What does fashion mean for us now?

We are actually showing IRLrdquo said David Abraham in a message in the leadup to the live staging of the Abraham amp Thakore show on October 8 Oh the joy of exclamation marks Experiencing the delight of once again watching a fashion show in person was mixed with mild confusion about what ldquonormalrdquo actually means to us now Do we keep the mask and carry onAround the same time last week Paris Fashion Week closed with Extinction Rebellion activist Marie Cohuet gatecrashing the Louis Vuitton catwalk show holding a banner that read Overconsumption Extinction ldquoIt is not easy to get into a place where the powerful enact the codes But the urgency is too great The fashion industry cannot deny the ecological crisisrdquo wrote Cohuet in a Twitter post after the show referring to the snowballing climate crisis This example is merely the latest in a series of contemplations that have left everybody in fashion in a funkA greater emphasis on transparent supply chains is compelling us to look at Indiarsquos traditional crafts and the hands that kept them around In a socalled resistance movement homegrown labels sprung up overnight claiming to do right in craft clusters While the ideas of morality and altruism became synonyms for an obsessive call to crafts action on one hand bridal couture collectionsmdashuniversally revered for handmade slowmade craftsmanshipmdashwere rated like bingeable TV showsThis apparent contradiction highlights an important question what does fashion actually mean in a postpandemic world As economies slowly open up escapist dressing is tempting and naturally people are looking at updating their wardrobe Can sustainability and consumption coexistItrsquos all about perspective The standout shows at the recently concluded FDCI x Lakmeacute Fashion Week applied a mixture of imagination necessity and answers to how we feel and connect to our present lives via what we wearSWGT by Shweta GuptaldquoNobody is coming to help merdquo Shweta Gupta admits on the phone from Delhi Founded in 2018 Guptarsquos SWGT quickly became a label to watch Like Gupta 34 many young designers have come to this conclusion after Coronavirus crushed smaller independently run businesses with nowhere to turn for funds or guidance ldquoI donrsquot come from a business family I belong to the service classrdquo Desperate to save her label she reached out to textile and fashion agencies in India but found little success The only morsel of advice offered freely was to start designing Indian wear Adamant to stand her ground she began researching and contacting international and Indian buyers while working on launching her own ecommerce site Thankfully she managed to bag a few orders ldquoThese orders helped sustain my small army of craftspeople in ChanderirdquoThis season she was named the winner of Nexarsquos The Spotlight programme along with Naushad Ali and showcased a digital show that she chose to shoot in the Himalayas She used cotton Chanderi blends and collaborated with weaver clusters in Murshidabad to introduce Mulberry silk The clothes were beautifully mademdashrarely solemn or loaded with gimmicks But the highlights dwelled elsewhere in the nuanced surfaces of intricate smocked embroidery with glass beads pintuck pleats and hand crochetldquoThis is little happiness I am catching on to I love working on looms developing my own fabrics and yarn dyes Pattern cutting is my forte and I hope to keep championing it through my clothesrdquo she saysTencel x Satya Paul by Rajesh Pratap SinghFor all his characteristic reticence which includes minimal social media and IRL presence Rajesh Pratap Singh sure knows how to throw an Instaworthy visual party Optimism is apparently a big factor in what goes viral Presented in collaboration with Tencel and Satya Paul this collection saw Singh take grand leaps into shapes and volumes The colours also looked straight out of Andy Warholrsquos opalescent frames You can positively file it under dopamine dressing But when Singh does it otherwise known for his meticulous blacks and whites troubles melt like lemon drops in the words of Judy Garland MXS by Monisha Jaising x Shweta Bachchan NandaGiven the rise of the wellness movement accelerated by the pandemic the plot at the MXS show Monisha Jaising x Shweta Bachchan Nanda was pretty flexible Slide on a jacket with rsquo80s pop detailingmdashspangles shine the lotmdashover spandex shorts and a top or step up your game in a superrelaxed OG tracksuit set and you are unconsciously eroding hierarchies of dressing It was as if they were taking a cue from a recent article in The Cut suggesting tracksuits are cute and leisurely options after Netflixrsquos mega successful Korean thriller Squid GameAbraham amp ThakoreClassic styles of the lungi kurta robe and pyjama have traditionally defined quintessential leisurewear in India Layer these with creamy textures kantha applique and threadwork that clearly mimicked sports mesh and sincerity of futureadjacent textiles RElan fabrics made from recycled PET bottles and you have the Assemble Dissemble Reassemble collection by Abraham amp Thakore Despite the focus on a casual attitude the designs looked very considered They reflected a demand for more practicality in fashion and celebrated the idea of feeling goodAKOK by Anamika KhannaAnamika Khanna is on a roll After a brief hiatus she has been a regular fixture on fashion weekrsquos digital calendars for the last two seasons For her onground show she decided to stage AKOK her readytowear label which was introduced in 2019 In a recent interview with midday Khanna had said ldquoIt stopped being just fashion a long ago Therersquos a freedom in not following trends and mismatching your outfits There is a surprising harmony in unremarkable choicesrdquo She meant what she had said Brought forward by bold logos and zippy graphics and prints the super pareddown styles of kaftans and kimonos wispy jackets and dresses and kurtapyjama sets hit the sweet spot between streetwear and high fashion