Fashion Garments

Heard about a homely wear that went to town once and became a fashion rage overnight? This unassuming vesture had very humble origins. No deft curves and no mandatory lengths, it was just an ordinary traditional Indian dress. Later, it catered to the minimal requirements of those freewheeling souls who had no care for the material indulgences of bathing and clothing and saloning. It came to symbolise anarchy on the unkempt desi hippies and those we called intellectuals, sometimes with the prefix, pseudo. But those flowing, shapeless, tasteless garb sure had no takers among the fashion conscious. Lo and behold! by a wave of the magical needle, the dress designers have woven a sartorial Cinderella who the fashionistas have chased like mad ever after. The protagonist of this rags-to-riches story, our very own kurta/kurti (no prizes for guessing it right) now commands a very unique status among drapes. Once a citizen of the third world clothes community, it still has not lost its simple charm and spares you the done up look. But fashion-wise needle work has smartly transformed it into a garment that carefully accentuates your toned physique, if you want it that way. For those who would prefer to wear it loose, perhaps as a foil for those flabs, you are still wearing an ‘in’ thing and thus not left out of the youthful crowd. But best of all, even when the extravagant teens and loud youths have sewed up glittering sequences and screaming patterns all over the kurta, it is still worn plain by that crowd who wants to tell the world that they are a tribe of brainy, intellectual individuals who dwell in a ‘serious’ realm of life. The venue of the International Film Festival of Kerala was a happy melee of a heterogeneous crowd where the above stated hypothesis could be checked for accuracy. The college-goers who thronged the place for a taste of the jamboree came in kurtas, colourful and trendy. They were there for a fair share of the happening world that had put up its caravan in their city for now. So the attire ought to be something that would make them look part of the crowd, rightful partakers of the aura, and yet, sassy enough. Kurtas make the right cocktail, as Athira T points out. An engineering student, she says, ‘‘Churidar is too formal and makes you look older. Kurtas give you the freedom of mix n’ match and give you that trendy look. Kurtas are cool!’’ ‘Cool’ is the rule these days, and kurtas fit the bill just right. For, there are umpteen versions of the ‘cool’ act, and kurtas seem to flesh out each personalised genre of brand cool. Says Shibin Philip, guest lecturer at the Economics Department of the University of Kerala, ‘‘In a kurta, you stand out instantly. It makes a stronger presence than something uptight and formal, so it has this added advantage of boosting your confidence.’’ Aromal, a PhD scholar at the Institute of English and an upcoming theatre artist, points out the aesthetic appeal of kurta that makes it a hit among performing artistes. ‘‘There’s a beauty about kurta that is so strong that it passes on to the wearer, I think performing artists prefer kurta for this aesthetic value. Men in a spotless black kurta can effortlessly make a statement in any crowd,’’ he vouches. ‘‘Moreover it looks as good with jeans as it does with dhoti or pyjama.’’ Now, there we have landed on a plane that elevates kurta to theoretical significance. Like Indian English out of Queen’s English, Twenty20 out of the gentleman’s game, we have deconstructed the metafashion of Western wear to create cocktails that are Western in blood, but Indian in essence, looks and bearing. So we have an authentic substitute to tees, shirts or tank tops that scrolls a very bold Indian signature, over jeans or cargos or tights. Come to think of it, kurtas are postmodern in more ways than one. Most Indian wears belong to a naive bi-gendered old world. In the age of postmodern incredulity, where gender is no more a given, what other desi clothing is more andrgynous in identity? A rendezvous rarely does happen between fashion and functionality. Kurta stitches up many a yawning gap and spreads out a level dressing ground where emerges an unprecedented clothing consensus.

source:http://www.expressbuzz.com/entertainment/Entertainstory.aspx?Title=Empire+knits+back&artid=La6DsE1ahyI=&SectionID=8xqTIFVyTwU=&MainSectionID=8xqTIFVyTwU=&SectionName=4kpG7BPHVPg=&SEO=