Posts tagged Fashion

by Pink Sherbet Photography

The changing trends of fashion

The fashionable trends or rather the changing trends of fashion in the Bollywood Hindi cinema date back almost to the decades of the 60s till the current .No wonder that none of these abovementioned stars too have ever been able to create a fashionable style statement of their own unlike some of the yesteryears starry actors or actresses.

To begin with the analysis of this trendy obsession we go back to the era of Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, who ironically were well-known more for their respective images of a tragedy king and Venus of beauty rather than their wardrobe or their hairstyles. In fact, it was Madhubala’s fetching, winsome, and infectious smile that had a trendsetting impact of its own. The eternal Devdas had lacked in this department too. Later on, it was Rajendra Kumar who had given a boost to executive looks and styles of dressing down while his co-star Mala Sinha had seemed more than happier by slipping in and out of her tight churidaars, kurtas and, of course, hallmarked by her then inventive “Chidiyon Ka Ghosla’ (Bird’s Nest) type of wriggly wigs.

Yet the metamorphosis of these styles endorsed so painstakingly by them had somewhat failed to reach its dizzy heights, its pinnacle even then too as even their collective or individualistic contributions had paled in significance compared to the global standards and parameters of that particular phase. Nevertheless it was their fans who had become their torchbearers by draping themselves in whatever they had flaunted in their on-screen lives thereby gracefully and joyfully albeit blindfoldedly adopting all their styles. Yes, the poor guys used to hang themselves on to every shred of fabric which used to be a part and parcel of their attire just like they were accustomed to hang on to and mouth every bit of dialogues ever uttered by them.

And then believe it or faint, the combined haute couture stylish affairs of these two stars were blindly followed by the other stars of their ilk too more especially by Shashi Kapoor–Sharmila Tagore, the latter in her individualistic capacity had also popularized the conceptualized fashion of the tightly knotted at the back kind of cholis probably to kick off a bare backed trend of its own, Jeetendra (who was known more for his obsessive passion and penchant for everything white from headwear to footwear than for his acting skills then) – Mumtaz and last but not the least garam dharm Dharmendra and his better half dream girl (or should it be dream woman by now) Hema Malini. And then but then trust Raaj Kumar–Meena Kumari for being simplicity and serenity personified.

So the former, in tow with the evergreen Dev Sahab (Anand), was content with an ordinary muffler draped round his neck while the latter always relished her plain white and borderless cotton sarees to enhance her tragic image or rarely with heavily bedecked and bejeweled attire to spark off the rich looks of her characters. Then came stars like Biswajeet and Joy Mukherjee who were more fond of their well cut, well tailored (the darzis of that era thrived on them) and well designed trousers rounded off with readymade not made to order body hugging wholesale cheap Ed hardy clothes . While their co-stars Saira Banu, Asha Parekh and later on even Raakhee, surprisingly aped their contemporaries like Mala Sinha, Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini, and Mumtaz.

Much earlier, it was Raj Kapoor and Nargis, Sunil Dutt and Sadhana who had indeed made a conscious effort to retain their originality by adopting their own style in whatever they had attired themselves with or more pointedly and precisely with the way they used to present themselves and carry it off with great élan and panache. So what if initially they were barely noticed but later on it had become a fixation for them sometimes too uncomfortable even for their own good like Raj Kapoor’s Russian styled polo necked T Shirts, the trademarked white sarees or the long flowing umbrella styled gowns of Nargis, Sunil Dutt’s cowboy hats (also copied blatantly by Feroz Khan) and designer goggles in tandem with the long strands of hairs covering his entire forehead and mane (which was earlier noticeable even in his son Sunjay Dutt) and last but not the least Sadhana’s especially scissored hairs in steps cut covering just the front portion of her forehead.

To continue further a daring and dazzling twist in the fashion trend that also occurred in the 60s phase itself when the actresses of that era had shed their inhibitions and dared to wear swimming costumes on the celluloid silver screen. And wore they did and how? For i.e. the first ones to kick off this dare to bare trend was none other than Nutan and Tanuja. Yes, indeed they were the first ones to evolve the style of one piece designer style of a swimming costume. Saira Banu and Sharmila Tagore had gone a step ahead in the Eastman colour era. The former wore a shiny, sequined, colourful and a very chamkila albeit a one-piece swimming costume for a film called April Fool, while the latter had worn a shiny one-piece swimming costume for a film called An Evening In Paris and then finally graduating to a two-piece polka dotted bikini for a film called Aamne Samne. How symbolic!

With the conservative actress taking the lead, can the pin up boys oops actors of those times be left far behind. So the first such breed of non actors of those times to herald the trend of going topless by wearing a swimming costume were none other than Dharamendra, Jeetendra, Joy Mukherjee, Deb Mukherjee and above all Biswajeet. Of course the hot-blooded Salman Khan too has blindly followed in their footsteps but with a lot of enthusiastic show off.

Yet in later half of the century fashion trends in the history of Indian cinema seems to have done a complete volte-face. So apart from all the trends of all the stars mentioned herein there are barely anyone which could be held forth or be able to hold its fort on its own especially in the present times too. In between, there was one stray incident, but now forgotten with the time lapse, of the then dress designer Bhanu Athaiya really winning an “Oscar’ for her “Best costume designing skills’ for Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi. The only Indian woman from Bollywood to have bagged this honor till this date!

That apart, the worst hit or rather lost, forgotten or totally erased from public memory were the unusually inventive and great styles that were sparked of by Cabaret dancers like Helen, Bindu, Padma Khanna, Faryal, Jayshree T et al. Indeed their sequined, feathery and even the slit at the right angles designer costumes, in tow with Rajesh Khanna’s especially designed Guru Kurtas and Safari Suits, have erroneously failed to find a place in the history of costume designing. That is, if ever there was one written anyway.

Yes, their eclipse certainly signified that the newest breed of the dress designers had arrived and how? No wonder, the present day fashion scenario boasts of a star’s favorite and individual dress designers like Manish Malhotra, Hemant Trivedi, Vikram Phadnis, Rohit Bal, Rocky S and above all Akbar Sharief of Gabbana line of fashion wear. Hence gone are the days of the under rated darzis (tailors) and also of the starry relatives who used to firmly latch on and clutch hold of and even shamelessly cling on to this most lucrative and personalized portfolio which in return had always given them everything from name, fame, and moolah to globetrotting 5 star comforts and luxurious perks.

Yet not everything seems to be lost as the new breed of fashion designers have at least brought in a lot more inventive, innovative, and creative changes on the age-old concepts and trends which were, as it is, on the verge of losing their safe grounds and their forceful impact too.

To proceed further, the last millennium had also seen the then contemporary stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, Rakesh Roshan et al glamorizing the fashion trends further with their wholesale cheap Ed hardy T-shirt and flannel trousers aptly rounded off with platform heeled foot wears. While their female counterparts, actresses like Rekha and Sridevi attired most of the times in their bell bottoms and puffed sleeved tops, Jaya Prada in her typical Bhartiya Nari get up of starched white cotton and sometimes chiffon and silk sarees, had indeed made a stylish fashion statement of their own.

Next came the stars lucrative penchant for endorsing brand labels like Big B clad in a Reid and Taylor outfits, his offspring Jr B preferring Armani, Gucci, Ray Ban, Dolce and Gabbana et al both for his on-screen and off-screen dressing up or Fardeen Khan flaunting off his tanned and bronzed brawns in Provogue haute couture ensembles. While their current crop of contemporary actresses like Lara Dutta, Esha Deol, Sameera Reddy, Bipasha Basu, Malaika Arora–Khan et al have gone one step ahead in not only their body piercing acts but also cladding themselves most of the times in their next to nothing looks and attires like mini skirts, halter necked and boob tube tops exposing their midriff or else they just squeeze themselves up in a low rise albeit skin tight designer labeled jeans and sometimes even in a bra exposing see through tops. Not to forget the Dhak Dhak girl Madhuri Dixit in her famous backless choli from Khalnayak or Mandira Bedi, the cricket field sensation,inhernoodlestraps and garishly offset chakmak sarees.

On the other hand starry actresses like Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukherjee are still hung up on their mania for favoring and possessing their

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