Confessions Of A Non-Shopaholic

A nightmare for most girls is the usual “I have nothing to wear,” when they need to rummage through 500-odd ensembles to find something worthy of that anticipated Friday night party or first date. And for me? It’s hearing the phrase “You can’t wear that!” coming from my best friend, my mother, the neighbour, the milkman and the newspaper guy. Because I have a confession to make – I know zilch about fashion and don’t think I could put in any effort into worrying about it after 27 years of not caring. Of course, it’s not that I don’t own any fashionable items — I do have LBDs, black wedges, a classic white shirt and ballet flats — it’s just that I didn’t know that these things are considered “fashion essentials” till people told me they are (Don’t think I’m a dunce, I bet you also thought ‘silhouette’ was simply a dark shape in black before you opened a fashion magazine for the first time!).

Trends, lookbooks, collections, high street, sartorial, haute couture…all these are just words for me and nothing more. And I know of their existence only by virtue of where I work. I’d need to refer to a fashion dictionary if I ever came across these words otherwise! I’ve never understood why, if I’m not an actor, model or someone in the limelight, I have to be perfectly coiffed and have the season’s latest ensembles in my cupboard. I’m completely fine wearing something that may not be all the rage, or from a collection that’s five years old – as long as my BFF (who’s faithfully sent photos on WhatsApp) and I think it looks good on me and it’s comfortable, I’m going ahead with it (except maybe tops with shoulder pads, ugh). I’m no one to judge, but how in the world can people spend two hours rummaging through their wardrobes to find something fashionable to don and another three hours in front of the mirror contouring their cheeks and applying six shades of mascara, I’ll never know. And do you really need your 6-month-old baby to be wearing Gucci booties? (True story, I was once at a wedding that involved a frantic mom looking for the one Gucci bootie that slipped off her son’s foot!) So if you’re like me and don’t know what colour blocking actually is, what kind of prints look good for the figure you have, or whether it’s necessary to match all your accessories or keep them completely different from your outfit, remember that it’s absolutely okay. After all, isn’t that what style is all about – being comfortable in your own skin?