Will the fashion industry dare ignore Sonia Gandhi's call to action?

Sonia Gandhi's public pronouncements are few and far between and therefore assume disproportionate significance. Criticism or praise gets magnified, simply because she has made them.

So, the Indian fashion industry should be mortified at her speech this week at the opening of the new branch of the National Institute of Fashion Technology in her constituency Rae Bareli, in which she categorically disapproved of the elaborate ensembles favoured by designers and buyers alike in this country.

Every designer worth his or her weight in crystals, sequins and zardozi work should be cringing at Ms Gandhi's ringing dismissal of their oeuvre as "over-embellishment."

Her statement that "adding more ornamentation to garments is very easy, but that does not add to fashion" could not have come at a more uncomfortable moment for fashionistas here, as the festive and wedding season is precisely the time when the "more is more" mantra reigns supreme.

Serious introspection is particularly needed on the point that the work of many, if not most, Indian designers remains defined by these two occasions rather than offering the Indian market signature garments with year-round wearability - and comfort, an oft-ignored factor also emphasised by Mrs Gandhi.

Her comment that 'fashion does not mean opulence' is a truism of Coco Chanel-ish weightiness. Many professional critics have commented on this Indian preference for embellishment over innovative cuts, silhouettes and materials, but to little effect.

If Mrs Gandhi's censure is also ignored, the fashion circuit may become the first industry in India to cock a snook at her views. Even Mrs Gandhi's most virulent opponents will concede that she knows about style, so, hopefully the fashion world will pay heed.