Masoom Minawala and designer Amit Aggarwal visit NIFT Delhi for a chat session

Fashion designer

Amit Aggarwal

returned to his alma mater, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Delhi, after 18 years and students from different courses assembled to be a part of discussion between him and

fashion influencer

and entrepreneur

Masoom Minawala

. The conversation was around Masoom’s newly released book titled She’ll Never Make It.

During the discussion, Masoom spoke about the journey of being an influencer, how one deals with trolls and their advice for students.

“My advice to all of you is to remember that you are going to fail, that is one hard-hitting truth I wish I knew years ago because I didn’t know that failures are definitely part of the story. Amit is one of the most celebrated designers in the industry, but I can guarantee you that he has seen failures in one way or the other. Like it is popularly said, it doesn’t matter how many times you fall, it just matters how fast you can get up, so accept failures and go on with your journey,” said Masoon.

The two also shared that being a designer or fashion influencer isn’t as rosy or glamorous as it appears. “I think dealing with criticism, trolling that the internet brings is the hardest part of the journey. But I think the internet has also made me strong. I have been such a people pleaser my whole life and I have grown up in a very protective environment and I always thought that everyone should like me, love me and approve of me. Especially when we are in school and college, we all think of being everyone’s favourite. The hard truth is that you can’t be that, I learnt it the hard way. I think when you start doing things for yourself you realise that you cannot make everyone happy, so focus on keeping yourself happy. Everyone talks about trolling, but there is also a lot of constructive criticism. How many of you here would want to be influencers/content creators? You have to learn that it is not as rosy or glamourous as it is seen. Being a fashion designer is not as rosy and glamorous as it appears to be,” said Masoom.