The ‘exclusive’ world of glamour, revolutionised by our finger tips..

Here you will find stories that have a little bit of Satire, a little bit of exaggeration, some irony  and a lot of humour. These stories are my take on the new trends and styles and the ever so glamorous fashion industry!!Hope you enjoy reading them. I promise to keep you entertained with them as often as I can!

Flipping through the glossy pages of fashion magazines was something I so cherished while growing up. With time, these magazine became my Bible and with every page I read, I believed I was becoming one with this world of glamour and beauty.

This continued till a few years back, when my belief was mercilessly shattered by a 9 year old girl. She was staring at the tiny phone screen and was talking about a show happening in one of the major Fashion destinations, and had an opinion on how different the garments were from the ones she sees in India. Intrigued by her strong perspective at this age, I started to talk to her about it and soon realised, she’s talking about a show that was happening at that particular time, the show I was waiting to read about in the coming week’s edition. Such is the power of Instagram and You-tube.

The traditional world of fashion was left far behind and all the trends and styles had walked out from the glossy pages, into our real world and the time lapse had disappeared. Once, the fashion houses controlled their customers, the clothes from the ramp took months to reach the stores and only the ‘who’s who” of the fashion world raised a toast as models walked by them on the runway. Now, even a child has an opinion, the consumer is empowered, everyone has access to all the information as nothing is hidden. Once a handful of people decided fashion, now the consumers influence every new trend, every new style. Designers realise the power of consumers and the influence they can have.  All this we owe to the ever evolving technology; our so precious social media.. Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and the list just goes on…

“The consumer is now the fashion influencer!!”

Every designer, every brand, every fashion house values its presence on social media and exploits it to form a non-escapable grip on its consumers. The ‘instant revelation’ of every trend has created an insatiable appetite in the consumer to know it all and to know it now and to see it hanging in their closet as fast as possible. Our friendly neighbourhood aunty sees Anushka Sharma walk in a Sabyasachi outfit and she has to wear it in the next family wedding (preferably with the price tag hanging). Our ‘padosi’ uncle and his son will be not very far behind.

“The follow and unfollow button clicks are decision makers!”

What further adds to the easy accessibility of fashion is the easy shopping available on the social media. I casually stroll through Instagram, see a beautiful dress and I get ready to buy it within seconds with just a few clicks (even when I know my wardrobe cannot take anymore clothes or shoes). Manolo Blahnik launches its new collection and a few minutes later, me sitting in Mumbai, am contemplating which one to add to my shopping cart. Let’s not even start with bags or lipsticks!!

Our overflowing closets and shoe cupboards might have led to another interesting market on the side; ‘The second hand designer products’ market, which is really flourishing. I recently came across someone who enlightened me about rental of high end fashion products.. The much sort after glamour world is now so easily attainable. And why not?

The world of glamour, which was once so distant, is now our early morning coffee companion or the night cap buddy. The whole power shift into the hands of consumers, the common man’s view point so dearly valued and the latest collection so easily attainable; all because we have embraced social media so well and made it our major communication tool.

By ‘WE’ I mean the Brands and the consumers.

“Everything is just a click away.”

Every time I look back and see how the fashion world has changed, I stop and wonder,

Does the word ‘Fashionista’ have a totally new meaning?

Is the once so exclusive fashion world getting revolutionised?

Is everything really dependent on that one click of our fingertips?

But what I do really want to know is, “What’s next?”

And while I contemplate on these so intellectually stimulating points, I quickly add all the social media share buttons on my blog and start my precious accounts with them!