Roster Radio
The culmination of four years of a hectic and intensive under-graduation program must be an appropriate representation of one’s most profound learning and the realisation of one’s highest ambitions.
My most cherished experiences, these past four years, were in the industry, where I worked tirelessly towards getting all the exposure I possibly could. My deepest regret was that a lot of my friends, peers, juniors, and seniors were unaware of the industry they were to work in or were already a part of. At this point, I realised, there is no platform that is dedicated to exposing students/enthusiasts to the ‘inside’ of the Indian fashion industry. In India, while there is a platform like Border and Fall that talks about some designers and their journeys, there is no platform like BOF, which celebrates different people from the industry, who are big pieces of an even bigger puzzle. This is when I realised, I wanted to make a change. I wanted to curate something meaningful, create something that would go down in the books of Indian fashion.
“The thing that really bothers me though is that people are very dismissive of fashion, in general’; it comes across in a cliched way, it’s considered frivolous or indulgent. I feel like the general public doesn’t take it seriously enough.”
Today, when there are homegrown brands making it big, internationally, I felt it was important to create a platform that traces their journey, challenges, and victories. The indomitable spirit of changemakers from our industry needed to be celebrated. Putting to the test, my area of specialisation, Brand Management, it made sense to work around business strategies, with a lingering question addressing digital advancements and the inculcation of sustainability. The project would be set to ask questions that students and young entrepreneurs would want to be answered, and identify organic and/or conscious business strategies that make for thriving brands.
Objectives:
To introduce the driving forces (hereby, referred to as subject) of the fashion community, to students, nationwide, through an accessible platform.
Curate a list of subjects, from different parts of the industry, with different expertise and different backgrounds, to cover as much ground as possible.
To expose students to the making of a brand and the challenges and victories of being a designer and/or a creative professional.
To identify a strategy from each subject's journey, that played a pivotal role in making the brand successful, therefore creating a collectible docket through which a young professional can build a basic framework for a more likely successful brand strategy.
Testimonials:
“This is a great opportunity to understand the operations of the industry. These are things we cannot learn through regular assignments.”
-Jayant, Fashion Communication student“As a fashion enthusiast, I can’t wait to listen to the series! I can only imagine how much ‘insider’ information I’m going to get out of it.”
- Radhika Malhan, PR Professional at DSSC“There are some journeys that go beyond inspiring you. I think this series will capture that transcendence, because of the perspective with which it has been curated.”
- Mridu Gupta, Assistant Stylist to Nikhil D.“It sounds incredibly promising. These stories will have a lot to learn from.”
- Diya Mathur, Writer, and Illustrator
The podcast, Roster Radio/ Season 1: Fashion Camp is now live on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
Journalistic Approach:
Following the suit of Violet Magazine, the best way to transcribe this content was to make it sounds like as much of a conversation as it does in the podcast. Therefore, the overall approach was very conversational.
As the host, I had to read through as much content as there was available, on each subject. Then, I combined basic questions with things students will want to know. One question had to follow into the next, and help build a story. Some were not even questions- just comments and thoughts that led the subject to add their two bits to the matter. Some questions had to be as simple as “What was the moment when you realised fashion/design was your first love?”. This meant some questions were repetitive but what would keep things fresh was that every answer would be different from the last. Every subject also needed an introduction before I dove into their journeys and views on the industry. This meant, a spread had to be dedicated to each interview, where the subject was introduced.
Given that my area of specialisation was Digital Brand Management, it was also imperative that I asked some of these brands what their digital strategy is, how they interact with their consumer online and their thoughts on the platform of the millennials, Instagram.
The approach was, the reader should be able to identify with the strategy in each chapter, at a stage as early as the title. There was no space for ‘subtle cues’; everything had to be direct and self-explanatory. Through casual questions, I had to dig deep into the strategic context of their design practices and demarcate challenges and failures, as beautifully as victories.
Original Jury Presentation: