The sartorial world, online

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  Megha Varshini
  
  


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  Sonu Bhora and Jasleen Gupta
  
  


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  Tanvi Rastogi
  
  


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  Karishma Rajani
  
  


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  Kavya D'Souza
  
  


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  Aayushi Bangur
  
  

Outfit blogging? Yes, it’s a trend triggered by those with a need to share their personal style with the world. The blogs feature picture diaries of the bloggers’ attire, styling process and just about everything from high-end fashion to street buys. The highlight, however, is tickets to Lakme India’s Fashion Week where an entire row has been reserved for fashion bloggers, writes Esther Elias

When reporters Sonu Bhora and Jasleen Gupta teamed up to begin a fashion blog of their daily outfits, all they had was a basic digicam and a keen sense of style. Three years later, with over 40,000 hits a month, 350 posts and 700 followers, Fashion Bombay is among India’s top outfit blogs.

Reminiscent of extended profile picture folders, outfit blogs are online picture diaries of the blogger’s daily attire, accompanied by a detailed explanation of the styling process. In India, fashion blogs that dole out how-tos or follow Bollywood and Hollywood red-carpet wear proliferate, but outfit blogs are a recent trend. “When we began in 2009, there were just a handful of us and we all knew each other,” says Karishma Rajani of Purple Peeptoes fame. “Today, there are at least 200 Indian outfit bloggers, mostly 17 to 25 year-olds with day jobs. And new bloggers spring up each day,” says Tanvi Rastogi who runs the online community — Indian Fashion Bloggers, and one of India’s earliest outfit blogs — The Fabulous Life of the Not-so-rich and Infamous.

Wearable styles

The necessity to share their personal style with the world is the mother of invention for outfit blogging. Karishma began by shooting herself on a two megapixel phone camera, while Jasleen and Sonu skipped tea-breaks in office to click each other. Outfit blogging works because it is real women in wearable clothes on regular days with their flaws not photoshopped out. “We’re far from size-zeroes flaunting mini-skirts in high heels on ramps. Flab is not myth, so people relate to us,” says Sonu.

“Fashion depends on accessibility for me. I see Diana Penty on Vogue’s July cover and she looks gorgeous but that’s almost unreal,” says Kavya D’Souza, Streak Hue Fall. To bring fashion down to earth, most outfit bloggers explain where each piece they’re wearing in every picture has been acquired from, even the nail polish on their toes. The result is a workable mix of high-end fashion and street buys. “I grew up wearing things from Colaba Causeway and Hill Road. So even today, I incorporate stuff off the streets that’s 100 bucks but still looks fabulous,” says Kavya. “Finding clothes for a steal and creating countless outfits with the same wardrobe is the joy of outfit blogging,” says Bangalore blogger Megha Varshini, Stilettos Diary.

Most bloggers spend hours online, obsessively following International and Indian blogs. Therefore, they are inevitably influenced by runway fashion. “What looks exceptional on foreign runways will probably not suit my Indian body type. So I grasp ideas from abroad, but incorporate it into what I wear everyday,” says Mumbai based Aayushi Bangur, Style Drive.

Before you dismiss outfit blogs as solely narcissistic ventures, it may help to know many Indian bloggers have received recognition from international brands such as FCUK, American Apparel, Pret-Amoda, Aldo and La Senza who now sponsor them online. HP recently gifted a few bloggers, their new HP Envy Ultrabook, to feature in a post casting the laptop as a fashion statement. “I only endorse brands that fall in line with my personal style because if it doesn’t, it looks gimmicky and readers notice immediately,” says Arushi Khosla, Bohemian Like You.

Tremendous spin-offs

Spin-offs from outfit blogging have been tremendous. Jasleen and Sonu gave up news reporting to work as full-time stylists for celebrities, magazines and websites that reach them through their blog. Kavya landed her job as a fashion and beauty editor from an employer who followed her work online. Aayushi has even begun an online store of clothes and accessories hand-picked by her. The highlight, however, has been tickets to Lakme India’s Fashion Week where an entire row has been reserved for select fashion bloggers. Some have even been requested to preview designer’s collections.

Despite all the international attention, most outfit blogs remain highly personalised spaces reflecting bloggers’ growth. Kavya, for instance, intersperses her pictures with poetry inspired by the look and Lesly Lobeni from LazyManxCat talks more of her cat obsession than of fashion. Even as models for their outfits, they’ve evolved from eyes-on-the-ground awkward poses to learning how to work the camera, says Sonu.

For now, most outfit bloggers are concentrated in the bigger cities but the rage is catching on in smaller places as well. Styling Scholars is an irregular blog of headless pictures shot on a basic camera by two anthropology research scholars from Shillong. Despite their anonymity, they’ve caught the attention of India’s biggest bloggers for their quirky outfits. Proof enough that all you really need, is an eye-catching sense of style.

Keywords: Fashion blogs

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An SOS from Hamelin

Question corner

special arrangement

Seeing patterns

Why do we see patterns in light and this is so even when we close our eyes?

R. SUJITHA, Chennai

Basic working of the eye is as follows — Focusing mechanism of the eye, namely, cornea and lens focus the image of the object being seen on to the retina. Retina is a nerve tissue which reacts by absorbing the focused light [energy] and converting it into electrical impulses which travel through the optic nerve reaching the brain resulting in visual perception.

Any electric discharge from the retina will be “seen” as a visual perception. Retina can spontaneously discharge electrical impulses under several situations. The most common will be small changes in pressure of the eye which can occur with tight closing of the lids, rubbing of the eye, holding the breath and straining hard, a blow to the eye etc.

These induced pressure changes will cause the retina to discharge electrical impulses resulting in a perception of patterns of light. This phenomenon is known as ‘phospenes.’ These can typically be seen when the eyes are closed.

When one looks at a clear background particularly a light blue back ground [as in the open clear sky] we can observe certain patterns or designs in form of lines dots etc moving with the movement of the eyes. These are ‘vitreous floaters.’

Vitreous body is a gel like substance filling the posterior portion of the eye. This gel sometimes has particles which are visible to us under conditions mentioned. Over and above these phenomena, under very ideal conditions, against a clear blue back-ground one can actually see the blood flowing through the retinal capillaries.

The network of capillaries can be made out as well as the white blood cell flowing through them will be perceived as very tiny luminous white dots moving around. All of the above can be classified as ‘entoptic phenomena.’

Dr. ARULMOZHI VARMAN, Uma Eye Clinic, Chennai

Keywords: question corner

More In: Sci-Tech

Now control your car with a wink or nod

Engineers have come up with a new gadget to control a car’s functions using nods and winks, thanks to the infrared sensor mounted on the dashboard that recognises the driver’s facial expression.

A computer concealed inside the car translates the gestures, which corresponds to a list of commands for the radio, Sat Nav, heating and mobile phone. The gestures, undergoing tests before they are finalised, include a wink to turn the radio and music player on and off.

The technology is meant to be able to differentiate between an accidental blink and a wink by the length of time of the action before turning the radio on or off. Drivers can nod left to turn the volume up and right to turn it down while a tap on the steering wheel to skip the station or song, the Daily Mail reported.

Motorists can even make a phone call by making the ‘lifting the receiver gesture’ with their hand and dial by saying the name of the person they wish to call.

They can even control the air conditioning and heating by raising and lowering their left hand above the gear stick, which has another computer sensor mounted inside.

The technology means drivers would be able to control the functions inside the car without being distracted from the road. Engineers from global infotainment specialists Harman have created a prototype car, which could hit the roads in two years’ time.

Hans Roth, director of technology at Harman, said: “It’s all about reducing distractions in the car. These basic gestures are being tested around the globe to find the ideal system that can be used in countries around the world.”

For instance, wink: To turn the radio on and off. Nod left — turn the volume up. Nod right — turn the volume down. Tap finger on steering wheel — Skip radio channel or song. Left hand up (above gear stick) — Turn the heating on. Left hand down (above gear stick) — Turn the air-conditioning on.

Keywords: Harman

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