The new symptoms style of
Overnight, the buying stopped. Covid-19 altered silhouettes and buying patterns too. What’s next for the world of fashion? A return to classics, conscious creation and relaxed silhouettes, designers say
It’s felt like a fashion famine, says Sunil Sethi, head of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), a non-profit organisation that represents the interests of the industry. FDCI hosted its first-ever digital India Couture Week in September, to try and help designers boost business at least a little in the midst of the coronavirus disease pandemic.
The event featured 12 major designers, including Manish Malhotra, Falguni & Shane Peacock, Shantanu & Nikhil, Anju Modi, and helped sell pieces already created before the pandemic. But overall, the response even there was much less than it should have been, Sethi says.
That’s been the story across the board. With stores shut, malls closed, weddings cancelled and people spending all day in their pyjamas, it’s been a time of reckoning for the industry. The fast-fashion carousel stopped turning. Wedding wear stayed on the shelves. A harsh fallout of the latter has been a plunge in sales of handlooms and handicrafts, an industry always on the precipice of sustenance.
The Indian clothing market was expected to be worth $53.7 billion in 2020, making it the sixth largest globally, according to the fourth annual State of Fashion report by The Business of Fashion and Mckinsey & Company. But in May, a couple of months into the pandemic, the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India reported an 84% dip in yearon-year sales.
There was time, though, to ponder how to survive, how to reshape for when the world opened up again, how to adapt and stay relevant. “We went from a peak of consumption in 2019 to nothing, in one day,” says Payal Singhal of the eponymous Mumbai-based design house. “That led the whole industry to revaluate the way we were going — the wastage, the damage to the environment. Everyone has had the chance to ask, what’s really important? To be able to breathe fresh air or have new clothes in your cupboard?” Sections of the industry had been pondering this question for a while. There had been talk of sustainability, “conscious creation”. In the pandemic, conscious consumption became the default. “We were forced to cherish what we had, the way our grandparents did,” says designer Nachiket Barve. “Sustainability is not about wearing a hemp or a linen dress. It’s also realising the fact that your wardrobe doesn’t need an overhaul every season.”
There was simultaneously a scramble to control the damage to the industry. FDCI started a Covid-19 Support Fund on March 28, days into the lockdown. “We selected 30 designers, both FDCI members and outsiders, who had turnovers of less than Rs 50 lakh each and had been around less than three years, and helped them pay their workers through donations from other members and less-affected brands,” Sethi says.
The Council also hosted online and offline events where smaller designers could sell their collections at large discounts. Some labels turned to e-commerce sites, which were the one place where there was still movement.
“We took this time as a challenge and turned it into an opportunity,” says Ayyappan R, head of business and senior vice-president with the e-commerce platform Myntra. “Brands like Raymond, Fossil, Bata, Hi-design, who mainly depended on in-store sales, came on-board with us.”
Buying patterns changed. “Starting in
June, we saw a huge demand for comfort, lounge wear and fashion basics,” says Ayappan. “Where denims and chinos are typically our fastest-moving items, those got overtaken by track pants and shorts. We believe this trend will continue, as people remain wary of going out much.”
Myntra responded by focusing on “upper wear” or “Zoom wear”. “Above-the-waist dressing has definitely become a focus for consumers,” Ayappan says.
Designers started rethinking their collections, with changes that are expected to reflect in 2021 and beyond. Some of these changes are simple but telling — wedding lehengas with little pockets, for sanitiser.
Others are wide-ranging and likely to stay — festive wear made up of multiple statement pieces that can each be worn separately, each meant to last multiple seasons. Outfits that acknowledge the need for comfort as well as style, like the ranges of kaftans and patterned, flowing onesies.
“It was a time of great introspection for us as a fraternity,” says designer Anavila Misra. “We had been discussing sustainability, mindful creation and consumption for some years. The pandemic was a wake-up call, a sign that we needed to get to work on it.”
Misra says she’s doing her bit by creating styles that are not fads, but classics with longevity built in.
There is so much room for innovation when one pivots to this line of thinking, she adds. Back at her parents’ home in Gurugram, she began thinking about new forms of winterwear and created a small line of woollen saris.
“I realised that we generally don’t think about winter classics or working with wool when it comes to traditional wear,” she says. “I had to work hard to make the perfect fall for the woollen saris, and chose classic colours like indigo, red or brown to make them timeless.”
The House of Anita Dongre is pivoting, says business head Yash Dongre, to light lehengas with pockets for bridal wear, and for pret, a focus on comfort in fabrics, silhouettes and styles. “We’ve been online for years. That also helped us endure the storm,” Dongre adds.
Consumers are pondering every purchase says designer Shane Peacock. “Our machines were running 24x7. We have cut that down. We have stopped creating excess, we are reusing fabrics we bought for sample clothes as well,” he says.
The big question is, will it last? Once normalcy has been restored, how long before the carousel of fast fashion is turning again and the labels are churning out “not-to-bemissed” collections for every season?
“Once the red carpet rolls out again and the weddings restart, we need to see how many people will succumb into returning to the previous way of working and how many people will continue with their sustainability pledge,” Sethi says.
The buck will stop, in many ways, with the buyer. “If the consumer goes back to earlier patterns of buying, it’s definitely good for the survival of the industry,” Sethi says. “There will also be a section who will feel they have enough in their wardrobe and pledge to upcycle and recycle. But I hope the rest of the industry, both designers and consumers, don’t forget about being sustainable.”
There will be more value given to timeless styles. Pieces you can buy now and wear for years. That’s how our grandparents lived, and the pandemic will likely see a return to that thinking. It’s a rehaul that the fashion system has needed for a very long time. NACHIKET BARVE, fashion designer