“Today’s Fashion, that has always been a multi-dimensional universal impact, is not just a change, a trend, but the spirit of the times, the succession and combination of styles. It is not just a relation among classes. Fashion is the most complete expression of a post-modern industrial culture that finds its way to be in the design process.”
Indian Fasion Industry
The fashion industry is all about catching the eye and making the big move. The maxim on which the fashion world runs on is being stylish, edgy and unique. Fashion to us is about being unique in our own way, expressing feelings, attitude, persona and creativity using clothing and accessories. This is why it changes every season of every year. The industry’s bar is set very high as it is getting expensive with time. In the United States, around 250 billion dollars is spent on fashion and accessories like bag, shoe, etc. (Anon., 2012)
As far as fashion is concerned, culture is an essential factor. Culture/tradition and fashion are 2 heads of the same coin.
“It is about how our cultures influence each other, the synergy and the overlap,” says Sheila Hill, curator of exhibitions at the Richmond Museum.
India is a vast country, where culture and tradition is an integral part of our life. Its 1.2 billion population is spread across the country having different rituals, different believes different traditions, but the idea of the culture remains the same. “Each culture has something to offer. Other cultures have appreciated this, taken elements from it and made it their own”, says Hill.
Indian Fashion Trends
From the begging of the Indus valley civilization, and all the periods that India has been through, the Mughlas, the Guptas, the Britishers, all had their own identifying fashion trends, but even after the British period, India kept on moving forward, keeping our own culture and tradition perpetual. But the invasion of western culture on our society is deluging our Indian traditions big time. As a result, our Indian culture is getting vague not only to the rest of the world but to Indians ourselfs. Needless to say that India has provided the fashion industry with a lot of trends and classics.
Apparel sector India is estimated to grow to $220 billion by 2020 and therefore Apparel trends are more famous than any other. We can see many types of new trends in apparels. Some example of trends: – Retro style Bell Bottoms, Bobby print, Chiffon sarees, Anarkali’s suits, Mumtaz saree, velvet garments, skinny pants and so on.
There are positive and negative aspects of our traditions. The mind-blowing art, music, dance and literature are taking India to new heights and on the other hand the hemline is going higher and necklines are dropping deeper disregarding the Indian traditions we used to value so much.
The main aim was just to understand how the apparel trend can impact us. The noticeable changes in trends were seen for centuries but still, our ancestors kept the Indian treasure alive even after the strong influence of Britishers.
But now the new fashion trends and the western culture influence are more effectual which is not only changing the clothing’s but also the minds of generations. While Indian youth was adopting western trends, the West was getting highly influenced by Indian culture and practices.
Read more about Contemporary Fashion Trends on Travelling Lads.
