An Essay on Indian Street Fashion

This is a story I did for HT Brunch with some additional images & text. It’s about drawing analogies between fashion in small towns and urban scene + my experiences.

Photos: My first photo in McLeodGanj; the town; Tibetan boy on Temple road.

“Photographing street fashion started as a weekend thing for me on a trip to McLeodGanj. I was living and working at an NGO there. I had extra time on the weekends and the place was new. Everyday I’d sit by the sidewalk and take photos.

I’m often asked why I photograph the kind of people that I do. I don’t think I’m looking for anything in particular. I just want to make good photos that are socially and culturally relevant. I’m also taking photos for documentation and it’s interesting to make all these images and to see them become part of this ongoing global ‘street fashion’ conversation via social media.

Photos: Girls of Summer | Masoom Minawala, Fashion blogger.
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Bollywood:The biggest trendsetter in India
Undoubtedly, Bollywood hero is the ultimate fashion idol for the common man whose style inspirations, conscious or not, are Bollywood films. For instance, men wearing unbuttoned shirts with their chests exposed, is the most common trend seen on the Indian street romeo, “Indian MTV” niche, and Bollywood fans.

In small towns, many shops still sell FRIEND caps from Maine Pyar Kiya & friendship bands from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Clearly, these Bollywood films still have an impact on the local fashion a decade later. In some towns, men are wearing skinny jeans – not a Bollywood inspiration & the only digression -possibly a remnant of the trend that became rampant when some Indian denim brands launched their range of slim fits in 2007. A shopkeeper in Bareilly who stocks such clothes for men says his contacts in Delhi, where the stock comes from, tell him what’s in trend.

Photos: Boys in Aurangabad; boys on Khar Danda, Bombay.

In small towns blind aping makes Bollywood the biggest fashion trend. At the same time, there is this simple everyday fashion that exists, and that’s one of the thing I am most interested in. It’s usually a combination of culture, tradition, utilitarianism, and a bit of indifference towards how one looks.

Photos: Hoardings in Aurangabad(on a street +outside a men’s gym).
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Why runway trends don’t permeate to mass fashion in India?
Fashion designer, Anand Bhushan says, “we don’t imitate runway but Bollywood. Remember SRK’s C-O-O-L neck chains?”

Bandana Tewari says in an interview, “Bollywood is by far the biggest marketing tool for anything that you do in India.” Fashion has to go through Bollywood if it has to reach the masses. Does the common man follow Indian runway fashion? Where is the vision and interest of the masses? 

Isha Bhansali, stylist at Femina adds, runway trends don’t go mass because there is no link between Indian high street fashion and Indian fashion on the runways unlike markets abroad. Just how Zara follows catwalk to boardroom procedure, Indian high street labels like Chemistry do not do that with catwalk; they follow international high street.

In Ramp Up, Hindol Sengupta blames the designers. “Unfortunately the appeal remains niche and confined as designers make little effort to really reach out to a wider consumer base. In many ways, runway fashion is the circus of the rich but that’s true for perhaps the entire high-end leisure industry. The thing about the clothes industry is that unlike caviar farming or customised jets, it does not necessarily have to be elitist. The young with dispensable incomes should be addressed by these designers.”

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Photos: A man in west bengal / a model in Paromita Banerjee collection at Fashion week.
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Trends in small towns
In small towns, it’s not very common to see an urban middle class person wearing the same piece of clothing as the working class. Usually clothing of working class people going about their daily life is practical and comfort based. From the old town of Jodhpur to the streets of Shillong — style exists everywhere. David Abraham of Abraham & Thakore agrees and says, “Often the most beautiful textiles and clothing are worn by the simplest and the poorest in our society and with great style.”

In Salem I photographed many men in madras checks lungis. I O U a clothing brand based in Spain makes all its clothes out of these madras checks fabrics.

Photos: Man in Ellampillai, Salem / Paloma Monnappa in Bombay.
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In Asansol, the daily wage workers wear Lungis with gamcchas out of practicality & necessity. In Jodhpur, men wear colorful turbans with buttoned-up shirts, tailored jackets with dhotis, and jewellery. Women in Jodhpur wear bright coloured saris and lot of jewelry. Shillong is full of fashion conscious young people different than other cities in mainland India. Their influences vary from Korean pop stars, Japanese films, to American sitcoms and music videos. They thrift most of their clothing.

Photos: Man/Woman in Jodhpur; Old city near the Mehrengarh Fort.
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Connecting street style and fashion trends. I am not looking out to do that on purpose but sometimes it’s just out there.

Photos: a fashion writer for NYT at fashion week and a man on street in Aurangabad.

Photos: Man on street in Aurangabad and Katarina Levshova, a fashion model, in Bombay.

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Photos: Ekta Rajani, senior fashion editor Grazia at fashion week and a drifter in Shillong.
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Photos: Sacha, fashion stylist, at fashion week and a man on street in Salem.
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Experiences
Taking photos on the streets is interesting. I was once detained by police in Salem, mobbed by a small crowd in Bareilly, followed by some drunks, etc. It’s easier to photograph people in tourist towns and urban areas.  While in small towns it’s slightly more difficult without drawing some attention to yourself.

Photos: girls collecting plastic waste & Paloma Monnappa
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Indian streets are stimulating, colourful, unpredictable, and make for great photos.

Documenting people on the streets requires patience. People talk, linger around you, stare, get curious. It’s all a part of it.

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Tags: fashion blog, fashion essay, India, photography, street fashion, street style, wearabout