Fashion, an invigorating symbol of progress

411,000,000, the exact number shown on the first hit of submit tab on google for FASHION. A term much used and liked by the people across the horizons and cuts across age barriers with ease. So what is fashion after all....a phenomena, a way of life, part of various cultures or a byproduct perhaps. For the uninitiated by wide consent it is considered a synonym for glamour.

Human aspirations by far have no boundaries but the one that knowingly or unknowingly takes the center stage of ones personality is appearance and the aptitude to be fashionable is psychological and believed to play a self esteem boosting role. Madonna's tiny daughter expects her mom to buy her a million daughter dress crafted by the finest designers, actresses choose to wear the latest season wear buying them off the shelves as and when they hit the stores, girl next door tries to emulate the jaw dropping looks of Cruz or Ash seen on TV, a senior KG kid demands a latest Nike shoes....and many more examples mean only one thing. The fashion industry is mushrooming like never before.

Fashion TV, Fashion magazine and now a movie by the name Fashion says the craze of fashion this world has glued into. It is seen generally that people take to fashion much easily than to any other of habit, perhaps there's a logic to it. It gives a sense of accomplishment in day today lives to dress well, look well, be liked by others thus increasing your chances of being the talk of the town. Page 3 parties are a more recognized phenomena to the cities’ elite to flaunt their fashionable accessories, cars and ....

India though is a country that has waken up to the fashion revolution much lately, even though the filmdom has been defining the fashion quotient in the country from past few decades, country as a whole has only taken up the fashion mantra at the end of last century...thanks to the media for so widely exposing the facet of fashion to us all. How else do you explain a farmer entering the supermarket in the rural India wearing the black goggles, colorful dhotis with the painting by locals.

Sceptics though have always believed that Indian culture has been full of abundant examples of Indian men and women dressing with utmost grace and charm, be it Rajputs, Marathas, Mughals or even our local fishermen to say the least....and I echo with these sceptics as well. How else would one explain Ritu Beris, Manish Malhotras of this world presenting the fabricated versions of Indian clothing in International fashion shows.

Fashion though like every other industry has its goods and bads....the passion of being at the top of fashion era has made many to embrace fashion in their consciousness to an extent that the recent episodes of many young models succumbing to anorexia and cases of wardrobe malfunctions across the globe has left black scars on the fashion industry which will take some time to fade away from the memory lanes.