Fashion Forward

So I was very unmotivated last week. Mostly due to insane deadlines and a general disinterest in things. Not like me. NOT at all like me. So I needed a fun jump back. Yes coffee in the morning helps but I wanted to share something I love. Most of you who know me will think that’s got to be food and food blogs- right. Well yes- but I love these fashion blogs as well. Only because I do commit the crime of starring at some fabulously dressed people you see on the street. Sometimes its a cut, its pattern or its just the way style is put together. And I wish I had a camera with me to take their picture. But I worry about being yelled at so I curb my enthusiasm. However, these bloggers don’t seem to worry about photographing people on the street and their personal style thus their documentation becoming a reflection on a culture of people. You can see the styles change from Europe to the Americas to Asia. Its also interesting to me that these fashion blogs have the potential to become very influential from capturing of the style of the moment to having a voice on future trending in design. I by no means know all the fabulous street fashion blogs but here are a few I do love. If you have some other interesting fashion blogs you follow do send me the links.

The Sartorialist makes it to the top of my list. Voted by Time Magazine’s top 100design influences, I look at The Sartorialist for inspiration everyday. Scott Schuman explains that he wanted to photograph people the way designers would inspire from. Scott always manages to spot the most sexy men I have ever seen photographed. Oh do check it out.

I came across Ganance Dore’s blog a while back and was immediately addicted. She photographs some gorgeous women and its hard to believe its all candid photography. She started out in doing French Street fashion and has recently moved to NYC. Though Garance’s street fashion photos are shot close to events such as Fashion Week, fashion photo shoots and such so the people are definitely more fashion conscious. Interspersed with her own illustrations, personal stories and some fantastic street fashion Garance Dore makes a great morning coffee read.

Manou started blogging early this year and has had huge success with his Indian street fashion blog Wearabout. Manou has an interesting voice – its not always about the gorgeous but also the strange, the weird, the poor, the roadside romeo and the college girl who just put it together and looks great. I think India sort of allows that- a layering of colours, textures, white cotton tunic, bright salwars, colorful pants. Purple, yellow, red, orange all put together in one. Its quite interesting…

The wearabout

The following is the  lovely Annabel’s Blushing Ambition. Though not a street fashion blog, Annabel lets us into her life. I came across many such blogs where people photograph themselves and their quaint lives. Picnics in forests and fashion shoots in vintage clothing and i have wondered do these people have real jobs. Annabel’s blog seemed more real to me. She is a student living in San Francisco with a love for fashion. She does photograph really well and eats out at amazing places. She claims to spend more money of food than clothes- I’m not sure about that- she does have a great sense of style.  And the food shots are beautiful- I want a bite of that sandwich. For a 21 year old she is doing very well with her blog- 3000 followers and is currently the Mod Cloth  Blogger of the Moment. What fun!

And finally I leave you with this candid shot of a Mumbai stylebhai from my friend Slogan’s Mumbai Paused. I loved this shot taken on the Mumbai local. There is no pretense, just another day, traveling to work-  but he is very stylish in his own way. Love the patterned shirt, the long hair and the slow smile creeping across his face. Slogan’s blog is not a fashion blog but it captures some gorgeous moments on the street of this crazy, bizarre city in a way that it becomes a cultural commentary on Mumbai. Do check out his blog for your daily dose of Mumbai Paused. For now check out this Stylebhai.

Janamashtami and social networking

Design Yatra was held a day after Janamashtami– Lord Krishna’s Birthday. For those who may not know- Lord Krishna as a baby was very fond of homemade butter and would steal it from his mother’s kitchen all the time. So she started to store the butter in higher places so that Krishna would not steal it. The celebration of the festival is symbolic to Krishna trying to steal the butter. Today Janamashtami is popularly celebrated by setting up a butter and yogurt ceramic pot called a Dahi Handi by hanging it with a rope tied very high  (anywhere from 3 – 15 storeys high). Teams of young boys come together form different part of the city and state and form huge human pyramids and attempt to break the Dahi Handi. The winner takes it all0 the butter, money and fame.

So at Design Yatra there was a lot of talk on Social media like Facebook and Twitter and how they are becoming the new form of advertising. How campaigns can go viral on the internet and how superbly cool business strategies are being developed. I wondered about the relevance of these ideas in the Indian context. On one side entire communities come together to celebrate festivals such as Janamshtami, Diwali and such and on the other chances are that very few of these people are connected on the internet.

So is it possible to use such celebrations such as building a human pyramid to create some interesting networks that subsequently become some great campaign. Can we envisage a way of using such greatly linked human network to physically make a campaign viral? Is it possible to take ideas that are successful on the internet and tailor them to become actual part of such celebrations.

I dont quite have the answer. However my friend Gopal shared these amazing pictures from a Mumbai blogger Diti Kotecha. She has taken some phenomenal photos of the human pyramids that attempt to break these Dahi Handis. Maybe like her we need to get out there and actually experience this energy and the trance of this celebration. Maybe virtual living is as good as it gets and somewhere we need to be part of this collective energy as a nation of over a billion. Regardless her photos are beautiful and her documentation is brave. On first glance, my reaction was that there are some things only a man can do and then immediately bit my tongue as I read that these photos were taken by a woman. Wow! Awe- inspiring.