SARTORIAL ECONOMICS

Sisters Tashi and Tara Mitra demonstrate to Akanksha Pandey how deviating from the mainstream can bend the way we think, live and dress

- Akanksha Pandey

Thrift fashion is not a new concept; in the past decade, we witnessed how second-hand clothing evolved from being an under-trend to a solution. A couple of years ago, for instance, Lovebirds used to be a vintage shop — until they turned into a brand for minimalist clothing that is at the helm of this fashion subculture today. Amrita Khanna, its co-founder, had launched the store in Delhi in 2010, giving cognisance to a burst of offbeat artists, each one strikingly different in appearance from the other. This was perhaps my first lesson on individuality. As a novice in the magazine business at that time, I was being trained to spot trends, the brands that were designing those trends, and who was influential. I never questioned that line of thought, just followed it. Looking at a reflection of myself in a vintage, white suit with shoulder-pad details (something I could never have discovered in a high street store) was when fashion, for me, became intertwined with the process of self-expression and finding a purpose.