Indian Street Fashion: Ooh la-la!

Ruchira takes a hard look at the street fashion these days. She finds most of these bizarre. Read more in the weekly column, exclusively for Different Truths.

I feel really stumped sometimes. Cannot help but stare open mouthed at them. Them? Who?   Well, pretty young things (PYT), teeny boppers, besides 20 something girls and boys if you please. Why gape? Because I simply cannot fathom their style and dressing sense. 

An ongoing and highly popular fad is wearing Denims (read jeans) with wanton cuts all over the place. In case they happen to be shorts or sexy hot pants you will have threads hanging all over the place, like real roots of a sturdy banyan tree or mangroves. Are they sold in stores in such ravaged forms?  Or does the friendly neighbourhood tailor work on them to impart the so called trendy look? I wonder.  Nobody can convince me about the basic purpose which these cuts, gashes and hanging threads serve. Are they aesthetically pleasing? No.  Do they provide extra comfort? No. Then why on earth does one need to be seen in this type of lower garment?  Fashion. Blind Fashion? Maybe.  Come to think of it, in the entire process the fabric itself appears to be subjected to untold suffering and torture. And that, I feel is heart wrenching indeed. 

 As of now, they may be passé   but until a few years ago, kurtas with transparent net sleeves were in vogue.  The youngsters undoubtedly went gaga over them; but frankly speaking, I found them rather distasteful. After all, glimpses of hairy unwaxed arms and armpits were not too pleasant. If only such individuals (I mean the wearers) would be a little more conscientious. But, as they, say each to his/her own.     

 Likewise the youngsters seem to prefer trousers and skirts, which are worn so low that the hip girdle remains largely exposed. Worse, they seem to cling to the hips by a hair’s breadth! I shudder to imagine what would happen if the garments slithered down to the floor. By the way what fat load of good will apparels -worn at such precarious angles-do?  Believe you me, I pride myself on my good tastes but this would a bit too much. Even at the risk of incurring the ire of the fashionista, let me put it bluntly that I have no interest whatsoever, in viewing private (read forbidden) areas of the human physique. Look at it this way: If wearing clothes is cumbersome, then why wear them in the first place? Again I wonder. Now onward to the “piping hot” trend which I think came up less than a year ago. This time around the focus is on the upper garment, sleeves to be precise. Under this scheme, in the middle of a sleeve (of any top or blouse) you suddenly stumble upon a crater- like area where the fabric is missing. This dent or opening, as I am wont to call it, may be circular or elliptical. The very first time I espied one, I thought the sleeve had been torn by accident or mishap. But when I looked harder I found both   the sleeves were ‘torn’ in an identical manner. What a coincidence!  Eventually I discovered it was a master stroke of tailoring craft. Did they look pleasing? Sorry, not to me at least. 

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against being fashionable at all. Nonetheless, I only wish to suggest that fashions ought to adhere to the basic rules of aesthetics and utility. The human body – God’s ultimate creation – is beautiful, no doubt. However, its random exposure without any rhyme or reason defies logic.  

Picture design Anumita Roy, Different Truths