Random musings

To the common eye it’s a red dress, to a fashionista it’s a beautiful red drape dress, to a fashion writer it’s yards of fabric (silk/chiffon/tulle) in rose red, skillfully swathed to hug ones curves at the right places. This post is not really as random as it may seem. It’s my reaction (purely a point of view) to a whole lot of presumptions, assumptions and misconceptions about fashion journalism. For reasons unknown to me there are a whole lot of people who conveniently believe that the easiest thing in the world is to write about fashion. While it’s no rocket science, it still requires just as much as creativity and spontaneity as does writing about any other topic under the sun.
It’s one thing to spot a painted wooden bangle at a store and know it would look great if worn, but to describe the smoothness of it’s finish, the intricacy of it’s design, the vibrancy of its colour and actually coax the reader into coveting it, well that’s a whole different game. When you write about a pair of jeans you don’t just stop with describing it’s fit and cut (even a press release can do that) but actually go on to tell what it can do to a thin woman, a fat woman, a tall woman or a petite woman. And unless what you write actually helps the reader in making sensible wardrobe decisions, they do not come back to read your column. The fashion world is filled with complexities, paradoxes and even eccentricities, decoding these complexities that keep the average Joe/Jill from the joys of high fashion is what a true blue fashion writer does.