Does the Indian fashion industry need a gatekeeper?

Once a mantle assumed by a coterie of editors and journalists, the concept of a gatekeeper has dramatically evolved in a hyper-digitalised fashion industry fuelled by social media

As a young college student, I remember leafing through the fashion sections of local newspapers enthusiastically every morning at breakfast, especially during fashion week. Fashion weeks were closed-door events that became a precursor to most trends we wished to follow and every silhouette worth vying for–all narrated by seasoned fashion editors who were granted front-row seats at the runway shows. Through their detailed commentary interspersed with images of the OG supermodels I received a quiet education in the lexicon of Indian fashion. It’s where I learnt about zardozi embroidery, the abstractedness of inspiration that informed these riotous collections, and that shorter hemlines were back in style. But most importantly, it was a discourse on what was considered good design, and what wasn’t.

This was also a time when legacy publications were finding a foothold in the country, from dreamy high-fashion editorials to product pages that featured the most microscopic trends formulated by stylists. In a pre-Instagram era, this was my holy grail, and I followed it unwaveringly.

The inception of critique

Amidst the chaotic inner workings of a glossy publication was a world I’d become familiar with only years later, where every detail was backed by hours of research and interactions within a then-exclusive community.

“Fashion critique was as intense as it was invigorating,” shares Supriya Dravid, the former Editor-in-Chief of Elle India magazine, currently leading content at e-commerce portal, Ajio Luxe. “We went to every show, made many notes on the collections, the trends, what will trickle down to the mass market, high fashion stores, or what will look fabulous in fashion editorials. It meant running backstage to interview designers, accosting make-up artists to understand beauty, sitting in the media room typing out notes–it was a process. Most importantly, there was a great level of seriousness involved–as a viewer, journalist and writer. It was our job to ensure that people who were connected to fashion could understand what we did, and to make this business familiar to those who had no idea about the world we inhabited.”

In its literal definition, a gatekeeper is a person who controls access to something, gatekeepers assess who is “in or out,” – in the words of management scholar Kurt Lewin. When it comes to matters of accessibility in fashion, the “first look” is no longer reserved for a select few; today it’s accessible on your fingertips, in real time, irrespective of where you are in the industry’s pecking order. Accessibility is also inadvertently linked to the shift from print to the digital medium. While the tangibility of a physical publication has been immensely valued and romanticised, it was only a matter of time before those ideals were traded in favour of quick, bite-sized information online.

One platform that premeditated this change was High Heel Confidential. Launched in 2007 by Dallas-based founders Payal Parija and Priyanka Prasad, the website documented all things fashion spanning celebrity outfits, runway reviews and trends through the simple blog format of an image accompanied by a brief commentary. What began as a passion project became integral in the way fashion critique was viewed and consumed in its nascent stages, through an online forum. “We were always clear that the tone of the blog was going to be conversational—just two regular girls sharing their opinion with the comments section [open] for others to share theirs. Plus, keeping our texts limited to a few lines was just enough to deliver our take on things, making for quick and easy browsing,” shares Parija.

Democracy of opinion

A pivotal element in the intricacies of design is authenticity. The advancement of social media gave rise to a new brand of watchdog accounts that became self-proclaimed truth-tellers, such as Diet Prada, which sounded the alarm on plagiarism. A local spin-off of this, Diet Sabya, with a current following of 288k on Instagram quickly gained popularity for highlighting the “copy-cat culture” prevalent within the Indian fashion industry. Several upcoming and sometimes established designers were called out for ripping off designs from their counterparts in India as well as from international labels, and the audience that subscribed to this lauded the account’s investigative nature and unabashed critique.

Over the past few years, however, the content on the account has witnessed a noticeable alteration from its primary purpose to a platform for more varied discussion. Today, the scrutiny encompasses everything from a magazine cover to a celebrity outfit to often posting snarky comments crowd-sourced from their followers. The reason for this departure from more research-based content to diverse dialogue is unknown (we reached out to the account but didn’t hear back) but alludes to the overarching mindset of having an opinion about fashion, and the ease of showcasing it.

The landscape of media has transformed significantly as magazines and their editors today rub shoulders with a swiftly growing influencer market in the country. In lieu of combing through a publication’s pages, a majority of the audiences, especially those who are younger, gain their daily dose of fashion advice through Instagram. However, in a business fuelled by brand partnerships and collaborations that doesn’t require the academic skill set of a traditional fashion job, the aforementioned authenticity can enter murky territory.

Kayaan Contractor, a content creator who has been a part of this space for almost a decade reflects on its dramatic trajectory, “When I started my blog years ago, we didn’t have the accessibility to fashion week as we do today. So being invited to a show was an honour; it meant that a designer had recognised you. People who followed me wanted to know what went on behind the scenes of this massive production. You felt heard, seen and had a voice—there was a curiosity. In 2012, Instagram was all about frames and pretty filters.”

In the early days, blogging involved taking images of outfits put together by Contractor from her actual wardrobe, an undiluted expression of her personal style not created for monetary profit. She also emphasises on how she has, and continues to, partner with brands that align with her sensibilities.

As the app evolved and modernised, the worlds of a blogger and influencer began to collide. “It’s a game of numbers. Today, the more followers you have, the more people will take your word for certain things, and aesthetics has taken a complete backseat. It’s about aggressively churning out content, OOTDs and actively tagging brands as opposed to creating something genuine for your macro/micro community,” she says.

Breaking the mould

On the other end of this opinion spectrum lies the audience comprising a large portion of Gen Z. For a generation that grew up on the internet, investing in the opinion of a fashion gatekeeper could be a more complex task than it has been for millenials. “ In a saturated landscape, the idea of a select few as tastemakers feels trite, it varies from one consumer group to another,” shares Zara Aftab, a Kochi-based fashion student. For Aftab, her scope of fashion is influenced by musicians such as Harry Styles and Solange Knowles to micro influencers, vintage collectors and even fictional TV characters. There is also the acknowledgement that in a contemporary context, a gatekeeper’s job moves beyond the veneer of style.

“The scene from The Devil Wears Prada with the cerulean belt is now almost archaic in its messaging, a ‘Hot or Not’ list barely consequential. While the idea of gatekeepers isn't something that I subscribe to, it is important to realise that influencers are the new lifestyle-makers. We mustn’t shy away from critiquing them on their reckless consumption patterns. This responsibility could fall onto slow fashion content creators, journalists and podcasters who can succinctly communicate the issue without playing the blame game,” says Aftab.

The relevance of a gatekeeper is also enmeshed with the design fraternity–on the receiving end of a review, how much does that prose impact how they create and what they design today? Does a journalist’s opinion still hold water, or is it outdone by the barrage of comments that populate a single Instagram post?

“Critiques are reactions and it’s exciting to see how different people feel different things. It is the very purpose of design–to create for someone else. It may not fit everyone’s tastes; but everyone can have an opinion of how it makes them feel and it’s humbling to pass your work through the eyes of a varied audience. Sometimes, these can be harsh, especially when someone has an impulsive opinion and no knowledge of the industry. We don’t get our feathers ruffled easily– sometimes we have a good giggle and sometimes it helps us see a different point of view, which fuels our next work. I don’t expect the masses to get it, just putting our work out is enough for me,” says Shyma Shetty, co-founder of Huemn. The designer further elaborates that while magazine reviews are appreciated, their “approval” doesn’t quite matter when it comes to selling their designs and that the actual feedback comes from their customers and inner circles.

The ultimate intention of a gatekeeper is to subliminally shape our buying habits. With the rise of advanced shopping tools, easily navigable user interfaces and “in-house” style advisors for brands, the reliance on an outward voice is slowly diminishing. Consumers are looking beyond the monologue format of old-school fashion critique to engage in interactive dialogue, where their opinion is equally valued. While some rally for the preservation of a gatekeeper in a bid for more regulated critique, others argue that the concept is far more convoluted and diverse than it once was. Moreover, exercising judgement on an individual level is imperative instead of blindly subscribing to a herd mentality.

As Prasad of High Heel Confidential concludes, “Social media taps in to everyone's rather short attention span and in the process, nuance is lost. An ability to create an opinion goes back to the origins of gatekeeping, and with the access people have today, they can distill and consume fashion in a way that makes most sense to them. So while there will always be space for influencing and shaping opinions, the one-size-fits-all mould no longer exists.”

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