Shorts or Pants???

sannna

I would pack a pair of shorts - but only if you plan to visit Goa or some beach in Kerala. Otherise no. Indian men older then 12 years old do not wear shorts. According to them you must either be poor, or mentally challenged if you wear shorts after your 12 birthday or so.

Going to any restaurant in shorts, or to a club... don't do it. (Those beach restaurants in Goa and Kerala excluded.) It would be like going to a restaurant in the West in your swimming gear!

You can buy trousers very cheaply in India. Just head to a clothes market, or to a branch of Big Bazaar or Shoppers Stop in a bigger city. For a couple hundred rupees you can buy yourself a wardrobe with thin cotton pants.

If you are out in the sun all day it might also for health reasons be better to cover as much skin as possible. The sun can be really fierce.

kristinm

Poor or mentally challenged ...And this coming from men who often look like refugees from a gay mardi gras who have time warped back to the 70's - and you can tell they've spent ages perfecting the look too! (I'm taking a swipe I know - but I did love the way Indian men embrace colour, glitter, and combinations of the two and still manage to appear quite manly!

NeeliAankhen

Kristin, when were you noticing the 70s thing? It could be intentional retro style, or not. Two recent big Hindi movies had fun with 70s style, Don in 06 (with references to the original Don of the 70s, and his clothes), and Om Shanti Om in early November of 07, the biggest blockbuster (in terms of numver of tickets sold) of all time. And movie styles get picked up of course.

sannna

I generally find that Indian men look very very boring with their uniforms of beige (sandbrown) pants and checkered/ plain shirts (blouses) in dull colors.

(The sleeveless vests with glitters in it that were "fashionable" this winter excluded.)

The middle class "hip" boys who do not have enough money to invest in clothes all wear those same awfull stonewashed 70s jeans, either with a longsleeve shirt that is too tight or with a stonewashed jeans jacket or an ugly (fake)leather jacket.

IMHO it is the women of India that stand out when it comes to clothing (and many other things - but thats a whole new topic..).

kristinm

I don't think it was 'groovy' retro, these were village boys out in the country, I doubt they're wearing it with the requisite irony ... although it is groovy anyway I guess! Perhaps they did pick it up from the movies - although I prefer my Different Strokes explanation.... I'll try and find some photos... I really love how Indian men dress.. like I said, its quite feminine & they obviously spend a lot of time on their appearance - yet are totally unselfconscious .. in Delhi and Mumbai I noticed several young groovers in those sweaters made of something with a kind of sparkle to it - in bright pinks and oranges, including our waiter for the Delhi meetup we went to... Such a nice change from Aussie blokes..

Maybe pink sparkly shorts would be OK for the OP????

sannna

The 70s look has been hot in India since 1980 I think. Don and Om Shanti Om have not had an impact on that.

kristinm

Well having said that I read Sanna's post - and I agree too - the ones who weren't flamboyant with colour and glitter were quite boring in beige and brown.. but always neat and stiffly starched! We were in Rajsthan though and it seems everything is more colourful there... ! And yes, Indian women are just sublime (ask my 13 year old son!)... that silhouette of the strong slender woman in the curving sari is one of the enduring images burnt into my brain!

Oyar

what do u suggest that young men ought to wear then??

sannna

Well, I think I am in no position to tell Indian men what to wear, but since you're asking... I think that as with so many things in India, what is lacking when it comes to clothes is a sense of individuality. More variation would be my main wish. It is not that I all want to see them in "real" Indian clothes or in "goodlooking/ fitting" Western clothes,but just that whatever they pick, it shows that they actually car about what they look like, and have a mind of their own.

Now it seems you can caterogize people according to their clothes a bit too easily:
- Good fitting pants or jeans and shirt with stripes in fresh colours: business man, probably working in a big firm, able to speak English.

- Tight fitting stonewashed 70s jeans and red tight longsleeve, middle class boy, probably working as a servant in someone's home, son of shopkeeper or so. English very poor.

- Beige trousers, checkered/ plain beige blouse: low and middle class man, works as government servant, shopkeeper, riksjahwhallah, in a restaurant, as a plumber or whatever. No English.

Its a bit of stereotyping of course.. but in general I think this goes.

Oyar

Im most comfy in jeans & a decent t-shirt. If the ocassion demands .. a casual shirt

if its work related ... then a pant & plain / striped shirt

which sterotype do u think i fit into then?

sannna

You would fall under category one. Goodfiting jeans, decent or striped shirt...And you speak English.

I take it you don;t wear the middle class uniform of beige shirts and pants, and neither stonewashed 70s jeans

But apart from yourself, do you recognize the categories I am describing, or do you see more diversity than I do?

kristinm

I totally recognise the categories and would add the colourful glitzy category we saw as well - also the try-hard young men in aggressively trendy but just kind of 'wrong'.. like the guy we saw in Victoria terminus on a date.. too tight black jeans, shiny leopardskin shirt, slicked back hair and pointy shoes with highish heels.. OMG! Girlfriend was looking slightly embarrassed in a SK with strappy sandals...

Oyar

oh yess ... thers a lot more diversity!

kristinm

I think I saw you having cofee near Wilson College???? That type of look?

puchoo

And i thought i looked like Mick Jagger

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