Designers’ Dilemma

A few weeks back HT Brunch (Sunday) issue was all about power dressing and style statement. Neither am I a fashionista nor an avid fashion follower, by any means. Not at all. Neither have I any remote desire to become one of the either. My idea of dressing is what suits one’s personality and work convenience best. In short, functional.

However, I don’t mind browsing through the latest fashion ( mags, dailies, whatever) once in a while. I also admire people who are well dressed. But if you ask me I would always prefer ethnicity and understated elegance over the latest craze, however, overwhelming it may be.

In the Capital, if you are not up-to-date with fashion, you are, indisputably, down-market – a behenji, so to speak. Now, defining behenji – is a person who dresses conventionally irrespective of the people she is with or place she is visiting. For example, a girl in saree or salwar suit amidst a hep crowd in a discotheque, is unequivocally, a behenji.

However, have the opinion mongers ever noticed that those who make or have made the most impactful and long lasting impressions on our lives and minds are all men and women who have subscribed to dressing which best suits their personality and job?

Take, for example, our own Mr. Narendra Modi. How well dressed he looks in his churidar kurta, half coat and pugdee ( turban). I was watching him this 15th of August mingling with the children. And he oozed style with statement and power. Matchless! (Though I am not an out-and-out Modi fan….yet.) In fact, he has made the half shirts ( a go-between bush shirt and long kurta) fashionable indeed!

I have had the good fortune of seeing Mr. Manmohan Singh from close quarters, when he was not the so-called Prime Minister. As Finance Minister he would quite often come to attend Meetings at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce in B B D Bagh, Kolkata, (and mind you, there would not be any traffic-roko-management to let him in or out of the building, though it was in the midst of a very busy office complex) in his ubiquitous spotless white bandh gala and sky blue turban with black shoes to match – a smartly dressed academician-turned-Union Finance Minister!!

And don’t forget Mr. Jyoti Basu, our own Bangaali Babu in his crisp dhuti and paanjaabi. At the day’s end not one crease would be discernible in his attire or his visage ! Mrs. Sharmilla Tagore Pataudi once remarked that he was the best dressed man she had ever met !

Of ladies, as fashion is very much their prerogative, the foremost in the league would be Mrs. Indira Gandhi. I remember my mother would go gaga over her collection of sarees which, according to her, she never repeated. Her daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi made most of her wardrobe because that reeked of ethnicity – deshi ki mitti ki khushboo – and statement, I suppose!!

So was Amma aka Jayalalitha, craftily covering the bullet proof jacket that she regularly wore under yards and yards of expensive and well-chosen chiffons, crepes and silks!! She was a natural beauty with an enviably glowing skin and equally unshakable composure.

In this list, I will also include the late Ms. Benazeer Bhutto. Her three piece salwar suits ( with the unforgettable hijaab) and stylish belly(shoes), and of course, Mr. Musharraff, whose beautifully tailored pathan suits, I fell headlong for, during his visit to India.

My readers may say that I am only picking up political figures to prove my point that dressing is all about functionality and ethnicity. So, then let me give you the example from the most hat-ke category – our own dear old Gulzaar Sahab in his well starched kurta- pyjama and a carelessly thrown jamdani shawl during jaadon kii narm dhoop. How about that ???

Talking of fashion, the conversation invariably veers towards Bollywood Stars. But it is so difficult to figure out whether the dresses they wear are all sponsored or of their own choice. Lately, I came to know that Rekha is the brand ambassador of Kanchipuram Silk. No wonder she is always so wrapped in broad gold bordered South Silks and tons and tons of gold jewelry to go with these. But my advice to her would be to seriously accept her age and dress accordingly.

When I watch the old Hindi movies I really admire the dress sense of yesteryear actors and actresses. They never wore designer stuffs. The concept was completely absent at that time. Yet, they looked so elegant and their dresses so well tailored. I get the same feeling when I now watch the Pakistani tele-serials. Not an ounce of flesh visible ( at the wrong places, i.e.) yet the outfits are exquisite examples of sartorial workmanship at its best.

While on the subject, let me confess I do not understand what statement a designer tries to make through his/her collection of the season. But I really try my level best to do so, believe me. Haute-couture is again something which is not intellectually graspable to me. High street fashion….lets not broach the subject at all. Mostly they jar my aesthetic senses and appear weird and non-functional to say the least.

It is really debatable whether style emanates from the persona wearing an outfit or from the latter per se. I feel, and I have given a substantial number of examples in favour of my argument, as above, that how one carries oneself is what matters most. The way a person dresses is an extension of his/her personality. Whether the dress makes him/her or he/she makes them his/her own by the way he/she carries him/herself is what remains to be argued upon…endlessly.

(This is my first fashion blog. I was wondering whether I can write one and comfortably so)

All pics are from Google