Overnight, the buying stopped. Covid-19 altered silhouettes and buying patterns too. What is the way forward? A return to the classics, conscious creation and relaxed silhouettes, designers say.
Designers have been rethinking their collections. Above, a printed jumpsuit with relaxed silhouette by Nachiket Barve. An Anita Dongre lehenga with pockets, made up of pieces that can be reused separately. A powder blue chanderi kurta with trousers meant for comfort, by Ritu Kumar. A dressy sweatsuit with statement sleeves by Twenty Dresses. A woollen sari by Anavila Misra.
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.