THE very idea of self-reliance and freedom from oppression by a foreign power was expressed in the clothing that Indians opted for in the early years of the freedom movement. The homespun, hand-woven fabric khadi became an integral part and icon of the Swadeshi movement. Clothes were used by Mahatma Gandhi to fashion an entire nation’s symbol of defiance to colonialism. Khadi, the ‘livery of freedom’, was used as a strong visual weapon to define the mood of the times charged by nationalism.

Do clothes define who we are or does what we wear define where we come from? There is no clear answer to this statement for it works both ways. Tradition and custom did influence all societies in the world and clothes defined where we came from. And each nation, each community, each religion, each occasion had defined and prescribed styles of attire. With time and the revolution in communications in particular, geographical boundaries have merged. The rigidity of tradition has dissolved in the environment of cross-cultural influences. The arrival of the global village has to a great extent changed the traditional concepts of regional and ethnic costumes and national wearing styles.

Colonialism too took its toll of the traditional attire of these countries with the ‘natives’ aspiring to dress like their colonial masters. Even nations rich in textile heritage and traditions such as India, for example, adopted western wear for men under the British regime and has continued to do so even after sixty years of independence. Many countries have even shelved their national dress and traditional textiles to the realms of museums. The exquisite kimono is hardly within the reach of the average Japanese, even as its style and cut has inspired western fashion.

 

Clothes are most often an expression of our personalities and most of us picks clothes to make a statement. Of course, this is within the defined structure of the fashion of the place and the times. This is largely influenced by what people around us wear and where we choose to emulate a celebrity or a role model or go along with predicted trends – in short as dictated by the ‘fashionable’. The interpretations of such fashion in the clothes people wear could be loud or understated. And the non-conformists could wear to shock or be ahead of times.

Clothes make statements to define not just the people that wear them but reflect the mood of an entire generation. In more recent times, Yves St Laurent’s introduction of the YSL pantsuits in the ’70s was seen as reflective of liberating women as more and more of them moved into the workforce and aspired to work on equal terms with men in professional spheres. To quote from the Yves St Laurent brochure – Yves St Laurent, a designer extremely sensitive to social trends, responded to the May student uprisings in 1968 by creating a line of women’s tailored trouser suits. Based on the ‘African’ theme, he created a ‘Safari’ suit for his Spring Summer 1968 collections, transforming the functional hunting outfit into town wear for women. Two years earlier Saint Laurent had introduced his ‘city’ trouser suit, which was intended to play the same role as a man’s suit. Although trousers had been acceptable as an element of Oriental zing ensembles – for sports, as lounge wear and as an expression of iconoclasm by celebrities like Greta Garbo, Mariene Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn – they had never been acceptable town wear for the fashionable woman. This radical shift is commensurate with the remarkable ascent of women in society during the 1970s.

 

Later, the roaring 1990s and 2000s saw some bold and aggressive styles. These were epitomized by the plunging, barely green Versace dress worn by Jennifer Lopez to the 2000 Grammy awards. This dramatic and bold ‘in your face’ look made not just Versace the symbol of this giddy, gilded age but equally Lopez. Versace’s safety pin black dress worn by Liz Hurley was held together with several gold safety pins. This inspired media to comment, ‘Lopez’s body politics were of another magnitude, She turned herself out as the fly girl hyperversion of post feminist power, flaunting her control by toying with the threat of excess.’ (Quote from Entertainment Weekly by Troy Patterson)

We have many such examples in the realm of western fashion where fashion is well-researched and documented. The business of fashion is also very professionally managed in the West. Fashion media too are knowledgeable and analytical. Here it is still a nascent industry. Fashion analysis is quite often ad hoc and fashion history in the post independence era is hardly well documented.

 

During the early years of independence, Indians nurtured pride in our regional wearing styles. Concepts such as ‘unity in diversity’ and the stress on national integration were inevitably reflected in the public presentations of different regional styles. This was not just by way of an expression of pride in regional styles but also aimed to create an understanding and cultural acceptance of the rich traditions of the stitched as well as unstitched garments. In high society circles, however, chiffons and pearls still prevailed.

The beauty of colour and texture in handlooms and hand woven silks was still in the domain of festival, ritual and ceremonial wear. It was much later and with the presentation of the Festivals of India in the early 1980s that there was a resurgence and appreciation of the power of the loom, of the richness of texture, motif and colour that breathed life into the fabrics that contribute to Indian fashion. Fashion as a concept was noticed in the revival of textile traditions showcased in the VishwaKarma and other exhibitions of the Festival of India. And women shed the chiffon and pearl image to adopt handloom collections and silks. Ready to wear in handloom cottons and silks that were introduced earlier by companies such as Anokhi and Fab India became the symbol of the young and the upwardly mobile.

Bollywood and the Indian cinema have also influenced fashion and wearing styles in all these years. The advent of Page 3 and media attention to fashion and clothing has, however, brought clothes into the forefront as a major indicator of social identity. In the last quarter century with an increased presence of designer wear, western styles have gained acceptance. And fashionable seems to connote following western trends or wearing western dresses. Western wear seems to define in most of urban India the modern woman, the professional woman.

And yet a strong sense of loyalty to traditional values still make men and women in India stick to ethnic wear on occasions and festivals. India has known luxury for centuries in the clothing, jewellery and lifestyles of the maharajas, nobility and the wealthy. Across these years luxury goods were also transported across the oceans and influenced living styles abroad.

 

Even today we take pride in our heritage and crafts skills in textiles, clothing and jewellery. High quality and high value handcrafted items are produced for the wealthy Indians as also the export market. This living tradition of excellent hand skills has been further fine-honed by our designers. Design as a formal subject of training came in with the establishment of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in 1986. The need to fashion textiles, clothing and jewellery to contemporary design spurred the introduction of professional education in fashion.

Fashion and design, initially seen as areas of elitist interest, were accepted as options for professional careers. NIFT a school of excellence has in the last two decades produced some of our finest designers – Ashish Soni, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Varun Bahl, Gaurav Gupta, J.J. Vallaya, Ranna Gill, Manish Arora and Prashant Verma, just to name a few. These designers have taken Indian fashion forward to international ramps in Paris, New York, Milan and London.

A decade ago came our presence on the fashion scene with the India Fashion Week hosted by the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI). The India Fashion Week was a national platform that the council created to promote the business of fashion. Over the years, apart from being a platform for designers to showcase their creative competence, it has also emerged as a major trendsetter to take forward the message of Indian fashion.

 

The increasing demand for designer wear has led to the creation of design hubs, exclusive boutiques, retail spaces and designer malls. Indians with their spending power are attracting the world’s leading luxury brands, even though the country is not likely to be contextually a big market for such luxury goods. Indeed, it is fashionable to flaunt a Louis Vuitton or a Gucci accessory, wear a Jimmy Choo or flash a Cartier. At the same time Indians are still rooted in deep cultural traditions. Indian designer wear and accessories tend to crave for an Indian touch. And it is this ‘socialization’ process that will test the market brands that come in.

Clothes ultimately do not necessarily define you but are more an expression of who you are. Whether we like it or not people judge us by the clothes we wear. And many of us wear clothes to keep up with the Joneses. Media attention and analysis of ‘what is in’ have increased attention to the fashion quotient in our lives.

We have become an aspirational society, so yes, in that sense brand brainwashing has succeeded. We have an entire generation that believes in the philosophy of ‘earn and burn’. There are those that are able to purchase luxury products at the drop of a hat, be it a lakh and a half for a Channel handbag or a limited edition Lois Vuitton clutch or spending half a lakh or more on Laboutin shoes or Blahniks. The lure of luxury cannot be resisted especially by those who believe that what they wear defines where they come from.

The 1990s saw the opening of the Indian economy and the influx of television channels that redefined fashion. Soon an entire class of new consumers and the aspirational middle class began experimenting with clothes and fashion. The decade thereafter further highlighted consumerism where large foreign brands made inroads into India, in turn leading to the boom of the malls and creating a demand for brands and western fashion wear. There evolved a new definition of an individual who is smart, professional or occupies a certain status in the society as one who conforms to such trends. Fashion schools also brought in a new breed of designers who were expressing their creativity mostly in western styles. Fashion and lifestyle magazines arrived in India influencing ‘fashion’ choice and setting new trends.

 

Riding on the wave of economic nationalism Indians today are confident of their spending power to feel good. Lifestyle trends in attire and accessories fill not just the pages of glossy fashion magazines but the lives of people too. Statistics on retail spend and stories of the growing presence of international brands underwrite the increasingly pervasive aspirational lifestyles. Rising affluence, increased access to higher disposable incomes, influence of peer groups and the brainwashing of advertisements have led to such patterns of high retail spend.

If we deconstruct the advertisements in the electronic and print media, the beautiful, the pretty and desirable woman and the macho man are inevitably defined within the western context. A leading beauty company ad depicts an obese woman wearing salwar kameez. And after her body shaping with the advertised product, she transforms into a slim and smart woman wearing a western outfit. Brands like Reebok and Adidas depict athletic, healthy individuals with a toned body, subtly reaffirming the dominant western definition of body type, fashion and style.

In pubs and lounges Indian attire is shunned while western wear is considered sexy and acceptable. Brands through the visual media like television and films and advertising have brainwashed a large section of Indians to send a message that has gained acceptance where clothes and accessories define the individual’s stature and position in the society. As a people we spend a lot on festive occasions and spend thousands of rupees on clothes and splurge on wedding dresses just for a day. The shopping malls spurred on by aggressive advertisements have created a demand for brands and luxury beyond our means.

 

While one face of India represents absolute consumerism, there is another face of India where clothing represents a nation’s culture and its heritage. Our leaders like Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have promoted traditional wear and stylized the sari into power dressing. Following this trajectory of fashion, our remarkable women CEOs like Chanda Kochar, Naina Lal Kidwai and Swati Piramal, among others, have created a brand and an image of the strong and stable Indian woman balancing home and life and excelling in work. They and many other women in the high fashion network sport the traditional sari, an unstitched garment that has long been admired for its beauty of drape and elegance.

Apart from the varied textures based on different weaving processes and designs, the style of the sari has inspired draped western wear. In India too the sari has seen innovations for the simple to the audacious. The denim sari, a sari with a pocket for cellphone, saris with split pallus, the woolen sari are just some interesting innovations. And yet the quintessential beauty of the traditional sari is intact for those that believe that they wear it to enhance their persona.

 

The Indian fashion statement, however, is not really as it is understood in the West, where fashion is created anew for every season. Fashion in the West is dictated by trends predicted for colours and styles as also by international business rules. In the last couple of decades, however, trends and colours are gaining ground to become a fundamental factor in lifestyle design impacting thereby on fashion in products, apparel and accessories.

The need to dress and impress is a constant state of mind. Fashion is no longer elitist or metro centric. It is a pan Indian phenomenon. Style icons, media hype and Bollywood inspire.

It is now designer wear and beyond. Indians with their spending power are attracting the world’s leading luxury brands, who are cautiously but surely stepping into what is estimated to be an explosive market with the highest high net worth individuals (HNI) growth at the country level, along with China and Brazil. (Source: World Wealth Report 2008, Merrill Lynch & Cap Gemini.)

Where are we heading? Will our strong cultural traditions save our heritage of textiles and wearing styles? Or will they get consigned to mothballs and museums? Or will the little black dress take over? Is it time for another message on Swadeshi? Only time will tell.