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Changing face of Indian Fashion----印度时尚的改变
“语言掩盖了思想,因此人们很难从一个人的穿着来真正的看出他是一个什么样的人，因为衣服的外部形式完全是另一个人对你的主观映像，而不是你自身所认可的。”(Calefato 2004。13页)。
在印度，西方文化是一个独特的时尚风格，并引起了一阵狂热，随着印度的音乐和灵性，印度服饰在主流西方风格和时尚见证下，有了巨大的转变。这篇文章的主要目的是展示新兴趋势如何融入于印度服饰中。
时尚是在特定时间内盛行的风格和习俗，对于一些人来说是一种艺术形式,然而对另一些人来说时尚也是宗教和文化的一部分。但对于大多数人来说，时尚是一种可以显示和隐藏自我的方法。时尚也能够拓展自己的个性，或伪装真实的自我，但重要的一点是艺术、文化、工业、生活这几方面是如何与时尚相关联的呢？英语词典里指出，时尚是人类特有的技能，而并不是天生的。对于时尚是否是一种艺术形式，人们持有不同的观念。持赞成的人们认为：艺术是一种可视的媒介,时尚人士也像画家和雕塑家一样，喜欢艺术,他们都需要强大的创造力，都要掌握一定的技巧。
The western culture
Changing face of Indian Fashion
“Language disguises the thought, so that from the external form of the clothes one cannot infer the form of the thought they clothe, because the external form of the clothes is constructed with quite another object than to let the form of the body be recognized” (Calefato 2004. p 13).
The western culture is cultivating a grand love affair with the distinctive fashion style in India. Along with Indian music and spirituality, Indian clothing is seeing a huge impact on main stream identities of western style and culture. The main intention of this essay is to demonstrate how this emerging trend relates to the changing face of Indian fashion.
Fashion is the style and custom prevalent at a given time. To some it's an art form, to others it's like a part of their culture and religion but to most it is a method of utilizing cloth to show or hide something about themselves. Fashion can be used to serve as an extension of one's own personality or to disguise one's own true self. One of the major points here is, how does art, culture and industry, the three aspects of life, relate to fashion? The English dictionary states that, art is a human skill opposed to nature. There are various for and against argument on whether fashion is an art form. One view that favors the argument is, art is a visual medium whose creators respond to the same stimuli as painters and sculptors and like art, it involves immense creativity as well as mastery of technique and materials. The view against it is, artists supposedly are not concerned with selling, they are consumed with creating works of art, not producing a collection for regularly scheduled showings (Rhodes, 2003). Culture on the other hand is basically an ‘intellectual development' at a certain time and a certain place and refers to certain human behavior and activities that conclude to significance and importance whereas; industry is a segment of economy, concerned with the production of goods and service. It is an essential component of most societies and fashion is a huge contributor to it. The major fashion cities have continuous competition between each other and due to their different strategies become known as the ‘cultural industries'. The history of costume, Barthes (1983) says, has a general epistemological value. By ‘history of costume', he means a socio-semiotic reading of the phenomenon of clothing as an articulate language through which it is possible to analyse a culture, as system and process, institution and individual act, expressive reserve and significant order. The nature of fashion, however, constantly changes and focuses on newness, or the illusion of something new which means that signs and symbols are transient. According to Woodruffe-Burton “fashion is a visual commentary on the excess of a postmodern culture, the perfect foil for a world of fragmented and commensurate identities and personage, offering a dynamic procession of free floating signs and symbolic exchanges” (Woodruffe-Burton 1998, page 302).
Choices made in relation to new clothes are usually controlled by the current fashion ‘look' as defined within the fashion system and realized by the availability of fresh goods (Alexandra, 2004). According to Barthes (1983), the concept of new lifestyle and fashion styles is “signified” while the fashion commodities become “signifiers”. He also points out that the present form of fashion commodities decrease in value and are subsequently relinquished when the new signifier readily provides a replacement for the previous signifier. In addition, Baudrillad (1981) referred to fashion as a “compulsion to innovate signs…apparently arbitaray and perpetual production of meaning - a kind of meaning drive”. The meanings drive individuals, to seek out those new commodities that could signify them. According to Vinken, "The discourse on fashion is constructed by the articulations of three major conceptual articulations: the division of being and mere appearance; the division of the sexes; and - inseparably linked to the latter - the division of the classes". In modern times, there has been a marked tendency for the first of these conceptualities - whether it appears in its philosophical form or in its ethical application - to be incorporated into the sociological variations of the divisions of gender and class. This phenomenon of compression has been compounded by the fact that the paradigm of the division of the sexes has allowed itself to be grafted onto the discourse on class, dominant until the eighteenth century, with the same ease that, in traditional thought, the moral condemnation of vanity let itself be combined with the philosophical suspicion of mere appearance”(Vinken, p4) India during its earlier days to be clothed in fashion was seen as a mark of privilege enjoyed exclusively by upper class. The lower end of the society didn't have the access to it due to the dominance of traditional clothing which followed intensively during that time. But now it has changed for the better and is being enjoyed by almost everyone at every social level because of the democratization of fashion which has helped in mass production during the Industrial Revolution. The appearance of avant-garde designers from Japan in the early 1980s was believed to be the beginning of the postmodern phenomenon in the field of fashion. It allows openness to a great variety of styles and genres and the acceptance of Asian designers which was considered as the breakdown of the racial boundaries among designers who were largely white. Post modernity allows ethnic minorities, from women, lesbians and gay men to state find or retrieve an identity (Wilson 1994). The definition of what is fashionable was gradually decreasing in its nature with the beginning of postmodernism which eliminated differences and with the end of the autonomous sphere of fine art. What was usually worn as underwear now could be worn as outerwear. What used to be a hole for the neck could be worn as an armhole. Contents of fashions have become diverse and have redefined themselves implying the breakdown of the clothing system, itself that is, of sartorial conventions. The emergence of the new modern India seems to be the buss word for the new younger generation exposed to the vision of the new millennium as India opened up its doors to the west, there came a need to create a new identity. Thus was the idea of taking Indian traditional fabrics and styles and combining them with western cuts and lines, to appeal to larger segments and masses. Due to these developments, fashion gained in acceptance out of selected cities into the most conservative households. The new emerging trend catered way to the concept of Indian fashion boutiques, due to which women started moving out of the house and those typical tailor master were out of fashion. When more and more women started doing job, the online boutiques proved to be of great help as they can find everything under one roof, from fabric, designing, stitching and accessories (Chawla, 2006). Earlier to have a desired design, effort was needed to be put on to run from shop to shop to buy the fabric. Once the fabric is bought, the matching colour of laces and buttons need to bought and all these need to be given to the tailor for completing the stitching of the garment. Now, all these headaches are been taken care by the boutiques which keep a complete range of stitched and unstitched garments from casuals to party wear. The mall culture and family stores has dominated and is steadily growing in India. These are the places which are starting to become a favorite fashion hub for upper and middle class people. These stores sell fashion garments of all age groups and sexes and are considered as shopping destination.
Most Indians express a great deal through their clothing. Their quench for the ultimate perfection plays a great deal in their choice of beautifully colored dramatic and sensuous garments. Highly lively colors woven in to signify the ornate designs can be found resonating through the whole of India. Lot of western influences has created modern designs which has been included into the basic structure of Indian outfit and that are the dresses that we find these days. So that makes us wonder, what was Indian fashion actually like when there were no designers displaying their haute couture to pamper a luxurious line of clientele? Well the answer to it is, India had its own kind of customs and traditions followed from generation to generations, the presence of it are even felt today. A surprising fact about ancient Indian fashion was that the clothes were not stitched together at all because most of the clothing was ready-to-wear, as soon as they left the loom. The ancient Indian fashion did not really have garments that were sewed together. The examples of these are the dhoti, the sari, the turban and the scarf. The practice of wearing dhoti by men and women were seen as a familiar site since India always go through hot and humid climatic conditions and these were made with cotton which suits the condition. The traditional Indian Dhoti, the Scarf or Uttariya and the popular Turban are still seen visible in India as people continue to wear them and hence remains as an integral part of Indian culture. Indian dressing styles are marked by many variations, both religious and regional with a wide choice of textures and styles (Tirthankar, 1999). One of the most commonly worn traditional dresses, the sari, is essentially a rectangular cloth measuring about 6 yards long. It passes through the legs around the body and tucked in at the back. It's worn in varied styles and is made from materials like pure silk or other fabric woven in different textures with different patterns. It is worn by women as the lower garment combined with a Stanapatta (a thin band that wraps horizontally around torso) which forms the basic wear. This consists of garments that do not have to be stitched, the stanapatta being simply fastened in a knot at the back (Osella, 2000). |
