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Meher Castelino and Krishna Mehta reminisce about the fashion industry
‘Times are changing’
PHOTO: Nagara Gopal
Age defying beauties Meher Castelino and Krishna Mehta agree on the need for a more professional attitude to fashion
They’re both icons in the fashion world. Former Miss India and fashion journalist Meher Castelino and designer Krishna Mehta share an association of over two decades. Other than sharing a common professional platform, they strongly believe in the need for a more serious agenda for the growth of fashion in India and that fashion journalism will fill that void. They also share a passion for travelling and exchange notes on the difficulty of being a vegetarian while travelling. Renuka Vijay Kumar listens in...
Krishna Mehta: I was travelling in Scandinavia recently and it was beautiful, we went on this speedboat and since it was freezing cold, we were dressed up in woollens and ski outfits and waterproof jackets. When water got into the boat it would turn to ice. But the whole experience was beautiful. The fjords, flying over the Norwegian terrain....
Meher Castelino: Sounds beautiful...but must be freezing cold now.
Krishna: Yes. But they eat only fish, which is considered vegetarian. This trip reminded me of my first experience in Sweden. I had gone for some business meetings and for breakfast I was given a huge salad, nicely arranged and in the middle of it was a huge boiled egg!
Meher: Oh, you don’t even eat egg?
Krishna: No. Not at all. I’m fully vegetarian. I had to send it back and ask them to make me a fresh plate. I think they removed the egg and sent it back. After that, for the remainder of my stay I ate the same thing - a plate of salad arranged the same way, morning, noon and night! Meher: I’m vegetarian by choice. Many years ago, I was at a talk and the speaker said, ‘When you eat non-veg food, you’re putting dead stuff into your mouth.’ That comment made me shudder and I completely gave up eating meat. At a lavish sit-down dinner I was served beef and potatoes. I told the chef I was vegetarian and didn’t eat meat. He took it away and came back with only the potatoes. The same potatoes that were with the meat! I felt like saying, ‘I could have done that myself!’ At another incident in Italy, we were at this banquet and this Italian model there was vegetarian and couldn’t eat anything. So at 9 pm the chefs very graciously said they would go to the market to buy some fresh vegetables and make her something. The poor girl waited while everybody ate. Finally the chefs came back with this huge bowl of salad and...it had chunks of fish in it! They didn’t consider fish as meat!
Krishna: White meat is not considered non-vegetarian.
Meher: So the safest thing to ask for is vegan food. Even airlines give you that option. They don’t use any dairy products in a vegan meal.
Krishna: That kind of food is usually made horribly. I only lose weight on that kind of food.
Meher: But things are changing. Now when you travel, you can eat more options in vegetarian food. It’s like the fashion industry..!
In our days there was only Ensemble and Gliterrati. These two stores and their fashion shows were the events of the year and both tried to outdo the other. Today there are as many as four fashion weeks in a year!
Krishna: I remember once Tarun (Tahiliani) and I showed together, we shared the same ramp. He did the women’s clothes and I did the clothes for the men. In those days, it was like that. If two designers were creatively different and yet could gel together, they collaborated. Today the concept doesn’t exist.
Meher: But also, today, each designer is big enough to say that he doesn’t want to share the ramp with anyone
Krishna: I think in those days we could get away with anything!
Meher: Yes, a lot of things would be unacceptable today. But then the upside is that the entire industry has grown and everything has become more professional, it has become an industry, a lucrative one at that. Wouldn’t you agree?
Krishna: Yes, that’s true. But that’s the need of the hour. The industry is growing and hence the need for professional courses such as fashion journalism.
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