New Delhi: There was a time your Instagram feed featured every Malabar Hill Memsahib and South Delhi diva unboxing their latest luxury buy. It has been my pet peeve with these self- appointed content creators for a while now.
Spending money is no indicator of having style; in fact sometimes it’s quite the opposite. The lockdown seems to have knocked some fashion sense into these women, as their videos now show how to wear one garment five ways.
A SERIAL REPEATER
As the daughter of two accountants I have always been a repeat offender, and “cost per wear” has been my mantra since my teenage years. I shop by Dame Vivienne Westwood’s commandments, “Buy Less, Choose Well and Make it Last.”
A smart shopper, who really understands fashion, will invest in pieces that are timeless. It is about buying quality and not quantity.
In pre-Covid times, many fashion girls’ worried about being snapped in an outfit they had already worn. But since you invest both time and money in your outfits don’t they deserve several outings? Surely they are worth more than one post, and, in fact, to wear them in several posts only shows what a good buy they were.
THE 30 WEARS MANTRA
When leading sustainable fashion advocate, Livia Firth started her “30 wear campaign” a few years ago, it was easy for me to take to the movement. The idea was to make women aware of the repercussions the “Outfit of the Day” culture had on our environment.
Recently many celebrities have made it a point to repeat their clothes. One of the last global personalities to visit India before lockdown was Ivanka Trump. She wore many outfits in her two day visits, but the one that received the best press was a Proenza Schouler powder blue georgette dress. It made a bold statement on sustainability, as she had previously worn the dress on her trip to Argentina last year. Its eye-catching print meant Ivanka had to know that people would recognise the dress; she wanted people to know she was repeating her outfit. But I bet another reason she wore it again was its cheerful outlook and easy yet tailored silhouette, making it a piece she enjoyed wearing.
IT STARTS WITH LOVE
Kareena Kapoor Khan sports this pink summer cotton more than a couple of times on her Insta feed
Which is why I have a simple rule when indulging in retail therapy: buy something when you love it. When you love something you will want to repeat it. It is chic to repeat. It all starts by having the right attitude.
As malls have started re-opening and new drops for the season are now available on the e-commerce sites, it is the time to adopt a new approach to shopping. Don’t let all the sales of surplus stocks, tempt you. Only hit those malls when you feel good about yourself, you tend to shop less when you are in a positive frame of mind which is why you should never shop in your tracks
If you have a habit of checking e-tail sites when bored, add the pieces in your wishlist or keep them in the basket but DO NOT buy. Do I love it?
Remember evening pieces are meant to be special buys, if you know you are only going to wear it once, perhaps look at renting.
And that is what good fashion is all about today— being good for you, the environment and still full of style. It’s about being a conscious consumer, and still having fun with fashion.
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