.

The one brand that I cannot bear is Crocs. Yes, they are also rather monsoon friendly or summer friendly, but they are so ugly they hurt the eyes. If I ever see you wearing Crocs, I will not say hello.

I’ve recently bought myself the cleverest shoe from Zara. It is a sinuous pair of black heels, four inches, made entirely of PVC. It has a giant black camelia on top. It’s a Chanel knock-off obviously, and life comes full circle each monsoon.

X@namratazakaria

sonakshi-sinhas-bridal-saris-speak-much-but-tell-us-little

Sat Jul 13 16:18:59 IST 2024

I had a Hindu-Muslim wedding more than 20 years ago. I remember we had blessings, but not the attendance of family members from either side. I was in my early 20s, and was distraught that I would be alone thanks to the families’ “thanks but no thanks” attitude. We were blessed by the truly liberating Special Marriage Act, and the kindness of my mother’s favourite fashion designer Pallavi Jaikishan, who agreed to make me the most beautifully embroidered gold sari with golden roses, and refused the meagre pennies that I could pay for her generosity.

Apologies for how flippant it sounds, but that lavish sari saved me a lot of pain. I felt precious by looking precious. There were a lot of tears, for sure, but I am smiling and beautiful in all my photos.

More than 20 years later, my heart goes out to Sonakshi Sinha. Little has changed for Hindu-Muslim unions in India and elsewhere (she married her steady date of seven years, Zaheer Iqbal). It seems she didn’t have her family’s blessings, and then she did. But the daily coverage of who said what and who did not attend is something the internet won’t let her forget.

I really wish for a world where all that mattered was that a bride giggled her way through her ceremonies—religious or civil. I really wish for a world where all brides could wear the most beautiful outfits, and look and feel like the queens they deserve to look and feel like. I am glad the grooms take the effort to dress up in expensive clothes and wear jewellery, too, these days, but honestly they are so incidental on a wedding day: all eyes are always on the bride.

On the other hand, the Ambani nuptials are here already. The wedding and pre-wedding festivities of Radhika Merchant and her groom Anant Ambani have paled a couture week anywhere in the world, thanks to their gorgeous parade of expensive designer outfits. The bride’s clothes, mother-in-law Nita Ambani’s brick-size emeralds, sisters-in-law Isha Ambani Piramal and Shloka Ambani’s ice-size diamonds, the movie-star guestlist and the international pop icon performances have taken over. It is all so thrilling, and such tantalising eye candy. But I wonder if the nation would be celebrating or ogling as much if it were an inter-community union. Maybe not, albeit the subjects may be the richest family in India.

Marriages are so many mixed emotions at once. The couple (more often than not the bride) is leaving all that is familiar and comfortable and starting a life built (more often than not) on love and a leap of faith. There is joy, there is pain, there is love, and there is worry, too. Regardless, should all of these be anybody’s business except the couple in question? How is the families’ dynamic any concern for the country at large?

I’d prefer to remember Sonakshi’s wedding for that gorgeous ‘chand-buta’ (crescent moon shaped) sari the brilliant Sanjay Garg of Raw Mango made for her. I’d prefer to remember her wedding for the little squeal she let out when signing the civil union papers, or that oh-so-sexy couple’s jig on ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ at a wedding party. I suspect so would she.

I would also prefer to remember Sonakshi for her excellent outing as the queen-bee courtesan Fareedan in Heeramandi and, by contrast, as a caste-ridden policewoman Anjali Bhaati covered in dust and blood in last year’s Dahaad.

Women are much more than their wedding days and their marriages, their fantastic saris are their fantasies for the day.

how-taylor-swift-became-a-symbol-of-fast-fashion

Sat Jul 06 11:29:14 IST 2024

There is a lovely lady who frequents my gym and earns herself some nudge-nudge and wink-winks each time she passes by. “She looks like she’s going to a Taylor Swift concert,” say the other girls. The said lady has a penchant for a little shimmer, shine, sequins and colour in her gym wear—more often than not, all at once—while the rest of us mortals don more forgiving black.

She probably did end up going to Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’, which has boosted the UK and Europe’s economy as much as the Euro Cup and the Olympics. As did Prince William, Emma Stone, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Salma Hayek, Stella McCartney and dad Paul McCartney, Tom Cruise, Hugh Grant, Katy Perry and Selena Gomez. It hardly matters whether I like Swift’s music or not (I don’t), she remains the most played singer on Spotify and is the only person ever to have won an album of the year Grammy four times. But what is it about her style that is so instantly recognisable and immediately dislikable?

Swift, most certainly by design, is a rather girly dresser. Blonde, blue-eyed and leggy, she’s a modern-day Barbie without the excessive pinks and ruffles. Swift’s signatures are her bangs and her red lips that make her seem as if she is your girl next door. But she’s made a sartorial style of wearing so much high-street fashion, in a bid to win some America’s sweetheart-stripes, that she has become the flag-bearer of a fast fashion-wearing billionaire.

Swift’s music is rather teen-like—about a young woman coming of age, dealing with love and heartbreak—and is mostly autobiographical. Her fashion choices echo what an average white girl would wear in America. Most other female artistes in her league—Beyonce, Gomez and Jennifer Lopez—are women of colour. Their clothing choices are a celebration of achieving success in a world where ethnicity becomes a calling card. Swift’s rejection of high fashion (in her daily life mostly; at concerts, she’s happy to wear shimmering itsy-bitsies from Versace, Roberto Cavalli and gang) is a rejection of her supposed privilege. Swift wants to show her young fans they can relate to her, she cannot be a sophisticate.

She dresses like her young fans do, and shops where they do, too. Zara, Urban Outfitters, and J Crew feature prominently in her wardrobe. She has worn luxury labels like Alaia and Prada, but dresses them down to make them look common. An inelegant, quotidian aesthetic is integral to her public persona. It is otherwise unfathomable that a 34-year-old billionaire, possibly among the most famous women in the world, would not hire better stylists. The downside is she has become a symbol of fast fashion.

Swift has also been criticised for being an anti-environmentalist for using her private jet way too often, leading to 8,000 tons of carbon emissions in 2022. While she may be downplaying her wealth—unlike her other pop-star sisters—her lack of sensible dressing is disturbing. In an attempt to be more responsible, Swift has been donating to several charities, especially food banks.

It is interesting to note that London’s Victoria & Albert Museum is displaying some of Swift’s personal items for the summer. It is a free exhibit, so one can’t even accuse the museum of cashing in on the touring singer’s hype. It will hopefully encourage younger patrons to come and see up-close Swift’s cowboy boots, dresses, costumes and awards.

But unfortunately for the sweet lady at the gym, and for the rest of the world, dressing like a flashy young teenager is no fashion role model to follow.

diljit-dosanjh-had-us-at-oye

Sat Jun 29 12:19:08 IST 2024

I thought 2022 was the year of Diljit Dosanjh. The Punjabi actor-singer took his ‘Born to Shine World Tour’ across the globe, filling up stadiums like no other Indian had before him. Then I thought last year was his year; Dosanjh became the first Indian to perform at Coachella, the revered music festival in Colorado. We are only half-way into 2024, and Dosanjh has become the first Indian to perform live on the popular American show, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Have we lost possibly our greatest artiste to the west? Far from it. You know the old chestnut: You can take a Punjabi out of Punjab but you can’t take Punjab out of a Punjabi? Dosanjh is a son of his soil, who takes his home wherever he goes. He wears his culture, his ‘Punjabiyat’, on his sleeve. Punjabiyat loosely refers to a love for the Punjabi language and traditional dress, but it is more of an attitude, a sort of tub-thumping regional pride.

When Dosanjh appeared on Karan Johar’s talk show Koffee With Karan, he wore an off-white T-shirt and Balenciaga sneakers. He showcased his penchant for international luxury labels by identifying them as Johar was pulling them out of a suitcase. But as his stature has grown globally, the Punjabi-speaking performer (he speaks no English) has asserted his roots. At Coachella, he wore a black kurta with a lungi (known as tamba or tent in Punjabi), and his signature turban. His traditional attire—these are not clothes he wears every day—was a tribute to his home state.

On Fallon’s show, he wore an all-white ensemble: a kurta, tamba and turban again. He sang songs that spoke of his home-state: ‘Born To Shine’, about a local boy who made it big, and ‘Main Hun Punjab’ from his last film release, the stellar Amar Singh Chamkila. He also wore a string of fat pearls, gold hoops and a shimmering Audemars Piguet wristwatch custom-set with diamonds, perhaps a nod to the rappers’ rizz that the US is renowned for. In an interview with film journalist Sucharita Tyagi a few days ago, he said, “That attire to me was more important than the songs, and only these songs matched the attire.”

On Fallon, Dosanjh wore Raghavendra Rathore, the Jodhpur-based designer better known for his menswear. Rathore tells me he was commissioned to design for Dosanjh only three months ago. “It was for his tour (Dosanjh is on his ‘Dil-luminati’ tour of North America), I didn’t know he would be wearing it on Jimmy Fallon,” he smiles. The designer met Dosanjh over Zoom as the actor-musician’s schedule would not allow for an in-person meeting.

“Within a minute we knew exactly what he wanted. He was looking for a classic, but something cultural as well. He was interested in keeping the traditional flag flying. Within a month we had about 30 outfits ready for him,” Rathore says. He says his office is now taking orders from all over the world for the Diljit-style slim kurtas with slim sleeves. Rathore had also designed for Dosanjh’s performance at the Ambani pre-wedding in Jamnagar.

Dosanjh is unlike his Punjabi-international contemporaries like Sidhu Moosewala or AP Dhillon. Moosewala brought the anger and frustration of the Punjabi youth to his lyrics. Dhillon is more of a loverboy-lite with no politics. Dosanjh’s music is a genius mix of Punjabi folk with modern styles, especially hip hop and rap. He is political, but speaks of his Punjab as a place of love, music, and hope.

Diljit makes your heart sing.

@namratazakaria

much-of-my-understanding-of-fine-things-came-from-my-grandfathers-quirks

Sat Jun 22 15:18:58 IST 2024

My grandfather would have turned 99 last month. We lost him very early, more than 20 years ago, to a terminal illness. Like with most able and kind patriarchs, their passing swallows up the entire family. I don’t think we were ever the same again.

But on each of his birthdays, each Father’s Day, each Christmas Eve (the day he passed), I think of him more and more. Most of my memories are based on his possessions, rather than life’s lessons he barely voiced. For example, a distinct memory is watching him polish his own shoes every evening. I have no idea why he did this, since we had a small army of staff to help us. I had asked my grandmother once, and she answered with an eye roll. She hadn’t the foggiest idea either, and I’m assuming this habit irked her.

Only after his passing would I learn that his shoes were from Bally, a luxury leather label from Switzerland that has been making shoes by hand for over 200 years. My grandfather loved his shoes and, thus, showed them love. This was his way of giving respect to a high-quality gift he had given himself, even though the help would have cleaned it just as well.

I suspect much of my understanding of fine things came from my grandfather’s quirks. Once he told us that he could tell the alloys in a steel or an iron rod by just touching it. That may have been an occupational requirement for his business, but his understanding of materials was exemplary. On their first trip to Switzerland, he bought his wife an unusual Omega watch. It worked according to the pulse of the wearer. So if you removed it overnight, or for a few days, you would have to wind it to the current time before wearing it again. This watch is now mine, and it works just as fine.

He almost always wore suits, sometimes safari style with the shoulder and pocket panels, other times a navy suit with tie. He never boarded a flight wearing anything other than a suit: flying was such a privilege in his time and one had to earn it. His hair was always black, save a few grey strands, but slickly parted to the sides with his favourite tortoiseshell comb kept in his back pocket.

He only ever used a gold Cross pen to write with, its ink was the bluest blue, and his penmanship was like beautiful calligraphy. Getting his evening tray ready when he returned from office was a ritual. He would have two small glasses of Scotch with soda every day, a bowl of salty puffed rice as a snack and there was always an ice pail. He was not to be disturbed when he consumed this while watching khabra, as the television news hour would be called in my Punjabi household. If we wanted his attention we would have to watch the news with him, hence I am a journalist.

If he sounds rich and privileged, I’ll let you in on another unique trait: he cleaned his own toilet and made his own bed every day. He made it as soon as he woke up, so he would have a neat room while he got dressed. He was raised in a simple home and worked his way up the entrepreneurship ladder to great success. He once told me that a man who cleans his own toilet will always be humble.

He echoed another great man who gave us lessons in life, clothing and dignity.

@namratazakaria

fashion-tales-from-the-himalayas

Sat Jun 15 13:58:50 IST 2024

I first heard of Looms of Ladakh when the pandemic hit in 2020. We were looking for artisans and artisanal cooperatives to raise funds for and someone had suggested their name. Fortunately they were well looked after by their founders, but I continued to follow their extraordinary work since then.

Looms of Ladakh is actually a farm-to-fashion brand, if ever there was one. It is herder-artisan-first, which means it provides work to its pastoralists and makes them co-owners of the brand. Its founder brought together women weavers of Ladakh (Ladakh is one of few places in India where women weave. The rest of India has only male weavers, while the women are only an extra pair of hands) to create a pashmina label. Pashmina, the soft wool of the Ladakhi mountain goat, is a precious commodity in the world of luxury fashion. Few Indian companies work with pashmina, as it is hard to source and thus very expensive. Looms of Ladakh is special not only for its quality of pashmina, but because it is an all-women enterprise.

I’ve seen much of the wares of Looms of Ladakh at various pop-ups in Mumbai. They are soft, but thick pieces of woollen wear—much like the stuff one’s grandmother would knit. Neutral greys and beiges, thick ear muffs, socks, caps and the like.

But I am in Leh now, and visiting the Looms of Ladakh store in Leh Bazaar. It’s less of a store, more of an office, but the upper floor is tastefully done with local wood and a sophisticated vibe. The soft-spoken (everyone in Leh is so soft spoken, it’s almost like they are praying under their breath) Lobzang Lamo is showing us around. The items here are so different from what I had seen before. This is thanks to a designer collaboration with the talented Rina Singh of Eka, one of our well-loved sustainable fashion labels.

Rina has used local motifs of mountains, prayer wheels and such, and for the first time ever, introduced a little woollen embroidery to the Looms ladies. She’s also introduced a little colour, inspired by the multi-coloured prayer flags one sees across town. The pieces are gorgeous, and can be sold and worn anywhere in the world.

This collaboration has been brought about by Royal Enfield Social Mission. It’s the CSR arm of the famous motorcycle company, but calling it merely a government mandate is unfair. The manner in which Siddharth Lal has attempted to impact the terrain and the communities of the Himalayas, where most of his riders venture, is nothing short of a cri de coeur. Lal, CEO of Royal Enfield and Eicher Motors, has initiated The Himalayan Knot, a textile conservation project in the area. “Craftsmanship has long been an anchor of legacies. In Ladakh, finely woven woollen textiles stand as silent storytellers of the weaving heritage of Changpa women, whose skilled hands capture history in motifs,” he says. Other than Eka, more designer collaborations are in store with Sonam Dubal and Sushant Abrol of Countrymade.

Lal’s vision is to leave every place better. A little further up from the Looms space, is Camp Kharu, an all-green pitstop for bikers going up to Pangong and Hanle. It is a two-storied 1,500sqft structure made of driftwood and rammed earth that functions as a cafe (the kitchen is run by six local women from self-help groups) as well as an exhibition space, overlooking the magnificent Indus river.

I visited Kharu too, riding pillion with one of Royal Enfield’s riders, wearing a soft white shawl from Looms of Ladakh X Eka. The ladies at the cafe made some barley beer, a great mood-fix for the nextdoor concert by Da Shugs, a Ladakhi band so popular that even the little kids grooving knew the lyrics.

tiffany-the-worlds-most-famous-jewellery-brand-is-in-india

Sat Jun 08 15:15:14 IST 2024

Just a few weeks ago, a luxury brand I thought would never come to India, arrived here. Tiffany & Co, the celebrated jewellery brand from New York, opened at Mumbai’s Jio World Plaza with a party that had more movie stars than Karan Johar’s house. Ranveer Singh, Karisma Kapoor, Vedang Raina, Khushi Kapoor and several others made their way to the opening party.

Ranveer is an unusual choice for the luxury label’s brand ambassador. For one, it is largely a women’s jewellery label. But one that is known for its engagement rings, and Ranveer has long claimed fame as the ideal husband and boyfriend. The movie star arrived dressed in an all-white satin ensemble, wearing some men’s pieces from Tiffany’s.

Tiffany’s is an unusual brand study. It is the world’s most successful jewellery brand, selling not necessarily the most expensive jewellery pieces. But in 2019, it accounted for nearly $4.5 billion in sales. In 2019, it was bought over by the LVMH group that released a statement earlier this year showing Tiffany & Co had made “record sales”.

Tiffany has more than 300 stores in the world, over 13,000 employees and 500 artisans working in-house. It specialises in silver jewellery, but also luxury diamonds and stones.

Its 2019 sale to LVMH was completed only in 2021. Thanks to the Covid pandemic, LVMH argued to pay less than the agreed amount. Tiffany sued LVMH in a Delaware court forcing the French luxury conglomerate to honour the deal. The two companies finally reached a settlement where LVMH paid a little less than its initial offer. LVMH still ended up paying nearly $16 billion, making this the world’s largest-ever luxury deal.

What makes Tiffany so special? Its marketing strategies. The same reason why it is here in India, to sell to us what we already make best—high-end jewellery. Tiffany has created a brand value, a perception of luxury, that few can ape. Much of this is located at its home turf, its fabulous store on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

The store is a destination in itself. It was immortalised by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Another Hollywood classic, Sleepless in Seattle, was shot here in 1993, and then Fashion Victim in 2002.

Most of Tiffany’s revenue comes from its small silver products—its lock bracelet, its heart tag pendants, and such. It is also a go-to place for engagement rings; Nick Jonas had apparently closed down the luxury store to buy a diamond ring for his then girlfriend Priyanka Chopra. It has just finished a $500 million renovation that includes custom art, including a Damien Hirst and a cafe by celebrity chef Daniel Boulud.

Tiffany’s founders, two 25-year-old friends, actually began to buy stones from European royalty in the 1800s, including Marie Antoinette, and allowed Americans to buy real stones locally for the first time. Tiffany’s jewellery designs are instantly recognisable, but more famous is its iconic blue box. Tiffany Blue, a robin’s egg-blue, is an internationally protected colour under IP laws.

Luxury labels are excited about India again, and many of them have even brought down prices here despite high duties and taxes. Shopping for several labels in India is now 7 to 10 per cent cheaper than in the Middle East and Singapore. Like Tiffany did in the US, Sabyasachi Mukherjee has disrupted the jewellery market in India. His jewellery is now his most profitable business, and has taught Indians that they must pay for designer jewels.

Tiffany, and its elegant little blue boxes, are cashing in on the same sentiment.

nancy-tyagi-and-her-diy-fashion-was-the-show-stopper-at-cannes

Sat May 25 14:06:17 IST 2024

Never mind that India is witnessing a massive general election, perhaps one of the dirtiest it has ever witnessed. The month of May belongs to escapism. May belongs to vacations. And May certainly belongs to the gorgeous red carpets of the Met Gala in New York and the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France.

To be honest, the fashion at Cannes has never excited me. It is possibly the only film festival that believes in red-carpet fashion. Its massive rug trails down to almost half the Croisette avenue of the tiny seaside town where the festival takes place every year. Perhaps this is the way of the chief sponsor, L’Oreal, to ensure the focus is on glamour and glamorous hair-styles. Regardless, Cannes is almost always known for who wore what more than the films showcased here.

India has almost always had a lousy showcase on the red carpet here. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan arrived here first for a Devdas promotion wearing a yellow Neeta Lulla sari that perhaps should have been reserved for a friend’s engagement ceremony instead. Neither Vidya Balan nor Sabyasachi Mukherjee can live down the actor’s attempts at the red carpet at Cannes; so unfortunate was her styling. So many Indian actors feel obliged to wear saris, but it is time we accept that if we keep it traditional it looks out of place and too ‘exotic’ (I despise that word). Contemporary versions of the sari are such a hit and miss, either they may be inventive and chic or then just blah.

The jury, for example, is still out on Alia Bhatt’s Sabyasachi sari with an elongated trail that she wore at the Met Gala two weeks ago. Pretty, but not clever enough.

Poor Aishwarya was done dirty by her stylists and designers. Both her outings were frightful. Her two gowns were designed by well-known couturiers Falguni & Shane Peacock, whose love for the outlandish defy good fashion. Both gowns looked like they were DIY fancy dress costumes, not a great look for India’s original beauty ambassador abroad.

Ironically, the one who genuinely did do DIY fashion was the show-stopper at Cannes. I hadn’t heard of Nancy Tyagi before this, but what can I say, I’m a fan. Tyagi is a young influencer from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh who has scored over a million subscribers on YouTube by making her own clothes inspired by famous fashion designers.

She looked gorgeous the first time her pictures and interviews were shared. She spoke in Hindi, saying she had made her own gown, a pink fluffy fun-fest, in 30 days using 1,000 metres of fabric. The next day, she bettered herself. She wore a contemporary sari with a hood, and even made a video of how she bought the fabric, cut and stitched it together.

Never mind the stars, Nancy Tyagi is such a hero for so many Indians. A young enterprising girl who found her fame using her hands and her inventiveness. Nothing about her clothes spell ‘fashion’ as we know it. Nothing is handmade, using craft or natural fabrics. It is commercial embroidered cloth sold in bales. All of India is filled with these fabric stores for millions of women who ape “Bollywood” styles and remake copies.

But Tyagi is that girl who made it among the Bollywood types and shone. She stands for an India that thrives and survives with its hustle, with its own strong and loud voice. There is no opposition, they say. But India’s people are the opposition. Like Nancy, the heroine of her own destiny, who came from the masses and stole the film festival from the film stars.

are-consumers-tired-of-being-taken-for-a-ride-by-luxury-labels

Sat May 18 15:32:57 IST 2024

A year or so ago, if anyone had told me that Tommy Hilfiger would have stolen the show at New York’s Met Gala, I would have laughed. But it seems the end of giant luxury labels is upon us even before we expected it. The American ready-to-wear designer Tommy Hilfiger seems to have created the maximum media buzz at the 2024 Met Gala, according to several data analytics firms.

Even though big names such as Loewe, Balmain, Armani, Chanel and Maison Margiela made their statements here, almost equally prominent were mall favourites like H&M, Hilfiger and even Gap. Yes, on celebrities.

How did luxury labels fall out of favour with celebrities? Simply because they did so with consumers first. Even though many European luxury brands are showing an uptick in their numbers, their consumers are mostly the new rich or the aspirational rich. These don’t bring much cred to the brand, they mitigate the label’s snob appeal instead.

An interesting opinion piece appeared on industry bible businessoffashion.com last week, by guest writer and StyleZeitgeist editor Eugene Rabkin, titled ‘How Long Will The Luxury Myth Last?’ Rabkin says the Great Recession of the late 2000s threw luxury brands a curve ball, but they were saved by just one market: China. The country generated enough and more shoppers to sustain the industry at large. “In 2000, the world had 15 million millionaires; by 2022 that number had roughly quadrupled to 60 million,” she writes. “Through glittering megastores, celebrity-fuelled campaigns and shrewd strategies like category segregation that confined image-driving products such as evening dresses to high price ranges, ensuring they were unattainable to most, while pitching others, such as beauty, at price points for the masses, luxury brands have long managed to sell ‘exclusive’ goods by the millions.”

Once brands realised their marketing had worked, they began to sell high-street items like sneakers and sweatshirts at luxury prices. They were lapped up. Volumes increased and quality fell. Rabkin says “the post-pandemic exuberance is over and new customers are pulling back thanks to high interest rates and costs of living. Furthermore, China has stopped producing millionaires”.

India is hardly stepping in for China. Women’s Wear Daily magazine quotes a Barclays report that states, “Comments from brands have been very bearish so far, with LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault stating in 2023 that India is not a country where they can have a network of luxury shops due to a high level of income disparity and too low a level of GDP per capita.” Homegrown luxury labels are now taking over China and India.

Several industry watchers such as myself and The New York Times have questioned the inexplicable rise in prices of luxury labels. Data company EDITED has noted that luxury prices have been raised by 25 per cent in the last five years alone. Rabkin believes this has pushed customers away, even the rich, because “nobody likes to be taken for a ride”, she writes.

Another interesting development is that succession in mega companies is failing. Arnaud Lagardere, the son of French duty-free behemoth Lagardere’s founder Jean-Luc, has been forced to resign after accusations of false information, vote buying and misuse of corporate assets. All of France’s big wealth creators are in their 70s and 80s—Arnault is 75, Vincent Bollore of Vivendi media is 72, and Francois Pinault of Kering is 87. All of them are placing their children and grandchildren on their boards (Pinault’s grandson, also Francois, now heads Christie’s auction house).

But a new world demands a new order.

bhansali-s-courtesans-in-heeramandi-are-overdressed

Sat May 11 15:28:44 IST 2024

Who else but Sanjay Leela Bhansali could bring on a wardrobe reset like the one in his just-dropped period piece—an eight-part Netflix series called Heeramandi? The show of the moment is set in Heera Mandi or the Diamond Bazaar—the famous brothel district in pre-Independence Lahore. In the backdrop of the beautiful nautch girls, their cultural savoir faire and their fawning sahebs, is India’s freedom struggle. Historically, the women of Heera Mandi also played a role in raising funds for India’s fight against the British colonisers.

Period dramas have a special place in fashion. When done right, they offer us a deep dive into the lives and costumes of the time. Bhansali’s Heeramandi does just that. It is styled by well-known Delhi-based designers, Rimple and Harpreet Narula.

Lahore was Delhi’s twin city, rich in culture and wealth, thanks to the British, Sikhs and Nawabs. Women wore Mughal-inspired zardozis, phulkaris and salwar kameezes of the Punjabis, as well as European styles such as chintz prints, toile de jouy, and sequined chiffon saris. The designers say they extensively researched archives, visited museums (such as Ahmedabad’s Calico Museum), and studied books like Punjab Reconsidered: History, Culture, and Practice.

The show stars Manisha Koirala as the formidable queen-bee courtesan Mallikajaan and Sonakshi Sinha as her nemesis Fareedan. Richa Chadha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sanjeeda Shaikh and Sharmin Segal play other pivotal courtesans. The women are a delight to watch, each one bringing their A-game to the coveted sets of an SLB film. Not for nothing do actresses want to work with him, he makes the women look more beautiful than any Instagram filter or another filmmaker can hope to.

The nautch girls of Lahore, much like of Mughal India, were not mere prostitutes, but repositories of wealth and culture. The finest art forms—dance, singing, fashion and jewellery—were found in their mansions. They were wealthy, and thus earned respect. Bhansali also shows them as empowered, wielding influence over the British police as well as local nobles.

Bhansali’s courtesans wear ghararas, shararas, Farshi pajamas, lehengas, anarkalis and glamorous saris, with extensive jewellery like matha pattis, maang tikkas, passas and necklace suites. Mallikajaan’s jewels are kept in vaulted rooms, not ordinary Godrej-style lockers. They are overdressed, an occupational mandate, but oh, what clothes!

Heeramandi is important not just because it throws light on the forgotten courtesans of yore, but also because of these fiercely independent women’s role in India’s freedom struggle. At the end of the series, a voiceover reminds us that history has constantly obfuscated the support of women. In Vikram Sampath’s My Name is Gauhar Jaan, the famous real-life courtesan who became a powerful and established singer, and one of the richest women in India, was asked by Mahatma Gandhi to perform for the Swaraj Fund in 1921. Gauhar agreed on the condition that he would attend. When he didn’t show up, she contributed only half the amount raised for the cause.

One cannot but notice that women-centric films and shows are finding mainstream audiences on streamers as well as theatres. Rhea Kapoor’s Crew made nearly Rs150 crore at the box office. Kiran Rao’s fabulous comedy Laapataa Ladies is also considered to be a hit. OTT streamers have brought the most brilliant women to work. Sharmila Tagore, 79, frontlines the 2023 film Gulmohar. Dimple Kapadia, 66, was the lead in Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo, Sonakshi in the stellar bride-killer show Dahaad, Sanya Malhotra in Kathal, Raveena Tandon in Patna Shukla, Vidya Balan in Neeyat and Sherni, and Shefali Shah in the superb Delhi Crime.

The spotlight suits women.