If I see one more campaign drowning in marigolds, mangoes, shot in Jaipur or inside a flower market, I might actually scream.
We have stopped observing. Instead, we are just copying. And a copy of a copied idea is only getting uglier.
So, is it laziness or a profound lack of courage? Is the 'creative class' so terrified of the reality that they have turned everything into a wedding? Maybe it’s time they stop scrolling the gram and start strolling the streets. Because India does not look the way most brands show you.
Take the 'Indian kitchen' aesthetic. One influencer does a cool shoot, rustic light, brass vessels, a real sense of home. It was great. But then? A barrage of creators and brands descend like vultures, replicating the exact same setup until to viewers it looks like "I have seen this before. Pass."
And don’t get me started on the strip-mining of subcultures.
The 'South Indian aesthetic,' as imagined by a Delhi art director who once went to the Kochi Biennale, has gone mainstream. Oiled braid, temple jewellery, Kanjeevaram sarees: tick, tick, tick.
We’ve seen this play before. Ever since Gully Boy, brands have been obsessed with the so-called 'slum aesthetic.' High-end streetwear labels shoot ₹8,000 hoodies against the backdrop of a chawl in Dharavi.
What’s really happening is simpler. Brands are using poverty as visual texture for luxury products. It’s the exploitation of the working class to sell exclusivity to rich kids.
How is that street culture?
When brands do look at the North East, it’s never for K-pop-adjacent fashion actually happening in Shillong or Kohima. It’s always 'exotic' shawls or 'tribal' weaves. The Seven Sisters are treated like a handicraft museum, completely ignoring the fact that the youth there are light-years ahead of Mumbai when it comes to actual street style.
Branding isn’t about looking backward. It’s about the collision of the old and the absolute now.
Why aren’t brands looking at the hip-hop culture coming out of Bihar?
At the high-street fashion of Sikkim?
Or the neon nightlife of Kolkata?
Someone told me the other day that kids in Mysuru are playing cycle polo.
Stop and think about that image for a second. Have you heard of this before? No. That is the pride of India.
Imagine if a brand had the guts to ignore the haveli backdrop for once and shot a streetwear collaboration right there. That would be world-class.
But our brands won’t do it. They’re too busy checking what’s trending on Pinterest or Instagram and selling us marigolds.
We have great craft in this country, but we are suffering from a crisis of terrible taste, and even worse ethics. We are failing our weavers, our tanners, our artisans. Our branding looks exploitative and lazy. And frankly, it’s boring.