Working Women's Wardrobe
This is my first ever blog. Recently after ages I got myself a subscription of Cosmopolitan and Vogue magazines. Yes, I am old school. I still love my hard copies and the feel and smell of the paper. After having read the business and political magazines and newspapers and umpteen books for over last 2 decades, I was itching for a change. And what better than fashion magazines. Though I must say I am keen to get Elle and Harper Bazaar too.
The magazines opened the world of fashion and beauty, latest fads and got my attention to some new and old faces in this industry. It was reassuring that I stay next to the main malls of the country - the DLF Promenade, Emporio and Ambience and not very far from the mecca of malls - Select Citywalk.
Anyone who visits these four basically covers it all with occasional visits to Khan market. Not considering DLF Saket as it is undergoing refurbishment.
Not getting into the Shahpur Jats, GKs of the world as I am a working woman and I like my easy access, easy to navigate and parking. I belong to the brigade who prefers no fuss, timeless fashion and yet want to be seen with the times, tuned in to the pop culture.
Though there are innumerable online sites to order, I still prefer visiting brick and mortar shops. As I said earlier, I am old school. To be honest, since no standard size can be taken as standard, I prefer to avoid the order, ship and return online fiascoes. I like the trial rooms (though i must admit i hate those smelly sweaty rooms with long queues over the weekend).
I constantly face this dilemma of not getting enough variety or choices though there are lines of shops and brands, shops stocked with inventory. There could be various reasons - may be I am choosy, may be I am not a fitness freak who can fit into a S or M at 39 years. Or may be there is actually no option despite having so much variety. Most of my wardrobe is office wear. Hence, I look for non experimental stuff. Solid colours, intricate work, straight cuts, non stretchable, less or no busy prints and rich fabrics. In western as well as Indian wear. Currently, can't think of any brand which can feed in the appetite. In western wear, M&S used to be good, still gets good stuff sometime but sad to see unwearable apparels, animal prints, neon linens, and sizes 6, 8, 10 taking most of the shelf space. A Mango or a Promod just like our home grown Van Heusen and Alenn Solly cater to young executives - their sizes and sometimes the styles and animal prints are just not made for someone who would need a UK 14 or a UK 16. Zara makes clothes for kitty parties, vacays and non official stuff while Gap is only apt for lazy days. And our dear H&M and Forever line is for the young bees, college, university crowd. UCB and T Hilfiger again are not made for the cause. For Indian wear, Anokhi has lovely fabric, is well priced but they aren't able to get out of prints. And again, some of their stuff is made only for expats. FabIndia has everything except good kurtas in L and XL sizes in any of their stores. In so many years, they still don't make matching bottom wear for the kurtas. The fabric or the shade will never match. And for last couple of years, their colour palette is static. They have dropped some colours like grey, coffee brown, charcoal, deep green, wine red, blueberry etc. They stick to Diwali colours throughout the year and the standard chikankari colours. Good Earth is the best but certainly not for daily wear as it is too expensive.
Is anyone hearing? There is a huge gap for sophisticated smart office wear and classy evening wear for this segment.
The Indian upper middle urban class working women in their late 30s are or could be the biggest audience for some of these brands. If India is on the radar and Indian consumer class is important to keep registers ticking, you certainly can't miss this group. Unless you want them to shop from rest of the world.
The magazines opened the world of fashion and beauty, latest fads and got my attention to some new and old faces in this industry. It was reassuring that I stay next to the main malls of the country - the DLF Promenade, Emporio and Ambience and not very far from the mecca of malls - Select Citywalk.
Anyone who visits these four basically covers it all with occasional visits to Khan market. Not considering DLF Saket as it is undergoing refurbishment.
Not getting into the Shahpur Jats, GKs of the world as I am a working woman and I like my easy access, easy to navigate and parking. I belong to the brigade who prefers no fuss, timeless fashion and yet want to be seen with the times, tuned in to the pop culture.
Though there are innumerable online sites to order, I still prefer visiting brick and mortar shops. As I said earlier, I am old school. To be honest, since no standard size can be taken as standard, I prefer to avoid the order, ship and return online fiascoes. I like the trial rooms (though i must admit i hate those smelly sweaty rooms with long queues over the weekend).
I constantly face this dilemma of not getting enough variety or choices though there are lines of shops and brands, shops stocked with inventory. There could be various reasons - may be I am choosy, may be I am not a fitness freak who can fit into a S or M at 39 years. Or may be there is actually no option despite having so much variety. Most of my wardrobe is office wear. Hence, I look for non experimental stuff. Solid colours, intricate work, straight cuts, non stretchable, less or no busy prints and rich fabrics. In western as well as Indian wear. Currently, can't think of any brand which can feed in the appetite. In western wear, M&S used to be good, still gets good stuff sometime but sad to see unwearable apparels, animal prints, neon linens, and sizes 6, 8, 10 taking most of the shelf space. A Mango or a Promod just like our home grown Van Heusen and Alenn Solly cater to young executives - their sizes and sometimes the styles and animal prints are just not made for someone who would need a UK 14 or a UK 16. Zara makes clothes for kitty parties, vacays and non official stuff while Gap is only apt for lazy days. And our dear H&M and Forever line is for the young bees, college, university crowd. UCB and T Hilfiger again are not made for the cause. For Indian wear, Anokhi has lovely fabric, is well priced but they aren't able to get out of prints. And again, some of their stuff is made only for expats. FabIndia has everything except good kurtas in L and XL sizes in any of their stores. In so many years, they still don't make matching bottom wear for the kurtas. The fabric or the shade will never match. And for last couple of years, their colour palette is static. They have dropped some colours like grey, coffee brown, charcoal, deep green, wine red, blueberry etc. They stick to Diwali colours throughout the year and the standard chikankari colours. Good Earth is the best but certainly not for daily wear as it is too expensive.
Is anyone hearing? There is a huge gap for sophisticated smart office wear and classy evening wear for this segment.
The Indian upper middle urban class working women in their late 30s are or could be the biggest audience for some of these brands. If India is on the radar and Indian consumer class is important to keep registers ticking, you certainly can't miss this group. Unless you want them to shop from rest of the world.
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