A sustainable fashion statement

Photo by Annie Spratt (unsplash.com)

I am no authority on fashion and even dislike the prospect of clothes shopping for myself and for indeed those around me, whether in-store or online. I am unable to see it as something fun to do and therefore find it incredibly tiresome. I would much rather be at home doing nothing. Even doing nothing is more fun for me! I shop when I must do, shopping doggedly with focus and buying what I need as quickly as I could.

And despite this and for my middle-class bred disposition to use the life out of my existing wardrobe till garments turn into rags, I have come to accumulate a huge quantity and variety of clothes since my marriage. Probably a function of both my marital and 'NRI' (non resident Indian) statuses. My husband is Mr. Click-happy who shops online on a whim and ends up buying in bulk for me and our son. And my family back home doesn't miss an opportunity to shower me with presents every time we visit - after all a married daughter living far from home deserves all the care and generosity that they can afford at least once a year. Over time, I have learned that compliance instead of protests is the best recipe for securing peace in the hood.

Given this, Amma's wardrobe that comprised of select few cotton sarees with their neat folds, bathed in rice starch and smelling of sunshine, is a source of envy for me. She was very proud that she only ever dressed in sarees morning, noon and at night. In health and in sickness. In life and in death. Those sarees told her life story, weaving the tapestry of her everyday routine. I fondly remember some of those sarees worn by her even today. There was a bright orange one with gold and green border for worshipping at the temple. There was a pale cream one, gone soft and delicate from years of overuse. There was a light blue one, crisp and fresh for those rare outings to see relatives. She was skilled at sewing and would tirelessly stitch her own bodices, pillow covers, and handkerchiefs. Sometimes she would sew all day, with the soft monotone of her 'Singer' sewing machine providing the background score to her comforting presence. And I took great pride in that she would always rely on me to help with the menial but critical task of threading the needles.

I don't know if she had ever worn silk woven sarees in her young age, but had denounced silk from at least the time I came to know her. An ardent follower of Jainism, a religious philosophy based on the principle of non-violence and 'live and let live', using a fabric produced from breeding worms was against her sensibilities. And as for synthetic fabrics, the idea was as foreign as the source of some of these machine-made fabrics itself, probably a lingering effect of the Gandhian freedom struggle she would have witnessed as a child. For both Amma and Babaji, homegrown cotton, commonly as 'khadi', was the only fabric of choice. 'Khadi' is a strong hand-spun natural fibre, it is stiff when new and gradually softens with use, akin to denim. Babaji was the man in charge of buying the requisite materials or garments/sarees from their reliable and trusted store, Khadi Gramudyog Bhawan. But for them, irrespective of the type or source, clothes were only a means to an end, not the end in itself.

In contrast, our love for fast fashion means that our wardrobes are full of a wide array of clothes and fabrics, and our inventory from the last season is far more likely to end up in a landfill. Here in the UK, retailers are talking about clothes recycling schemes to help consumers get rid of extra clothes. There are other avenues such as charity shops for clothes recycling/reuse and you can even find online recycling companies that will collect sacks full of clothes from your very doorstep. These are welcome developments, but a cynical view could be that by making recycling convenient, are retailers perhaps encouraging us to buy even more by helping to resolve the conundrum of small living spaces?

Irrespective, while it can take a lifetime to learn to live as a minimalist and to keep a tight leash on our impulses, an appreciation for natural fibres is something that perhaps we could all harvest for the greater good. Polyester and other synthetic fabrics take hundreds of years to decompose. Any synthetic garment produced and bought anywhere around the world will live on this planet and decompose painstakingly into small plastic particles that could, in turn, pollute the very elements that constitute the earth. These garments are mass-produced in factories and their low costs from economies of scale is what the fast fashion industry is hinged upon, luring us with cheap price tags into buying yet another top for the season.

While we are not our grandparents and don't live their lives, is there not room for us to live a bit more sensibly? And for those of you who are on trend for every season, would you agree that 'natural and simple' is a style statement that can make heads turn everywhere, every time?

 <Disclaimer: expressed views on fashion are my own and I am no authority on fashion!>  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Homeland

Image
“Hello, India!” I yelled, and a thousand echoes bounced back, India - the land of my birth, called out with open arms, “I am here for you, Welcome back!” From London to Bangalore - it’s been a year, a seismic change that transpired from our desire to live ‘the big Indian dream’. Chase a dream and do it with determination, it will come true. Yes, a dream came true as I returned to India after 11 years with our British-born child, an ode to my childhood that brings a million memories back to life. The transition has been smooth, for not even a moment felt like I was out of place. The initial days of uneasy curiosity are long forgotten with mindful calmness having returned to life. Yes, we still have so much to see and explore of this mystical land, but there is no rush, rather an opportunity to savour as this time we are here for long.   Unlike in the UK, I have chosen to work part-time from home, giving myself the luxury of time to recharge and indulge in my 4-year old. We liv
Read more

My tribute to Chacha

My uncle, Chacha, was a joyful soul with a gleaming face, short built, having a purposeful stride. He worked for the gas industry for over four decades, starting his professional journey at a young age that took him to different parts of the country, unmatched in our family till now. From the snippets that I remember, Amma would tell me how Chacha had moved out of Delhi without hesitation to explore a job opportunity in Baroda. Then on, he moved to wherever his career, his industry took him, to have new experiences and add value to himself and to the industry to which he remain committed till his very last.  He lived across cities including Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, and Vishakhapatnam. No doubt his life experiences shaped his personality and made him into an individual who could communicate with all, young and old, with ease and inspire with his breadth of knowledge. His zeal for any new project at work and desire to share the same with the family was remarkable. I remember, as a
Read more

About jigsaws and tank engines...

Toys, toys everywhere... The amount of ‘stuff’ that we have come to accumulate since the birth of my son in only two and a half years is silly. In my home for example, aside from using up the dedicated storage space in my son's bedroom, we have a double-door cupboard allocated for toys as well as a (spare) bedroom with baby/toddler things housed in all corners. And with so many 'special' days marked on the annual calendars, we overcome our resistance all too often to indulge our son with one more present. As do the extended family and close friends who play their roles in his life to perfection. It won't be an exaggeration to say that our modern homes housing small nuclear families (like mine!) are swamped like warehouses with an endless sea of toys requiring just as much space as people. Could it be that we are simply turning to things to provide the same stimulation that a young child would have drawn from real people and children a few decades ago? Are we replac
Read more