What will we be wearing in 2022?

K Radharaman launched Alamelu a seasonless everyday luxury brand three months after the end of the first lockdown in 2020 ldquoWe noticed that women were gravitating towards statement pieces that not only fulfilled the need for comfort but also the joy of wearing a bit of India on their sleeves In Alamelu yoursquoll see a little bit of India in everythingrdquo says RadharamanOur first fashion story on the first day of January is always written with an optimistic frame of mind Itrsquos one opportunity to not dwell on the unknowns but to believe that fashion can still surprise Sure there will be fashion coverage throughout the year reporting on exciting new announcements and clothing ideas and with any luck lessairbrushed industry narratives on the wonderful neutralities of genders and pronoun introductions We will track stories on how to style ethically and on changing consumer behaviours and homesteading ldquoIndiardquo as a cultural sentiment and our collective sartorial destiny Do we ldquocheugyrdquo and carry onThe biggest headline of 2022 is already here Effective January 1 onwards the government has hiked the Goods and Services Tax GST on finished goods such as apparel textiles and footwear from five to 12 per cent This is a kind of inflation hit that would be felt by almost everyone and is a significant blow to the industry already pushed to the brink by Covid19 and the looming threat of Omicron ldquoWe were already struggling to negotiate with a nearly 30 per cent jump in costs of raw materials such as silk cotton linen viscose introduced in 2021 and now an increase in GST Itrsquos poorly timed and will definitely fracture demand Irsquom not usually an alarmist but itrsquos hard to look at this in a positive wayrdquo shares K Radharaman founder of House of AngadiRadharaman however is hopeful that the shift is temporary As sobering as such knowledge may be it is cause for hope Looking ahead what will get us through is creativity disruption and loads of gutsRedefining the term lsquosustainable fashionrsquoWhen people believe in the symbolic gestures of their clothes it creates a ripple effect on their thinking processes and part of those are your emotions ldquoWersquove become more culturally rooted and Covid has brought Indian pride homerdquo feels Radharaman The buying ethos in 2022 will continue to be led by values of sustainability and provenance ldquoWe noticed that women are gravitating towards statement pieces that not only fulfill the need for comfort but also the joy of wearing a bit of India via accents on their sleevesrdquo adds RadharamanHarmeet BajajHarmeet Bajaj fulltime academician and parttime designer hopes that fashion turns down a few notches on using the term ldquosustainablerdquo quite so freely Instead she suggests investing in making clothes that are designed to endure ldquoItrsquos sustainable a big buzzword which includes redesigning a whole ecosystem Conscious consumption is perhaps a sounder term for designers and consumersrdquo Buying good quality wellmade clothes might cost you a little extra but it reduces the size of your wardrobe ldquoAlmost 50 per cent of your wardrobe comprises clothes that were bought because it was a good deal We need to stop chasing the cheap needle and bring back the ethos of lsquoheirloomrsquo in 2022 as a way of encouraging quality clothingrdquo she saysThe Y2K aesthetic reigns kingBut you already knew that didnrsquot you So here are some stats to help you decipher the mega utopianism of the Y2K early 2000s trends Stylumiarsquos extensive data research reveals a 40 per cent increase in marble prints black and white prints by 46 per cent and stripe patterns by 51 per cent sequins saw a 38 per cent rise and hot pinks at 30 per centldquoBomber jacket will be the new blazerrdquo declares Kumar The waistlength jacket originally created by Air Force technicians and made famous by Top Gunrsquos Tom Cruise is obviously not a new style trend The bomber has been spun in many directions over the years but in 2022 the outdoor performance piece will carve its own place as an important wardrobe essentialGeneration Z become entrepreneursGanesh SubramanianGanesh Subramanian founder and CEO at Stylumia says that the number of consumers shopping online has crossed the 100million mark Last year alone they noticed five lakh new small and midlevel merchants The former CEO at Myntra launched Stylumia in December 2015 a Bengalurubased platform powered by computer vision to offer simple intuitive visual intelligence to understand the inseason and postseason performance of brands and take instant actions ldquoCombing through KPI Key Performance Indicator and product imagery we can reviewanalyse your inseason business 10x faster Traditional spreadsheets are no longer required We bring context and help derive patterns on global and local scale based on consumer habitsrdquo Subramanian explains As technology makes reaching a wider audience easier Generation Z entrepreneurs are powering D2C ecommerce ldquoGen Z is discerning They are driven by the principles of lsquobuy less buy betterrsquo looking closely at sustainable alternatives of thrifting recycling and rewearing For bigger players the competition is no longer from the Goliaths but from the Davidsrdquo warns Subramanian The Indian fashion market is close to 80 billion yet not many designers have capitalised on the D2C potential ldquoThey designers continue to believe that creativity and data donrsquot go together however Irsquod argue that data augments creativity For them designers getting a customer is like flipping a coin If you donrsquot put your customer in the centre there are more misses than hits Higher revenue happens with smarter not more online inventoryrdquoFeelgood clothes part comfort and fully sexyMany retailers are championing versatility in their apparel assortment for 2022 There will be a big focus on ldquowarmth comfort and healthrdquo designer Narendra Kumar hints Versatility and adaptability will once again define the sartorial story itrsquos as important for clothes to work hard as you do and multitask taking you from home to conference rooms and sometimes through your evening plansLeft A model in a bomber jacket from FKNS by Narendra Kumar right Kumar says ldquoSexy clothing will come back in a big way in 2022rdquoAt the same time there is an uncontainable sense of certain abandon that perhaps comes from defying two years of housebound pragmatism Read a desire to break out of tracksuit bottoms and into an exuberant hue of sexy confidence ldquoPeople are asking where is the sexy in our clothes Skin will come back in a big way We have missed itrdquo says Kumar