This story is from November 23, 2007

'Stop copycat couture'

JYOTI SHARMA / TNN / Nov 23, 2007, 00:00 IST

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Shobhaa De rips apart lehenga lords & couture queens.

doweshowbellyad=0; Shobha De (TOI Photo) More picsShobhaa De doesn’t bother couching her quotes in politically correct lexicon. She would rather that people around her are “brave enough to face some home truths”.
And whether the field is fashion, music or society, this gorgeous 59-year-old doesn’t mind telling the biggies that “they are just strutting about wearing the Emperor’s new clothes”.
‘There’s no sacred cow in fashion’
Soon after Shobhaa started sharing her sensibilities “of a garment I have been wearing all my adult life – the saree,” she broke the first cardinal rule of the fashion world – she went ahead and ripped apart the established names of the industry. “There is no sacred cow in fashion. What I was critiquing then was how the Indian designers are happy being a poor man’s Armani or a third world Fendi or Gucci! In the last 60 years, India’s contribution to international fashion has only been the kurti and that too by default. It caught on just because Jemima Khan started wearing it!” she says.

So, how does she define Indian fashion? “It doesn’t become couture just because you buy something from a high fashion store in Brussels and put a Benarasi border to it. I object to copycat couture. Designers have very thin skins but they need to face the fact that we have not produced an original till now,” Shobhaa adds.
‘I can’t do patchwork scripts’
Even in terms of fashion, Shobhaa feels the key lies in Bollywood and youth. “No other fashion exists in India other than Bollywood fashion. For Indians, fashion starts and ends there. Also, there are a lot of young designers who have their fundas in place. For them, fashion is a legitimate business, not a means for self-indulgence. They understand that fashion is not about becoming a social circuit phenomenon,” she says.

While Shobhaa is bullish about Bollywood, she has the same problem with the industry that she faces with “lehenga lords and couture queens. Bollywood’s success story will go up as dramatically as the Sensex. But I have been approached for writing so many scripts and they all want a patch-up job – seven scenes from a Korean film, three from a Japanese film and the rest from an American film.”
‘I haven’t yet convinced my kids to marry’
Shobhaa has taken a break from fiction just now. “I have just finished an ambitious non-fiction project but I can’t reveal more about it as I am under contract,” she says. But why has she chosen non-fiction over her racy novels? “There is a moment in history when something has to be said. That moment can’t wait. Especially as someone who is noticing changes in society. As a columnist, it was imperative for me to document these changes. But now that it is over, I will return to fiction,” she adds.
Talking of books, her last book Spouse was all about why people should get married. That, when people are moving away from the institution? “It was the result of a panic attack after I saw how youngsters were not getting married. I was trying to package and sell marriage. The concept of kutumb gives our society a sense of continuity. If we are foolish to allow that fabric to tear, we will be doing ourselves a great disservice.” Do her kids follow her advice? “Well, I have yet not been able to convince them to marry. But I do understand that this generation is trying to come to terms with so much change. Youngsters are trying to find a safe place amidst this chaos. I see it as a social emergency.”

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