Fashion. What are the images that the word evokes? Catwalk, hi-fashion, haute couture...are these the associations that come up in your mind? Well, it is much more than all these. The world of fashion uplifts, heightens self-awareness and perks one up. It recognizes that clothing is as much to the human body as gestures, postures, facial expressions, attitude etc.
Fashion is not just about being dressed up in the latest branded wear or flaunting the trendiest of accessories. For fashion exists not just in clothes only. It reaches out to your home, your garden and beyond. Fashion thus it is said is everywhere - on the street, in the environment and in our ideas and perceptions. It upgrades not just your wardrobe but your outlook etc.
So what exactly is fashion? Fashion can be termed as a positive and progressive expression of oneself. To many fashion seems superfluous. It is just a fad or craze. ‘Clothes maketh a man.' Fashion thus manifests itself in all. It is this global trend with its wide-ranging appeal that makes fashion one of the most thriving industries. Roman philosopher Seneca said, “we live not according to reason but according to fashion.”
Inspiration
For designers, creators and stylist gurus fashion is by no means just another vocation. Fashion is their inspiration, philosophy and their religion - their path to creativity and salvation. Ralph Lauren said, “I don't design clothes I design dreams”. Designers thus don't just dress the body. They dress the soul too, and believe that beyond the sacred teachings of ‘fashionism' lie many sublime truths to improve our lives.
What role does fashion play in our lives? How does it influence us? Fashion is an inner consciousness.
Everybody has a sense of fashion, it is a natural inclination to update ourselves. Fashion is also smart thinking. It is about rediscovering and reinventing yourself. It is a journey inward and outward where experimenting with colours and styles you realise that the best colour, shade and hue are the ones that look best on you. Casual, formal or stunning the style may be, yet the final design is making you comfortable with yourself and your body.
Moving beyond clothes fashion livens up our dwellings and interiors. Home improvement is a rewarding experience. A fashionable home need not be full of statement pieces. It can be as simple as placing books and trinkets in a suitable corner. Your furniture can be eye-catching yet functional.
Vintage furniture has an old world charm and character. But a blend of vintage and modern chic can have amazing results. Bring your ideas and imagination into play. For fashion is for you to create, experiment, mix n' match. It's about discovering new frames, designs and patterns within your mind.
Fashion never discards the old. On the contrary it treasures antiquity. It has revived and refashioned khadi and conferred upon it international recognition. It highlights and draws our attention to traditions, antiques, ancient culture of various periods, and eras in history. Costumes, gears, accessories, ornaments, styles and grandeur of bygone dynasties and civilizations are artistically interlaced with the contemporary.
Fashion thus is an attempt to realise the art, culture and social intercourse of diverse cultures and continents.
Besides fashion as assumed is not all metro and urban glitz and glamour. It goes deep into the villages and integrates skills of rural artistes with contemporary fashion creating a link between crafts and technology.
Fashion thus is an academy of excellence, style and creativity- a school that teaches and instructs on aesthetics, elegance, culture, heritage etc.So have a date with fashion.
