Sitting in a cab, on my way to work, I pass by excited faces – everyone looks happy! With some of the year’s awaited festivals round the corner, it surely adds that extra-amaze factor to the upcoming weekend. Smiling to myself, passing through people of all kinds, dressed at their best to battle through their day fashionably, my thoughts wander to the most obvious reality of today’s times: Do we as a generation, as a society, judge a book by its cover? In other words, do we judge a person on the mere basis of their attire? Sadly, YES – we do!

Fashion has played an important role in history ever since its evolution in the early 1900s. Over the past decade, the western influence on Indian culture has given us some great fashion styles emerging across the country. The never-ending desire of the youth to look unalike has paved a new way for difference in trends.

India is the land of tehzeeb and rich heritage that hums tales of tasteful culmination of conservative yet sexy fashion. Nonetheless, we have come a long way from the ghunghat and the ghagras to the glares and the gaiters(i.e. a piece of fabric worn over the shoe, extending to the ankle or the knee)! The existing rise of economic growth in India has had a major impact on the evolution in fashion. The awareness and purchasing power of the middle class has resulted in a sudden boom in the common man’s aspirational values that is a game changer in terms of the sartorial preferences in the country.

From fashion weeks to Indian designer labels to premium international clothing stores (like Zara) , the trickle-down theory of fashion has made each and every one (hold age no bar) fashion conscious!  In the forthcoming years, it is worth watching how the Indian fashion scenario will have an identity of its own principally because of globalisation – yet the core or the essence will remain loyal to the term “Indian” with the likely use of materials and fabrics that still mirror our roots in some way or the other.

Taking this thought forward, I have put together some of my favourite, simple yet lovable street-style fashion statements from 2017 that made our heads turn. Kangana Ranaut paints a pretty picture in knee high boots, paired with grey trouser, ruffled sleeve white shirt. Does she ever go wrong?

Masaba Gupta ( R ) pulls off a crop top paired with a pair of formal high waist trousers with such great ease.
The all black attire looks refreshing thanks to the retro slit-style trousers!
Racey prints and catchy words on the good old denim jacket – who wouldn’t wanna wear that!?

Priyanka Khanna looking stunning in a simple top with embroidered bell sleeves.
Jacqueline Fernandes in Bershka, dresses chic . mixing floral prints with geometrics. The assymetrical hemline gives it an edgy spin.

Bold colour blocking piping, sleeve transformations and a pleated printed skirt completes the Boho-Chic look.
This Gucci bag mixes floral Indian motifs with chains and buckles!
Meghna Bhalla sure knows how to beat the monday blues with a yellow sun dress, the anarkali style paired with fur-sandals.Neha Dhupia looks crisp in a monochromatic schemed attire – asymmetric hemmed skirt paired with lace-up boots.

The famous metallic bomber jacket paired with evergreen blue jeans and white top.

Fancy culottes open from the ankle to the knee with buttons.
Fancy wide legged denims with criss-cross laces to add extra hold and style to a simple garment!

In a society that is defined by sharp contrasts between olden tradition and classic modernity, Indian fashion represents a concoction of ethnic and western elements of design infused seamlessly together. Kurtas are worn with jeans or redefined as linear, minimal dresses, lehengas are given peplums and kick flares, and saris are reinvented as ‘sari-gowns’ or styled with sharp blazers and classic white shirts. Endless permutations and combinations of garments, colors and excess or absence of decoration gives an individual the freedom to explore their peculiar Indian identity. In this way an Indian ensemble produces tradition as much as modernity, one of the unique characteristics of the national style.
Ending this article here, I hope that this post has clarified that fashion too has roots which explains why we see tradition holding its ground in the form of embroidery, fabrics or silhouettes – be it on the roads , the red carpet and the runway!
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