ZARA

Zara the Spanish high street fashion brand finally got launched with much fanfare this Friday at select city walk. Nothing extraordinary about this since we have been witnessing an influx of luxury brands and fashion labels opening shop one after the other here in India.

In fact it has been barely two days since the store has opened and people seems to be going ballistic...when I went on Sunday evening to the store there was barely enough space to keep your foot inside let alone check the collection. It seems as though new India has suddenly woken up and that too with a huge appetite. It's no big high tech secret that Indians love to shop but this kind of passion for big brands is extremely exhilarating and kind of scary.

Don't get me wrong I love the fact that with the economy opening up and what with the new middle class working it's way up there is more money than ever to spend. You go on a weekend to any mall and the sight that greets you is utter chaos with men and women literally battling it out at the stores(not for the faint hearted mind you). I have recently been introduced to this new world of shopaholics and it is new learning everyday...Spanish brands ..Italian brands..Upcoming fashion designers..latest trends...phewwww.

While all this is going on the only thing that sort of disturbs me is where does that leave Indian brands..the way we lap up all these foreign brands..do they also go crazy when an Indian brand opens outside. The answer to this sadly as I believe to the best of my knowledge is that there is still not an Indian brand which can command such a hysteria as other foreign labels here are able to. I know for a fact that even though a lot of people out side recognize a Rohit Ball or a Manish Arora collection there is still not a single Indian brand that is as popular as compared to some of the brands that are here. Solutions I can provide since it is always easier to talk and give advise rather than do it yourself but hey at least I am trying ... So maybe Bollywood should kinda curb its habit of going bonkers with western outfits..maybe our fashion designers need to promote more of the India fashion line or maybe even for that matter we as a nation should stop this absurd obsession with fashion brands..I don't know but these our just random thoughts. I have always believed in going for the middle path and having a balance approach to any kind of situation, so maybe we can continue our love affair with the foreign labels entering India but we should start a new love affair with our own kind as well as the saying goes "Old is definitely Gold".

PS Megha herself likes to wear both western and traditional outfits...western makes her feel she looks hot and while wearing traditional she feels she looks pretty and no Megha is not obsessed about herself she is talking about the looks these outfits generate and not herself as such ...and oh oh most importantly since she could not shop at ZARA she shopped at M & S today and blew almost four grand , she has just promised herself that the next thing that she buys has to be Indian ..be it Indian jewelery..Indian clothes or Indian food..she also believes that at this rate she will become completely bankrupt soon.