STYLE: NO HIGH STREET FOR FASHION
Don’t look for fashion on the local high street.
One can easily spot the all-purpose tunic suitable for a day at work. Or the light kurta designed to weather the sweltering summer.
One will also encounter a profusion of digitally printed silk, jewelled brooches glinting on shirt’ front pockets, nets infused with sequins and — let’s not forget — fully embroidered chiffon shirts masquerading as trendy evening wear. But as Karl Lagerfeld once infamously said, “Trendy is the last stage before tacky.” And our money-minting, burgeoning high-street fashion has easily surpassed this last stage and trundled towards commercialised, usually garish design which all looks the same and is more often than not, plagiarised right off the Internet.
Then again, the high street has never been a platform for bonafide high fashion. The world over, fashion trickles down from runways to exclusive boutiques before getting translated to affordable prêt. Fashion house Armani may diversify to slightly lower price points with an Armani Exchange but it will never endeavour to compete with the competitive rates at Zara. In India, Manish Malhotra maintains a Diffusion brand and Ritu Kumar has a Label line. Both brands have vastly different price points from the bespoke bridals that the designers are famous for but, while relatively affordable, the clothes are still far too up-market to qualify as absolute steals.
High street has never been a platform for bonafide high fashion. So what exactly is all the fuss about?
“People are willing to buy expensive designer wear because of the exclusivity that it offers,” observes Nomi Ansari whose forté lies in creating extravagant bridal wear. “There’s also an unfortunate showing-off factor that draws many clients to us. They want to tell people that they are wearing a certain designer’s creation. Tomorrow, should I open up a high-street store where I will be selling tunics for 2,000 rupees a piece, it may manage to make me a household name. At the same time, it will immediately tarnish my reputation as an exclusive designer and consequently, will bring down my profits. Why would I even want to go that way?” Why, indeed? Fashion history is littered with examples of brands that have lost their high-end veneer — and clientele — by becoming too accessible. Pierre Cardin lost out on its snobbery potential when it began extending itself towards lower-priced department-store product lines such as costume jewellery. Likewise, Michael Kors ceased to be aspirational when it chose to open multiple stores across the world and present customers with the option of purchasing from their high-end label, their middle-market brand and a discount-outlet collection. If everyone and anyone can gain access to a label, its image as a luxury item slips away and the high-end customer is no longer interested in paying a premium price for it.
THE NEED FOR INVESTORS