Just eight months ago, when even prices for apartments in humble Mayur Vihar, in New Delhi, were being quoted at more than Rs 1.5 crore, I had wondered as to how many Indians would be able afford that amount?
I was dismissed as not being aware of the realities of a gleaming India that could afford an endless flow of real estate at crore plus price points. Now, the very same people who had scoffed at me are saying that the realty sector was indeed overpriced and that prices for houses will come down to earth.
Something similar happened in the world of fashion as well. When the Western world was determined to show us that only size-zero models were true manifestations of beauty, I had wondered how anyone could find starved women attractive.
I target this question at you, dear male readers: Have any of you ever drooled over a skeleton? The models, who were both on international ramps as well as on the covers of some of the biggest international fashion magazines, could, at best, be described as bags of bones. And it was these bags of bones who were supposed to entice “normal” women to spend vast quantities of money buying clothes, shoes, bags and other such non-essentials.
Consumers in both the cases — realty and fashion — were made to believe in pipe dreams that proved harmful. The crash of the real estate sector is costing all of us very dearly now. The imposition of an impossible dream of a size-zero figure has cost many women their self-esteem and, in many cases, their health as well.
Cases of anorexia and bulimia have shot up like never before, triggering a situation that many do not know how to address. The influential world of fashion insisted that it was not responsible for the ill-health of so many young people and sought refuge in bogus surveys which tried to prove that, in times of great wealth, creation and abundance, the idea of beauty changes and an extremely lean figure is seen to be desirable.
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It is when commerce loses touch with reality and sees itself above any accountability that such unhappy accidents happen. Till just some time ago, fashion and the luxury sector were on a high like never before.
As the world experienced the benefits of the greatest wealth accumulation ever known in human history, corporates running fashion and luxury businesses as well as the fashion media felt that they could rewrite the rules of the game. In the bargain, if a few women led extremely unhealthy lives — well, that was a small price to pay for fat bottomlines. Thin people and fat bottomlines, it was clear who or what would win this war of commerce.
Fortunately, this unprecedented boom has now got replaced by an unprecedented downturn. And this could be good news for all those who felt insulted by the advent of size zero in fashion.
If boom times lead to stick figures, then a recession should mean that buxom ladies will be back, leading a life of full meals in their now affordable apartments in Mayur Vihar. The Indian phrase, “khate pita ghar ki” will once again be a compliment and not an insult.