Ever since the evolution of mankind, clothing has become an essential part of our lifestyle. In the beginning of civilization caveman’s were use to wear leafs to cover the part below their waist. We have certainly come a long way since then, today in India fashion changes every fortnight. In the journey of clothes revolution this country has seen incidents like non-cooperation movement when India was under the British rule, people started boycotting England made clothes as they had no contribution in the personal growth of their fellow Indians. People who were unemployed started wearing and selling hand spun clothes like Khadi which gave many Indian their bread then. The chronicles of clothing culture in India on the one hand shows the variety and richness it possess and on the other hand it portrays our fascination towards western culture.
King Holkar of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India
Whether it is an attire of Kings and Queens of India or the common man next door, it has evolved over the time and it has always been depended on the culture and location. Several decades ago Dhoti was popular clothing line for men, which is gradually becoming obsolete and these days in limited to rural parts of India, however few Indian clothing like Saare for women and Kurta of men has been tested through the times and are still around in cities and villages. The fabric, look and feel in all clothing has see major changes in last couple of centuries in all most all clothing styles whether it is Dhoti, Lungi or Kurta for men or Saare or the salwar kameez and also Ghaghra Cholis for women.
This painting by Raja Ravi Varma depicts several traditional styles of draping the sari.
In Bombay the fashion capital of India or any other cosmopolitan city, youngsters and middle aged to older people can be seen dressed casually in Jeans, T-Shirts and Shirts. Specifically Jeans has gained major popularity in past two decades and has been constantly in fashion in some form or other like baggy, tight fit and parallel. These days many youngsters can be seen wearing low waist jeans. Due to its durable and rough usage it is extremely popular among the youth of India.
College going students of India.
Office going people are suppose to be in formal attire, half a century back that would mean wearing Khadi at work place, however today’s era that would be trouser and shirt for men and salwar kameez, saare or western formals i.e. trouser and mini skirt for girls. Many organizations today let their employee wear casual for a single day usually at weekends to make their work place lively. There are also some organizations which does not impose any clothing restriction on their employees to boost the morale of their employees like call centers and back offices, usually in these organizations there is no face to face interaction with customers.
Marriages in India are supposed to be very colorful occasion and it truly reflects in the bride and grooms clothing. This is one form of clothing which has not see much change over past many centuries. Brides usually wear Saare in the shade of maroon, pink and red with heavy jewelry around neck and grooms wear Sherwani or Kurta (usually made of silk). The kind of hand weaving work we see on the dresses of bride and groom is usually very expensive due to its nature which requires lots of labor work and stark attention for its grace and finishing. This kind of hand weaving is work is also very popular in western countries.
Clothing in India has evolved from its tradition wear to England made western wear and then from Gandhi’s Khadi to the today’s branded stuff of multinational companies.
