the sudden shift to pants and salwar-kameez

RPG

Kolkata has always been a conservative town, in spite of its faded claim to intellectual avant-gardism. This used to be particularly true for women's clothing.

Until recently, salwar-kameez meant you were from elsewhere in India, and pants (especially if without thigh-length tops creating a faux salwar-kameez) meant you were a foreigner. Nice Bengali girls wore saris after puberty. (Maybe jeans in special situations, like when going somewhere by car, or within an upper-middle-class neighborhood, or at Jadavpur Univ, but not in the bazaar or on the bus. People might stare and make remarks. I know a college teacher who was warned that if she didn't wear a sari the students would not respect or obey her.)

Something happened suddenly...five or six years ago? En masse, younger and even middle-aged women in Kolkata switched to salwar-kameez, and (in smaller numbers) pants. I am convinced that I will get off the plane one year and see shorts and miniskirts (OK, that'll never happen...)

I'm not defending the sari...it is quite impractical for daily use. But the change was sudden. One year saris, next year salwar-kameez, next year jeans without long tops. And the biggest thing is that, on the street and in crowds, this attracts no attention at all. The culture just changed.

For those who live in Kolkata...was this sudden change noticed and discussed as a cultural phenomenon? Is there a story behind it?

PeakXV

Comfort versus class. coolness versus stuffiness. Infiltration of satellite Television ...... probably have something to do with any shift in 'fashion'.

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brishti

gee - thats quite an observation rpg! having lived there forever - i guess i never noticed this change - besides i've always been in my jeanpants [!] and sneakers ever since i remember.

i think - the salwar kameez switchover is more to do with practicality than anything else.
washing/starching/ironing them bengali cotton tangail sarees was/is always a bothersome chore.

but one thing i did notice recently - total transformation - the quality of service at departmental and other big/not-so-big stores.
wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
these young sales girls/boys are attentive, you are attended to, not pushy, they know what they're talking about, they know their wares, they are courteous, and gosh - efficient.
it was an absolute undiluted pleasure.

more than the clothes - this is what struck me - zapped me right between the eyes.


:brishti

capt_mahajan

Umm, the title made me jump to the conclusion that people were stripping out of pants and into salwaar kameezes on the streets

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brishti

the 'n' word, eh cap'n?


:brishti

capt_mahajan

I must say that I thought conservative Kolkatta had really broken the shackles this time.

Nattusbs

I don't know if this actually happened suddenly. I was in Kolkatta last month, and one could see the typical variety of dresses- sari, jeans, shalwar-kameez - I do remember back in the 1970's girls/teenagers wearing jeans (it was fashionable to wear Levi's since it said "imported" or that you knew someone "abroad" to brought it for you - a quasi, status symbol).

Cheers

Nattusbs

Nick-H

It's the same in Chennai: sari-clad chennai has changed to salwars and, in the fashionable areas even jeans and teeshirts.

But I've seen a couple of young women in half-saris in the past week or so, a dress-style that also was common years ago but is now almost dead. Perhaps they are making a comeback!

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RPG

I didn't mean to suggest that saris cannot be seen on the street any more. But other forms of clothing have rapidly become perfectly normal, not just in the non-Bengali population or around central Kolkata, but among rich and poor Bengalis and in North and South Kolkata.

Sure, but it was not at all common. Young women may have occasionally dressed up western-style as an experiment, at parties or around Park St. If you were seen on the street wearing jeans, this tended to attract unwelcome attention, or at best people would conclude that you were Anglo-Indian. (That's when there were still Anglo-Indians left in Kolkata.)

kristinm

What's a half sari? I'm trying to imagine which half is missing!

Nick-H

The bottom half. It is like a full-length skirt with a shawl tucked in, taken accross the chest and thrown over the shoulder.

Looks very elegant.

wonderwomanusa

Hmmm... I thought I invented that, the year I spent NYE in Mammalipuram. Didn't have a thing to wear, but I did have an extra-long Madrasi longhi (long enough to pleat and tuck in, a bit like a saree) and a dupatta in a color that went with it well enough, and a choli. It was very comfortable. Wish I had a photo of it!

kristinm

Oh yes - I saw some of those, they looked lovely! I saw some very funky village women in Rajasthan with full length sari style skirts (not the big circular ones), matchibg shawls or pauloo (sp?) and fitted checked shirts over the top and under the shawl - to the hip but very fitted like a man's shirt that had been taken in and darted. They were just village women - but very stylish, I was wondering if someone had started a trend in that village of altering men's shirts and wearing them!

AvidTrekker

Traditionally, the half Sari indicated an unmarried (eligible) girl... as only such females wore it. In cities this custom is getting diluted.... but very much present in the villages of TN and Andhra.

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anu_k

yup...
sri lankan tamil teenagers used to wear it alot but now its considered very traditional and have been swapped for punjabi suits and lenghas.
it's a shame cos as nick said, they are very elegant.