The Designer Bug

Girl: Hey! Long time, no see. Where have you been, man?

Friend: Oh! You know, I have been slaving at ‘The Fashion School’. Don’t get time to scratch my head, man. And then I just started my own boutique – too. It takes up all my time. You tell, what’s up?

Girl: Same here, man. I was preparing for my upcoming exhibition of formal clothing. It is due next week. Do drop by.

To cry out loud, this is the story of every Aisha, Sara and Hira across the country. Overnight, we have become a fashion-crazy, creativity-oozing nation. If it is not a fashion designer, then it is an interior designer, set designer or graphics designer. Speaking of fashion, the word ‘designer’ is itself in fashion these days. Don’t take me wrong, I am myself one of these creativity boosting citizens, a textile designer, an upcoming star.

Today, let us just take a moment to think about what ‘fashion’ really is and what it means to you.  Is it a way to express yourself or a weapon you use to fit in among the declared ‘cool’ and ‘modern’?

Previously, the change in clothing and cuts marked the social and economic changes in a country. Styles changed in China, Ottoman Empire and Rome when a new emperor came to power in an attempt to eradicate the remains of the previous kingdom and kingship. A Japanese Shogun’s secretary boasted (not completely accurate) to a Spanish visitor in 1609 that Japanese clothing had not changed in over a thousand years. Today, however, fashion is made to change. Top designers around the world come together and decide the trends that are going to mark the following years. Each country than adapts to these changes in its own ways. For instance, our very own version of harem pants is the ‘hijar’ and ‘churidaar’ for the skinny or sometime referred to as pencil jeans.

Fashion, however, is no more for the ruling elite as was in the ancient times when rulers got the royal purple robes and the ruled left with white linen loincloths. We have something for everyone. If you can’t afford the hot new Ray-Ban sunglasses that are a vogue these days, you can always buy a copy, if not as good as the original, not bad enough to give you away easily. And if you still think that’s too much price to pay for something that would be a thing of the past in a matter of weeks, or if you are the I-want-to-wear-everything-they-show-in-the-fashion-magazine-type, Sunday Market is the best place for your shopping spree.

What is important, however, in my opinion, is what your style is. Clothes and accessories should be worn as how you want others to see you. Whether you want to give yourself off as the crazy, outgoing, stripped jeans hippie, or the sophisticated, pastel colors, floral prints lover kind, whether you wear chunky beaded jewelry or cover yourself in crystals and diamantes, it always says something about you. Though it is always good and refreshing to be experimental, trying new styles and colors, one should do it in their own way, with their own touch.