An unanticipated result of the opening up of the Indian economy was the spread of the fashion industry from the west. It began with occasional Indian beauties going to western fashion contests; then 2002 saw the first beauty contest in India. This column from Business Standard of 13 September 2002 describes the first steps of the industry.
OF BEAUTOS AND BEAUTIES
Delhi was full of beauties
and beautos in the first week of August. A hairdresser was imported from New
York. I thought his own hair was a mess, but then, who am I, the hairless
wonder, to judge? Some beautos were dressed up in saris; but since women
started wearing trousers some time ago, it was time men reciprocated. Anyway,
so ignorant am I that I cannot even distinguish between a women’s salwar kameez
and the Pakistani male national dress of baggy trousers and oversize shirts. So
I am just the one to pronounce on the fashion industry.
The fashion industry in India was
preceded by the beauty industry – by the arrival of Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya
Rai on the international beauty scene. They became celebrities, being recognized
as a beauty became fashionable in circles outside the film industry, and beauty
factories grew up that trained women in presenting themselves suitably. It may
look easy to anyone who has watched a beauty contest – just a matter of
swinging one’s hips and professing admiration of Mother Teresa. But there is
more to it. The contests for Miss World and Miss Universe bring together 120
nations and six billion people. There is no shortage of physical beauty in the
world, and the distance between contestants in terms of physical gifts is so
narrow that a beauty contest could never be decided on beauty alone.
To win a beauty contest, a beauty has to enter the minds
of the organizers. What they are looking for is the ideal model who would make
her mark in the fashion industry without any further training. And they are not
just looking for a dumb model; they are looking for someone who can give a
charming speech, hold her own in a party, and be self-possessed in the midst of
society oglers. These are not inconsiderable requirements; you only have to
look at an ordinary middle-class Indian girl to see how far beyond her they
are. Before she even grows up, she has been schooled to wear a mask of
diffidence and submission; for her to handle a man’s world on her own terms,
without being brusque, shy or effusive, requires a revolutionary mental change.
But that transformation can be made and taught; that is what the beauty schools
of the south are doing. And their market is not just potential beauty contests.
The hospitality industry is growing; hotels, restaurants and event organizers
all want young, charming, articulate women.
However, the market for Miss
Somewheres is not the same as the market for fashion. Fashion is about adding
value to bits of cloth and metal by deluding people that the bits do something
more than drape or hang; and to delude them, the bits have to be displayed on
attractive human specimens. These specimens do not have to be, or even look
intelligent. Fashion TV has started showing conversations of models living in
flats; they are hard to beat in inanity and fatuity. A Miss Somewhere would not
be seen dead in that company. On the other hand, if she wanted to become a
model, she would have to accept the rigours of constant dieting, physical exercise
and skin care (hair care is not so important in the west; the couturiers have
excellent collections of wigs).
Anyway, the Indian beauty
grooming industry created in its wake an industry to clothe beauties; and some
of the clothiers found a larger market by exporting clothes to expensive stores
abroad. The market is narrow, because the Indian couturiers do not have
capacity for mass manufacture, and have to cater to those stores abroad that
can take a small collection.
And now some of them have developed
the ambition to enter the bigger, more lucrative market for fashion clothing in
the west. It is not an easy industry to enter; it is a highly competitive field
with a handful of powerful leaders. For an Indian couturier to organize a
fashion show in Paris, get the right guests to it, get it covered by the media,
and throw the ancillary parties and organize events, would require a huge
investment and outstanding contacts; those who can achieve this can be counted
on the fingers of one hand.
Hence some of them thought of the
more economical option of having a fashion show in India and inviting potential
buyers. To keep down costs, they held it in the Indian monsoon, when there are
no tourists and hotels are empty. They also chose a time when the westerners
take a holiday – and hence the western fashion industry is in recess.
The results will only emerge over
the next few months. A few things obviously went wrong. For one thing, there
were too many designers; the audience would have been bigger and more focused
if the programme had been shorter. Most exhibitors attracted little interest;
amongst them there was heartburn about the time slots they had been allocated,
and talk of behind-the-scenes politics.
A professional outsider would
have found the show stood out for three things: the models, Indian fabrics and
the fitting. Some of the models were a refreshing change from western
mannequins; the beauty industry is going to earn handsome dividends in the form
of contracts for models abroad. The trickle of Indian beauties working in New
York and London, generally going for the season, is likely to grow.
The use of colours and textures
was also distinctive. The reds and greens seen here are seldom seen in the
west; and the elaborate prints and embroideries are also unknown. In general,
the Indian taste is still very different from the European or American – and
this is where there may be a market opportunity.
On the other hand, the fitting of
the clothes was often sloppy; the ensembles were hurriedly put together, and
often bore only an approximate correspondence to the models they draped.
Fitters and tailors are an invisible but crucial cog in the European fashion
machines. There is a well organized drill there – the fitters not only drape
the models but document measurements, which are then converted to a range of
sizes should a design find a market and be replicated in number.
This is what western fashion is
about; although it markets exclusivity, it seeks a mass market, and is geared
for it. Much before the fashion shows, the fashion designers – or their clients
in the clothing industry – work out how the design would be industrialized –
whence they would get the large quantities of fabric, buttons, cutting and
sewing capacity, packaging – should it succeed. Indian designers are not geared
for that. It is not required at home where there is no mass market for designer
clothes; but it will be if ever they want to make it big abroad.
