Essay on the changing Indian fashion. Indian fashion varies from one village to another village, from one city to another city. India’s fashion heritage is rich in tradition, vibrant in colours and prepossessing. Bold colours created by the inventive drapes of the textiles catch the imagination like no other contemporary clothing.
Ancient Indian fashion garments generally used no stitching although Indians knew about sewing. Most clothes were ready to wear as soon as they left the loom. The traditional Indian Dhoti, the Scarf or Uttariya, and the popular Turban are still visible in India and continue to be part of Indian fashion. Likewise, for women, the Dhoti or die Sari as the lower garments, combined with a Stanapatta forms the basic ensemble, and once again consists of garments that do not have to be stitched, the Stanapatta being fastened in a knot at the back. And the Dhoti or the Sari worn covering both legs at the same time or, in
the alternative, with one end of it passed between the legs and tucked at the back in the fashion that is still prevalent in large area of India. Indian men and women wear these garments in the usually hot Indian climate.
Indian sari remains the traditional clothing of Indian women. Worn in varied styles, it is a long piece of flat cotton, silk or other fabric woven in different textures with different patterns. The sari has a lasting charm since it is not cut or tailored for a particular size. This graceful feminine attire can also be worn in several ways and its manner of wearing as well as its colour and texture are indicative of the status, age, occupation, region and religion of a woman. The tightly fitted, short blouse worn under a sari is called a choli. The choli evolved as a form of Indian clothing around the tenth century AD and the first cholis were only front covering; the back was always bare.
Another popular attire of women in Indian clothing is the Indian salwar-kameez. This popular Indian dress evolved as a comfortable and respectable garment for women in Kashmir and Punjab region, but is now immensely popular in all regions of India. Salwars are pyjama-like trousers drawn tightly in at the waist and the ankles. Over the Salwars, women wear a long and loose tunic known as 3 kameez. One might occasionally come across women wearing a churidar instead of a salwar. A churidar is similar to thesalwar but is tighter fitting at the hips, thighs and anklet
Over this, one might wear a collarless or mandarin collar tunic called a kurta. Though the majority of Indian women wear traditional Indian dresses, the men in India can be found in more conventional western clothing like shirts and trousers.
However, men in Indian villages are still more comfortable in traditional attire like kurtas, lungis, dhotis and pyjamas. Indian dresses and styles are marked by many variations, both religious and regional and one is likely to witness a plethora of colours, textures and styles in garments worn by the Indians.
Nose pin is more common than a nose ring; both are symbols of purity and marriage, though today many unmarried Indian girls wear this adornment. Necklaces are very popular fashion accessories across India amongst girls and women of all ages. Necklaces are made of a variety of materials, ranging from glass beads to gold and diamonds. One special necklace is the mangalasutm, worn only by married Indian women. It is the Indian equivalent of the western wedding ring.’
Traditionally a woman wore it during her wedding ceremony and took it off only if her and Worn on the wrist, bangles are believed to Protective bands and women always wore them as symbolic guards over their husbands. As with other ornaments, bangles today are worn by women of all ages over India and are made of silver, gold, wood, glass, and plastic, among other materials.
Rings, studs and other ornaments worn in the ears are popular all over the country. In fact, a girl’s ears are usually pierced before her first birthday. Other important ornaments are finger rings, toe rings and anklets. Rings for the fingers are again, of various materials and designs and worn by unmarried and married women. Since the ring has become a common adornment, it is no longer considered a symbol in Indian marriages.
However, toe rings and anklets are still worn mostly by married women. Ornaments for the feet are usually made of silver because gold, being a ‘pure’ metal, was not supposed to be worn on the feet. This privilege was given only to women of royal Indian families.
In addition to these ornaments is the ‘mangatika’ or ‘tikli’- This ornament, worn at the top of the forehead in the parting of the hair, is usually a small pendant on the end of a chain that is clasped to the hair. Although traditionally this ornament was also worn as a symbol of marriage, today even married women do not so commonly wear it.
From the time a child is six days old, its mother applies kajalto its eyes and also a small black dot on the forehead to mar the child’s beauty. This ‘imperfection’ is said toprotect from evil. Sindoor is a dot on the forehead d woman indicating married status of Indian Women, power, and protection for her husband. The husband as part wedding ceremony applies it. Fashion in India offers several opportunities for Indian fashion designers. Indian fashion industry is growing everyday. Indian Dress Designers combine Western trends with Indian touch, creating garments, which are truly outstanding.
A Fashion designer has to be creative. They have to express their designs in sketches. They need not be an excellent artists but should be capable of combining tones, shades and colours. Dress designers need to have good imagination and an ability to think in three-dimension to translate into fashion what they can contemplate. A fashion designer has to be fashion savvy and have the knowledge and experience of elementary tailoring skills and techniques and be able to distinguish among various kinds of fabrics. Good designers are always original, experimental and inventive in designing custom made outfits and designer dresses. Designers are always experimenting with new design styles every season.
Several fashion institutes like National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Indian Institute of Fashion Technology (IIFT) and Pearl Fashion Academy have been established where students learn to translate their creativity into dresses and fabric designs. The media plays an important role in the fashion boom good coverage is provided to the fashion world and fashion events. Indian Fashion-based programmes on the electronic media are frequent. Indian fashion competing with the best in the world and have won worldwide praise.
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