For years, students pursuing Fashion in India have been perceived as rebels by the elders in their family, dumb and snobbish by their contemporaries in other fields and, in the case of women students, ‘eye-candy’ or bimbos.
Often, students pursuing courses like medicine, scientific research or engineering, consider fashion graduates intellectually inferior to them and think they have low IQ, and lack intellect and general knowledge. Many young students pursuing fashion and design courses strongly object to such unfair perceptions.
Beginning with presumptions about the scope of a career in their industry to personal attitudes, Fashion and Design students say people see them in a not-so-favourable light.
"In my family, whenever I tell someone that I'm studying Fashion, they assume that I'm going to either be a tailor or start a boutique. There is so much more to fashion that people don’t know about or even try to know," rues Mahima Prasad, a Hyderabadi girl who completed her Bachelor’s in Fashion Communication from Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune.
Mahima, who will soon be doing her postgraduation in Monaco, feels that fashion in India has evolved considerably over the years. “Maybe in the old days it was just about being a tailor, but fashion has changed over a period of time. Many people don’t t0 know this, but fashion is even connected to the economy. People are incorporating more and more things that are happening around them into their garments,” says Mahima.
Lamenting that students doing Fashion are stereotyped often, Mahima explains that she deals with it on a regular basis. “We face this problem in our own homes, let alone what others think of us. My own parents think that because I’m doing Fashion, I'm some sort of a party animal and would like to go out every night,” she says, regretfully.
Explaining that fashion goes beyond appearances, she points out: “Recently, there was a show called ‘Fashion for a Cause’ at a city hotel. So, people are not just using fashion to cover themselves up creatively, they are also using it to promote causes and to create awareness.”
Mahima says her friends in medicine, engineering, journalism and other disciplines tend to look down at those pursuing Fashion, and presume they lack basic general knowledge.
Arguing against such baseless perceptions, she says, “In this field, we have to do a lot of research about the clothes people wear across the globe. When we are doing Fashion, we have to keep ourselves updated about activities going on around the world. Your mood is reflected in what you wear, and usually the mood of a country reflects in their garments, and in the way they do business. So we Fashion students are well-read and we know a lot of things. To say that we lack general knowledge is not only atrocious, it's laughable,” fumes the 23-year-old.
Speaking about what the course taught her, she feels her college experience proved invaluable in grooming her in her chosen career path. “I did Fashion Communication, where we studied the business aspect of fashion. We were taught some basic things like branding and business management and also understanding the garment production process, such as how it is made, and also how the materials are sold and who all are involved in that,” she adds.
Students currently pursuing Fashion are equally vocal about the misconceptions about their field, and strongly feel the need for more awareness of what they actually do, as things have hardly changed for the better.
“People think students pursuing Fashion have a lot of free time but it's actually the opposite. I think compared to other fields, there is maximum practical work for us. We have very little free time,” says Jahnavi Polina, a student at National Institute of Fashion Technology, Hyderabad.
Jahnavi is irked by the fact that people think she’s a party animal just because she’s studying Fashion. “To be honest, I have never been inside a pub in my entire life. I don’t know what it looks like or who goes there. I just know that people go there to dance, drink and enjoy. And yet, when I tell people this, they don't believe me. They often say ‘c’mon yaar, you are studying Fashion, how can you not go to parties?’,” says the 22-year-old.
Pointing out that there’s nothing wrong with going out to party every now and then, Jahnavi is disgusted by the hypocrisy of people. “Mostly, students go out to party because of the stress in their colleges or workplaces. I feel that people from all professions go out and party to de-stress, its not just those in the Fashion industry. In fact, the number of people in the IT sector who party a lot are way higher than students of Fashion and Design,” she points out.
Jahnavi, who is currently in her final year at NIFT, says she has come across hundreds of misconceptions about Fashion students over the past few years. “Apart from the usual misconceptions that we are always free and always go out to party, people also feel that girls in Fashion are very easy to flirt with. Even when it comes to marriage arrangements, especially for south Indian girls like me, many boys often say things like, ‘I don't know if I feel right about marrying a girl who went to a Fashion institute!’ The list is endless,” laments Jahnavi about the ‘bad girl’ stereotype that society has branded them with.
When asked why people think Fashion graduates are ‘dumb’ and lack basic general knowledge, Jahnavi admits that she does find it difficult to keep track of current affairs all the time. “There are so many other things happening around us in our field. Our course requires a lot of creativity and innovation and we are often tuned to activities involving fashion. Which is why I may go to a fashion website first instead of a news website while browsing online. But that doesn't mean we are dumb," she says, furious.
Jahnavi goes on to say that pursuing Fashion at her college has been a transformational experience for her and many other students who have taken up the course every year.
“People may have all sorts of misconceptions but the truth is that after joining my college, students have actually learnt what life is about. Be it about individuality or responsibility or understanding patience, they have learnt everything. This is because of the curriculum, the work, activities, stress — everything we have around us. Even students coming from villages learn so much and completely transform themselves. One only hears about how a village girl turns into a Fashionista, but there’s so much more behind the change; there’s so much she learns and experiences. After four years, any simpleton can become a matured person by studying at NIFT,” she adds, with a smile.
Young students pursuing other Design courses face similar problems, as they too are often seen as having it easier than the rest.
Maya Pillai, who works with Creya Learning, an education company that helps school children learn with creativity, innovation and thinking, seeks to set the record straight, and says, “I come across creative students on a daily basis and they are extremely intelligent. Some of the things they do are amazing and I keep thinking that I myself wouldn’t be able to do something of that sort.”
Maya, who has done her Bachelor’s in Graphic Design from Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune, and her postgraduation in Photography from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, feels the need for people to recognise the hard work that students pursuing Design put in.
“Design is not just about working with a pen and a paper; there’s a lot more to it than what people presume. Most people think we have it easy and don’t need to work very hard but the fact is that we work long hours and have little time to spare,” she explains.
Faculty members of art institutes are equally vehement in expressing their concerns about how young creative minds pursuing arts are perceived by society.
“Unfortunately, art is completely neglected by the government and our education system. There is a severe lack of awareness in India about the benefits of pursuing a career in Arts. Because of false notions, people don’t take artists seriously, which is unfortunate,” says S Vani Devi, founder and principal of Sri Venkateshwara College of Fine Arts, Hyderabad.
Daughter of late Indian Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, Vani Devi was an artist herself and decided to encourage creative young minds to pursue a career in Arts, which led her to start the institute in 1991.
“Even today, when people talk about Rabindranath Tagore, some say he is a writer, some call him a poet but very few know he was also a painter,” says Vani Devi.
Sharing a personal instance about how misconceptions about art and artists have even affected relationships, she says, “There’s a family close to me where both parents are doctors, but the children are artists. The parents are used to a certain schedule, so they cannot relate to what their children do. When the children go away on work-related activities, the parents get concerned because of the wrong notions they have about people pursuing arts."
She adds, “There is a lot of hard work that art students are required to put in, and their minds revolve around creativity 24x7. But we label them, which is not good.”
Agreeing with her, Ajitha Surabhi, Director, Venkateshwara College of Fine Arts, says, “The pressure that artists face is tremendous. There is a lot of work they need to do for them to be able to present their work within deadlines but people question their lifestyle and discipline. They may not have a 9-5 job and they might follow different disciplines, but until they finish their work, they never rest.”
Faculty members of art and design colleges, however, feel there is a silver lining in all this. The students are slowly rebelling against society’s preconceived notions. “Children today are very smart and educated, and they know what they are doing. They realise the value and potential that a career in Arts can give them and relentlessly pursue their passion,” says Vani Devi.
Young students also reiterate that a certain degree of intelligence is required to pursue Design and it’s wrong to label anybody as dumb.
“Design is not just about how something looks, it’s also about how something works. There is design in everything, so it requires a lot of intelligence and rational thinking,” says Ragini Dutta, who is doing her post-graduation at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore.
“We solve problems. The first shoes were designed to protect bare feet; the first houses were built when humans evolved from being just cave people,” Ragini points out, explaining how everything requires a design, and how every design that stemmed from just utility and function has evolved into avenues for aesthetics and creativity.
Ragini too despises the hypocrisy associated with tagging Fashion and Design students as party animals, who don’t have much work.
“Everybody parties. Maybe we are known for it because we are just better at it,” she laughs. “But we work twice as hard," she asserts, firmly.
Emphasising the importance of design, the 23-year-old concludes by quoting Herbert Simon, an American social scientist: “Engineering, medicine, business, architecture and painting are concerned not with the necessary but with the contingent — not with how things are but with how they might be — in short, with design.”
suhas@newindianexpress.com