The Future is here...of Fashion that is!

By Raghavendra Rathore

“The World is …now my Oyster…” said one designer to the other. Moreover, if you did not think that this had any relevance to the current fashion trend, then think again. In the last three years, the organized retailing sector has grown from Rs 5,000 crore, in 2000 to Rs 15,000 crore currently and the overall retailing industry in India is put at around $180 billion - Music to the designers’ ears and certainly not an ephemeral consolation to the ever-ticking creative mind.

So how will all this change the nature of the presently page three dependent and no doubt prudent fashion designer? A million dollar question but conceivably the answer too lies in the question. The metamorphosis of the frivolous garage designer into the inevitable, everlasting, self-sustaining, highly commercial and lucrative brand…could be the answer.

Castles in the wind? Maybe, but what is certain is that an immense change is coming. You may also be certain that this silent revolution is not only going to sweep the fashion lobby who come to roost season after season at fashion gatherings to draw together the nectar of style but also all other tiers of our contemporary nation as we see it, today. More importantly, it will unnerve and rattle the morals of our present day society through the power of desire and subsequently a perception of a new appetite for luxury will be created in the consumers mind resulting in greater revenues.

How you may ask? Money, if I may palpably say so, will revolutionize every thing. So far, the designer has managed to influence only 0.8 percent of the big pie through complementary notability of page 3. However, with retail expanding at the rate that it is, finance will flood the marketing engines of theses virgin designer brands competing vigorously for the market share. Amplifying, pulsating and bombarding certain imagery with sexual undertones well known to be associated with luxury via the space that signboards, billboards, newsprint, TV, wall imagery, posters, and now metro advertisements these brands will slowly conquer our mind share. A casual walk through Paris is probably the best place to see this concept in its maturity.

When the designer commercially elevates himself through a brand, the idea of luxury in all it’s finery, making the desirable and the tangible will intertwine itself in our ethos, exciting our desires and massaging our senses as we unknowingly will go about doing the chores each day, absorbing little by little.

Still, unlike IT, fashion does not have the Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors over stirred as returns on a 30 to 50 crore investments defies the quick returns mindset. However, change in the format is inevitable, as rising investments in the fashion sector will force the designer to upgrade their formats, leading to more fluid structures and value added fashion houses. Thus, the oyster my dear is up for grabs and may the heavens bless the designer who sees light at the end of the tunnel!