The Imitation Game

It’s an odd but undeniable trait. Why do we mimic how people around us dress?

- SEEMA GOSWAMI

Last week, at an event to felicitate a visiting celebrity chef in Delhi, I found it hard to take my eyes off his shoes. They were standard Converse sneakers, but in a very non-standard colour of parrot green, set off by gleaming white laces, and perfectly embodied his iconoclastic image in the food world. But even as I was admiring them, my eyes were drawn to his staff, following in his wake. Each one of them was wearing the same kind of sneakers, in colours ranging from sherbet pink to bright red. Clearly, this was a look that the team, following literally in the footsteps of the master, had adopted, presenting a united (in footwear at least) front to the world.