The Lace Story

(How Adele Made Me Stop Worrying and Love Fashion)

By Raima

Pic: Getty Images  Creative: The Purplenista

 “This... stuff'? Oh. Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff. “

- Miranda Priestly, The Devil Wears Prada

Everybody who is anyway remotely interested in fashion (or even great acting for that matter) has seen, and maybe even has memorized ‘The Devil Wears Prada'. The dialogue above is one of my favourite parts of the movie, because it really brings out the reality of our fashion choices, which subliminally states - we do not make them; they’re made for us. I am the least fashion conscious person on the planet, I have lost count of the times my mother has looked at me with pity when she sees what I’m wearing or the times my shopaholic husband, (there is a little bit of SAIL in everyone’s life as the ad goes, but in his case it is SALE) wonders whether it is normal for me to hate shopping. That being said, even I am not immune to fashion trends, as evidenced by my recent experiences. 

It all started with Adele and the truly lovely dress she wore to the Grammys. Mid-length, black with lace sleeves and oh-so-awesome, it made me cry (that and the performance). People went gaga about her style and I silently cheered as a plus size celebrity was finally appreciated for her style (Karl Lagerfeld notwithstanding).

Pic:Spinner.com

A few months later I found myself in Bangkok, where after waiting 15 minutes in a queue, we found ourselves in the newly opened H&M store (the first ever H&M store in the city). Once there, my husband spent the good part of an hour trying on clothes and adding them to an ever-increasing pile, all the while exhorting me to buy “Something, anything, please! Otherwise people will think you’re crazy for having gone to Bangkok and not bought anything at all!!” I refused, mostly due to a feeling of despair of finding anything my size (are those women are SKINNY and I mean SKINNY!!), and the fact that well, as I said; I genuinely hate shopping (my wedding shopping took me two days). Anyway, I relented and shuffled off to the ladies section where I glared at everything with dislike, when all of a sudden, this top caught my eye. 

Pic: H&M

Yup, it was the near exact copy of the dress Adele wore and mine was in black too! Hoping against hope, I searched for my size and voila! I found it! It is now the single most loved outfit in my entire wardrobe. This really got me thinking, is it just H&M or are others out there copying it as well? Well, as you guessed it, lace sleeves were in, whether it was outright copies like these:

Pic: Amazon.com

Or, even inspired looks like these:

Pic: Amazon.com

They were everywhere!! In deed, the lace trend that had made iconic ripples on the runways of 2012 through Dolce and Gabanna's Sicilian lace dresses, was made even more popular through Adele. 

Dolce Gabbana Sicilian Lace dresses Pic: Vogue.in

I’m sure the styles are trickling into India as we speak and our markets are already flooded with copies as well. In fact, our very own Indian designers and Bollywood stars are also not far behind in adopting this trend. In fact, the trend featured strongly in the collections of designers such as Sabyasachi and Ritu Kumar

Pic: vogue.in

and also dominated the Bollywood red carpet as we can see here with Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone donning this rendition of the lace sleeve:

Pic: Vogue.in and Fropki

The trend has caught on so well that you just have to walk down Hill road and Linking road to see all the clothes stall displaying lace dresses, dresses with lace sleeves, complete lace shrugs and even funky shrugs that have lace only on the back.

All my life I have never given much of a thought to celebrity or couture fashion, considering like Andy (in The Devil Wears Prada), that that these “Stuff” really had nothing to do with me, when, in fact it did quite a bit. J

I now take fashion way more seriously and here is a picture of me wearing the top from H&M:

Me:)

Raima Bhattacharya is a dear - dear friend of mine and while she says she doesn't have a sense of style and fashion, I think she definitely has the best and keeps a track of all the latest trends. We have been friends forever and the term 'chaddi-buddy' aptly applies to us. She will be guest blogging on The Purplenista from now on wards.