It’s said women dress for the critical appraisal of women. Never mind if I say I’m pleasing myself, or even my man, another woman’s approval affirms my choice. And apart from approval it is also a one upmanship I see as I sit at a table looking at women out to outdo each other and prove that they’re ‘richer’, ‘smarter’,
more ‘fashionable’, have better husbands, and carry the most expensive brands. My question here is, does this endear your friends to you? To blow your own horn, to boast and be ostentatious?
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months, said Oscar Wilde and I agree when I see society ladies with bulges and protrusions in non-required places at ‘fashionable’ soiree’s wearing designer labels meant for entirely different body types. Apart from looking horrifyingly ‘wrong’, of paramount importance seems to be this desperate desire to don a ‘brand’ and be socially important.
Whatever happened to the joy of sharing, wearing and most importantly caring? What happened to just wearing a great designer for the admiration of his cut, style and signature rather than to prove a point to the girls at lunch? We need to enjoy the look and the feel and the philosophy of a designer rather than become fashion victims ‘branded’ for life proving points to girlfriends.
As a silent observer at the dinner table at the Zodiac Grill this weekend I worried about the women today when I saw the ladies pirouetting around, each out ‘show off’ her new label to the other, most concerned that it should be the ‘latest’ fashion. If you can call that fashion that is. When I see what the fashion ‘designers’ churn out in the name of this much abused word I shudder. Especially the OTT, bridal outpourings that the unsuspecting society kitty party ladies had adorned. The glitter and sequins were so out of place as were the outlandish cuts. The sari is such a graceful attire, why would the desperate lady have killed it with so much embellishment for an evening to impress her cronies?
And so fashion and friendship are not linked. Each has its own place. To outdo is not to endear. To include and be helpful and share is friendship. May we please not refer to competitive, social climbing women gossiping and running down each other as ‘friends’?
The writer is a designer and celebrity columnist