What I Learnt About Fashion From The Fashion Week

These stylish people show you how fashion needn’t be driven by trends. It can totally be a personal experience too.

I have always loved fashion, but spending five whole days at the recently concluded Amazon India Fashion Week (Autumn Winter 17) in the Capital, made me love it even more.

I learnt how fashion enables people to tell their own stories. I learnt how fashion needn’t be driven by trends, but can be an intensely personal experience too. I also learnt how some people can communicate so much about themselves, just through the medium of their clothes.

And while I am fully aware how clothes may seem frivolous to many, the fact is that they are often the end result of a deep deliberation, of a well thought out intellectual process, as I found out through my conversations with some of these people.

In times of limited attention spans, it is incredibly rare to find people so deeply committed to the sartorial way of living, who pay attention to the little details that many of us often overlook.

And so, I set out to understand the ongoing intellectual and creative process that these people went through to arrive at their sartorial choices. In the process, I learnt a few (much needed) lessons in style, and I hope, you can learn some too!

Fashion to Relive Your Travels

Travel inspires us in so many ways – it enables us to grow intellectually and emotionally.

Then why can’t travel inspire our style?

Ashima Gandhi, blogger at Stray Style, loves Japan. And so, her look for the first day of the fashion week was inspired by Kyoto, the cultural capital of Japan. Ashima has an undying love for ‘yukata’, or the kimono.

The one that she wore for the fashion week was purchased from Japan, which she paired with cutesy socks, an ode to the kawaii subculture of the land. Her look, as she explained to me, was a tribute to the land she so loves.

It made me realise how travel could be such a rich inspiration for style —how one could go about collecting pieces from the lands one visits, so the final result takes you back to the beautiful memories you have created while travelling. And that would be such a lovely thing, right?

Fashion to Go Back to The Previous Era

We are all fascinated by the past. This love for the old — or the vintage — has inspired blogger Kompal Matta’s style too.

And so, from the existing high fashion labels, she tries to replicate looks from a time gone by. For this particular look, she selected every item very carefully: from high street labels, to thrift stores.

Her frilly palazzos, for instance, are from Zara. While her hat was picked from H&M. Her shoes are from Azarro, while her boatneck mustard coloured top was randomly picked from a thrift store.

Vintage makes you stand out.

Kompal Matta, style blogger, Plums and Peplum 

As Kompal assures me, graceful vintage fashion is sure to turn heads even now.

Fashion to Make You Stand Out

Mia, the Creative Head at Street Style Spotlight, gave me another insight. How prints on prints can make an outfit stand out. Yes, it is an often cited cheat trick in magazines, but when you actually see it in person, you realise how strong it can make you look sartorially.

Mia, who grew up in Manali, says how style came to her naturally, as everyone in her vicinity dressed well and was influenced by the foreigners who visited their region.

Growing up reading French Vogue was how her style developed in those years. For this particular look, she picked her skirt from a lesser known label, Indie & Love. Her shirt, she says, is thrifted.

Extra prints on shirts and skirts show that you are making an effort. They make you stand out. 

Mia, Creative Director, Street Style Spotlight

Fashion to Make You Fall in Love with Thrifting Again

Style needn’t always be expensive, as I found out from my conversations with Dolly Singh. Dolly tells me her style at the moment is really inspired by Kendall Jenner (yeah, them Kardashian-Jenners!)

Dolly veers towards clean, chic and neat style, but assures me that it wasn’t purchased at a ridiculous price.

She tells me her gorgeous denim shrug is actually thrifted from Sarojini Nagar! Her jeans were ordered through shopping website, ‘Stalk Buy Love’. Her shoes are from another website, ‘Street Style Store’. While her crop top is from H&M, the red scarf, that’s catching all the attention, is picked up from a thela, for only Rs. 10!

I hope you too were inspired by the style stories of these people. Let’s bring out our A-sartorial game now, shall we?