Foreign Men In Traditional Indian Clothing?

Seeker710

So here's a question for the ex-pats and India travel experts:

(I figured SOMEONE would have asked this before so I did a search of the forum for past discussions of the topic....no luck.)

All that I read tells me that a foreign woman wearing traditional indian clothing is stared at less, and in general seen in a positive light....you know, trying to fit in.

Would a white man (or japanese man for that matter) be looked at strangely if he chose to wear traditional indian clothing?


Thanks.

__________________
Phillip

"I am a firm believer that EVERY person, every once in a while, needs a good ass kicking."

-anon

Kanehanahou

Naw... It's all a matter of appropriate dress for the occasion.. I bought a couple of kurtas while I was there and wore them from time to time. Most of the locals thought it was cool.

crvlvr

In indian cities, most indian men in cities wear western clothes. They typically dress indian for a religious function/wedding. So if a foreigner wore formal indian clothes on the street, yes, they will be unusual.

On the other hand, in goa, a lot of tourists wear kurtas.

gs_uppal

Kurtas with Jeans or Trousers is cool everywhere in India, & cotton Kurtas are the best for indian summers.

A Japanese on Indian streets (Cities) is not stared that much, coz lots of Indians have similar looks (esp those from North East India and the Hill Areas of North - Himachal & Uttaranchal).

Nick-H

I wear kurta and vesti every day here in Chennai.

I never wear trousers as I would find them very uncomfortable in this climate (except maybe shorts when it rains).

I wear kurta, although usually a short and fairly trendy one, because it has the pockets that I miss not wearing trousers. Anyway, it looks right with the vesti. Long sleeves always, to keep the sun off

Reactions:

• Nothing ---by far the most common
• A friendly smile ---regularly
• Laughter ---from teenagers (especially in shopping centres where they are trying to be cool)
• Conversation ---once in a while someone will stop and enquire who I am, what I am doing and why I dress like this. They usually say that they appreciate seeing a Westerner dress this way.

__________________
... Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

zenkris

good response nick-h.

had similar experiences in pune wearing a khadi kurta (you know the ghandian cloth type). i wore a combination of modern western pants with pockets on sides, and the kurta instead of a shirt or a sweater.

generally no response.
sometimes just a slight stare.
from indians who knew me, quite a good response.

the funny thing is that my experience is that often indians imitate us too much. so, even when they see a gora wearing their clothes, some start seeing the beauty of it again.

Wocca

Whenever I wore Indian clothes my colleagues & students were pleased with my sense of fashion and style

__________________
Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur
Many fear their reputation, few their conscience

machadinha

As noted kurtas seem to go down well. Lungis -- forget about them except in small villages, you'll stick out like a sore thumb. The south may actually be a little different for this, as Nick pointed out, and as another thread taught us a while ago a vesti is more formal than a lungi. (I went from a festival once in a lungi where nothing was amiss, well except my white face attracted a lot of attention, only to board a train a little down the road and suddenly finding myself back in civilization -- kind of like being caught in your underpants in Piccadilly Circus.)

I saw this older white guy in a kurta on some off-the-way station once, just a handbag and nothing else. The funny thing was no one so much as gave him any notice. I assumed he was a resident Britisher or something, the point though is that belonging or not seems to have everything to do with your bearing, not with your looks (being older might also make it easier to gain respect). If you can make believe you belong there (a backpack wouldn't be helpful) you'll probably fit right in. Taking it very easy and not asking directions every two seconds and knowing a little of the language would certainly help as well, as would not combining the lungi with a bunch of purple dreadlocks. Being on the move is a different story again, I've seen Indian tourists being harassed just as much as any Westerner would be, and getting just as annoyed. Anyway I'm digressing, sorry.

__________________
Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links

edwardseco

My relations like it for private wear but not for public dress. It goes better when you are young and look in the mode of "genuine hippy brother". It is so much cooler..

Nick-H

Yes, vestis and lungis still common here in South ---although I often find that, with local friends, I am the only one not wearing trousers.