Bollywood fashion industry out of style

[SRS]

Here is some advice for those who do fashion design in Bollywood:

1. Men do not wear pink

2. Men do not wear tight-fitting clothes

3. Do not have someone wear a dhoti if he is going to dance next to a guy in a leather jacket (perhaps thats advice the director should also take)

To be fair, I have to say that the fashion designers have done a good job with the actresses. Now they need to invest a little more time in the actors.

[Lambretta]

Here is some advice for those who do fashion design in Bollywood:

1. Men do not wear pink

2. Men do not wear tight-fitting clothes
They used to in the '70s! :wink: Maybe they r aiming at sum kind of retro-style nowadays.....not doing a very good job @ it tho......its nowhere close to the original '70s style.........


To be fair, I have to say that the fashion designers have done a good job with the actresses.
Actually it seems far from a fair (leave alone good) job to me afa the current actresses (Bollywood as well as regional) r concerned.......let's face it, most of the fashion designed for them seems to be more a means of exposing their skin/flesh wherever/however possible! These 'designers' hav successfully given even Sarees a vamp-ish look.......and yea, they seem to've asexually created a new cross-breed of Indians w/ brown (& in sum cases even blond!) hair, among actors as well as actresses! :lol:

[Anoushka]

To be fair, I have to say that the fashion designers have done a good job with the actresses. Now they need to invest a little more time in the actors.

You must be joking! Most of the time what the actresses wear cannot be worn by normal people on a day to day basis! They are as far from reality as can be... There is nothing wrong in that, but be creative and at the same time come up with something nice and pleasing to the eyes rather than be an eye sore! :)

[ssanjinika]

Here is some advice for those who do fashion design in Bollywood:
1. Men do not wear pink

********Digression***********
Just some information for you...
Last year the fashion gurus turned around and asked
Why cant men wear pink or lavender??
This year pink will be the vogue for men..so you had pink shirts and pink stripped shirts and lavender and pink shirts and lavender shirts(I dont recall seeing pink pants thankfully!!).Though my husband clearly refused to be dragged into buying a pink shirt I saw quite a few of my friends bravely venture into buying a pink or lavender shirt.It was pink everywhere in the US and I have it on good authority that it was the same in Europe.
Maybe the Indian fashion designers were influenced by their western counterparts :roll: .
********Digression End***********

[Lambretta]

Last year the fashion gurus turned around and asked Why cant men wear pink or lavender??
This year pink will be the vogue for men..so you had pink shirts and pink stripped shirts and lavender and pink shirts and lavender shirts
*Aww........pity! I saw this nice '70s style pink shirt (altho it was full-sleeved, I prefer 1/2 sleeves :D) at this shop in Singapore where I wud find mostly '70s style clothes! But I din't take it then thinkin tat it'd look girlish to others (wasn't sure how many ppl. wud understand my rep. of the '70s!).......I did take a nice red shirt (another "girlish" colour tats become popular on men) tho.....only wear it on occasions as its dry-clean only! :)


Maybe the Indian fashion designers were influenced by their western counterparts :roll:
Yea, counterparts of the '70s I bet! Altho, as I said, they don't seem to match the authenticity of tat time (yet?).....!

********Digression End***********

[SRS]

Actually it seems far from a fair (leave alone good) job to me afa the current actresses (Bollywood as well as regional) r concerned.......let's face it, most of the fashion designed for them seems to be more a means of exposing their skin/flesh wherever/however possible! These 'designers' hav successfully given even Sarees a vamp-ish look.......and yea, they seem to've asexually created a new cross-breed of Indians w/ brown (& in sum cases even blond!) hair, among actors as well as actresses! :lol:

Yes... in many of the dances, there is a lot of naval exposure. This is because many of the dance moves are not authentic Indian, but based on the US "hip-hop." The only difference between the two, really, besides language of course, is that in "hip-hop" there is bottom (the female dancers are always wearing shorts) and top exposure, whereas in Indian dances, the exposure tends to be limited to the naval. That makes sense if you consider that sari blouses (what the Indian actresses are always wearing) would look very funny with what we in the US call short shorts. I can understand what you mean when you say the amount of skin/flesh exposure may be too much. On the other hand, I am not sure I could sit through a whole film in which the actresses dance in full sari. Hopefully we have gone beyond sari and swing set. Having them dress in American style clothes is not a good solution either, because then the dance would lose its Indian touch. So I think the present scenario is a fair compromise.

[SRS]

To be fair, I have to say that the fashion designers have done a good job with the actresses. Now they need to invest a little more time in the actors.

You must be joking! Most of the time what the actresses wear cannot be worn by normal people on a day to day basis! They are as far from reality as can be... There is nothing wrong in that, but be creative and at the same time come up with something nice and pleasing to the eyes rather than be an eye sore! :)

Well, if you have seen American dances, its much worse. Much more suggestive. I don't mind what the Indian actresses wear since I find only about two or three attractive anyway. :) For me the music comes first.

[SRS]

Here is some advice for those who do fashion design in Bollywood:
1. Men do not wear pink

********Digression***********
Just some information for you...
Last year the fashion gurus turned around and asked
Why cant men wear pink or lavender??
This year pink will be the vogue for men..so you had pink shirts and pink stripped shirts and lavender and pink shirts and lavender shirts(I dont recall seeing pink pants thankfully!!).Though my husband clearly refused to be dragged into buying a pink shirt I saw quite a few of my friends bravely venture into buying a pink or lavender shirt.It was pink everywhere in the US and I have it on good authority that it was the same in Europe.
Maybe the Indian fashion designers were influenced by their western counterparts :roll: .

********Digression End***********


Thats strange. I live in the US and hardly ever see a male wearing pink. There has been a trend for quite some time now to go "casual", but I never saw pink hit it big. Of course it was big in the late 60's & 70's. Thats large because before the 60's, there was a very conservative tendency which prevailed; men wore full black suits (with the coat) and black hats (you can see it in the old American films). There was very little variety in terms of color. The 60's/70's was a rebellion against all this.

[SRS]

--

[Lambretta]

Having them dress in American style clothes is not a good solution either, because then the dance would lose its Indian touch. So I think the present scenario is a fair compromise.
No offence....but actually I don't see y they hav to use the Sari as a "compromise" in the 1st place! As for the dance losing its "Indian touch" w/ western dresses, wudn't it lose tat neways, considering, as u stated, tat its not an authentic Indian style but a copy of the US "hip-hop" style??! :roll:
So I guess it makes no diff. if they make the actresses wear western/sum other outfit instead of Sarees........!
OTOH, I feel they r the main culprits for most of the general public to consider even Sarees as "sexy" outfits today! :hammer:

'wonder y the public doesn't feel like protesting abt this so far as they'd done in case of Kushboo's statement! :evil: :roll:

[SRS]

Having them dress in American style clothes is not a good solution either, because then the dance would lose its Indian touch. So I think the present scenario is a fair compromise.
No offence....but actually I don't see y they hav to use the Sari as a "compromise" in the 1st place! As for the dance losing its "Indian touch" w/ western dresses, wudn't it lose tat neways, considering, as u stated, tat its not an authentic Indian style but a copy of the US "hip-hop" style??! :roll:
So I guess it makes no diff. if they make the actresses wear western/sum other outfit instead of Sarees........!
OTOH, I feel they r the main culprits for most of the general public to consider even Sarees as "sexy" outfits today! :hammer:

Well what is more Indian than a saree/salwar, even if its not the "whole" saree/salwar we are talking about? Remember, films are not meant to imitate real life exactly. In fact, the film is supposed to provide an escape from the ordinary everyday life. Do you really want to see a film where everyone is average-looking, and dresses exactly like you do, and engages in exactly the same activities as you? Films are supposed to take your mind away from that... at least for a few hrs you are surrounded by stunning beauties who's only life activity is to sing and dance. :) Also keep in mind that the film must sell , and the primary target audience are Indians in India. It would be very difficult to market these films if the characters did not in some fashion imitate the customs of real Indians.

[Lambretta]

Well what is more Indian than a saree/salwar, even if its not the "whole" saree/salwar we are talking about?
Donno abt Salwar but wat they wear in most films nowadays r poor excuses for Sarees, not even Sarees, leave alone "whole" Sarees! :P


Do you really want to see a film where everyone is average-looking, and dresses exactly like you do, and engages in exactly the same activities as you?
As a matter of fact, tats exactly how films were in the beginning! :)
Their stories used to be based more on wat goes on in ppl.'s real lives....except maybe for the songs (even dances were less initially!).......but IMHO, if we want to see films w/ ppl. dressing/behaving in a manner different to wat we (Indians) r, as an escape from real life, y see such pseudo western-themed ones?? We might as well go for Western movies itself! :lol: Those'd be much different & prove to be a far bigger "escape" from the life we r used to!


Remember, films are not meant to imitate real life exactly. Also keep in mind that the film must sell , and the primary target audience are Indians in India. It would be very difficult to market these films if the characters did not in some fashion imitate the customs of real Indians.
Ur no doubt right tat films nowadays r meant only for commercial gain, hence these songs/dances r plain gimmicks to make them sell! And yet, the real-life ppl. in India get so influnced by these reel-life characters & take them as the ppl. to emulate!

[Sandeep]

Movies are the main mode of fashion advertising in India. Unlike western countries (or westernized eastern countries ;) ) in India fashion is not determined by fashion magazines or fashion shows or red carpet hits and misses. It is bollywood that manages it. Effect of Madhuri's choli in Hum Apke He Kon should remove any doubts.

Then about realism, if you have noticed, western fashions shows dont display cloths that they will actually wear on street. Then what do they give, they tell us was is the coming colour patterns/shades, materials, print paterns etc. So you may not wear madhuris bare back choli but sure the lilac colour, gold prints as well as elbow covering had made a comeback.

See our heros they all wear designer cloths which itself is non-realistic as designer cloths and men are on two poles poles in India. But there dress sense did effect the dressing pattern. Salman Khan started the craze of netted banyan. Most youngsters didn't go for a net but sure thinner banyans hit the market. SRK wore shirts with only one button and masses sure reduced on buttoning.

[Lambretta]

And u might be aware tat even back in 1975 in the movie "Deewar", Amitabh wore his blue dock coolie uniform shirt knotted at the bottom as it turned out to be too long (even for him!).......and tat's said to've became an instant real-life fashion statement then! :D
As for backless blouses, maybe not entirely a la Madhuri style (actually copied from the Lambadi tribe women of Rajasthan) but yes, at the most low-cut/nearly-backless ones hav become common.......!

[Anoushka]

Well, if you have seen American dances, its much worse. Much more suggestive. I don't mind what the Indian actresses wear since I find only about two or three attractive anyway. :) For me the music comes first.

SRS, I am not talking about the just the dance sequences here! I can't name any particular movie or actress at the moment because I haven'e seen anything worthwhile to remember, but the next time I see a movie I will surely post the comments here!!!!

I do know of girls who wore short skirts because they saw it in some movie.... and I don't have anything against it as long as they can carry themselves elegantly in whatever the wear. Most of the time that is not the case :(

And as far as I know, pink is not the fashion for men in UK or Ireland... Even for babies mothers would not buy pink for boys, forget grown up men wearing pink!!! Genearlly even when shopping for basics for unborn babies, would be mothers go for neutral colours if they don't know the sex of the baby-to-be born!

[ssanjinika]

Thats strange. I live in the US and hardly ever see a male wearing pink. There has been a trend for quite some time now to go "casual", but I never saw pink hit it big. Of course it was big in the late 60's & 70's. Thats large because before the 60's, there was a very conservative tendency which prevailed; men wore full black suits (with the coat) and black hats (you can see it in the old American films). There was very little variety in terms of color. The 60's/70's was a rebellion against all this.

Had I known this last year..I would have asked you to goto the nearest mall and check out the Express/Gap/BR showrooms..anyways I'll try to see if I can get a link to last years line from somewhere.

[ssanjinika]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/27/earlyshow/living/beauty/main691184.shtml

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/17/1097951556185.html?from=storyrhs

Found this articles to prove my point :P.

[stranger]

Some links are worth more than "punching on someone's nose"! :rotfl:

[Lambretta]

Some links are worth more than "punching on someone's nose"! :rotfl:
I thot u normally did hammering ( :hammer: ) rather than punching....... :lol:

[SRS]

Well, if you have seen American dances, its much worse. Much more suggestive. I don't mind what the Indian actresses wear since I find only about two or three attractive anyway. :) For me the music comes first.

SRS, I am not talking about the just the dance sequences here! I can't name any particular movie or actress at the moment because I haven'e seen anything worthwhile to remember, but the next time I see a movie I will surely post the comments here!!!!

I do know of girls who wore short skirts because they saw it in some movie.... and I don't have anything against it as long as they can carry themselves elegantly in whatever the wear. Most of the time that is not the case :(



Some ppl will get carried away by the smallest thing; does this mean we should ban the influence because this small group of people cannot control themselves? We would be like the Taliban then, covering women from head to toe, by God, even the face. That is not healthy! If you're worried India will go the way of the West, there is a censor board to prevent that. Yes, a film can corrupt, especially the young, but I am of the opinion that this stuff will go on behind the scenes regardless. I stayed in the hostel for some time while doing studies in the US; it wasn't films that influenced these young ppl; it was being away from the parents.

[SRS]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/27/earlyshow/living/beauty/main691184.shtml

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/17/1097951556185.html?from=storyrhs

Found this articles to prove my point :P.

Cannot stop laughing at that second link. :lol: :lol: Well, you know, the retail outlet can sell it, but that doesn't mean everyone will buy it. I don't disagree with you that some men do wear pink. I just don't agree that its the trend among men. Think about it though; pink doesn't go with the stereotypical guy image: tough, not too emotional, or else very violent. You didn't see "James Bond" in pink did you? Its much easier to dress a guy in a black leather jacket, put some sunglasses on him, and add a cigarette & handgun for the added touch. The male audience will be much more receptive.

[Lambretta]

Some ppl will get carried away by the smallest thing; does this mean we should ban the influence because this small group of people cannot control themselves? We would be like the Taliban then, covering women from head to toe, by God, even the face. That is not healthy!
I don't get y sumone shud be compared w/ the Taliban jus bcos they comment on indecent dressing of women......esp. in our own double-standard society where we've always gone picky abt the way Western actresses (& even women in general) dress "indecently" whereas today in our own films its perfectly acceptable to wear a Saree (which is considered as a symbol of our so-called culture/tradition) even worse than a vamp & gyrate ur 'exposed' parts & still manage to pass off as "mere entertainment"!


If you're worried India will go the way of the West, there is a censor board to prevent that.
Will go?? Isn't it going already (& at top speed by the looks of it)...... :o ?!!


Yes, a film can corrupt, especially the young, but I am of the opinion that this stuff will go on behind the scenes regardless. I stayed in the hostel for some time while doing studies in the US; it wasn't films that influenced these young ppl; it was being away from the parents.
U may be right abt tat but it wudn't be related to this topic/thread, which is basically to discuss abt films.......! :)

[SRS]

I don't get y sumone shud be compared w/ the Taliban jus bcos they comment on indecent dressing of women......esp. in our own double-standard society where we've always gone picky abt the way Western actresses (& even women in general) dress "indecently" whereas today in our own films its perfectly acceptable to wear a Saree (which is considered as a symbol of our so-called culture/tradition) even worse than a vamp & gyrate ur 'exposed' parts & still manage to pass off as "mere entertainment"!

Thats y its called "entertainment." :D No one is saying to the real-life folks, "okay, watch these stars gyrate, & when u go home, practice it." I am not sure how Indian society came to be so conservative... I think its the fact that Indian society was extremely liberal once upon a time, that we haven't gone the way of the West, which was closed up for so long, and then one day exploded into the immoral one you see now. Our arts, literature, religious teachings etc. by discussing these issues in the proper context have actually done a great service to the society.



Will go?? Isn't it going already (& at top speed by the looks of it)...... :o ?!!

No, India won't go the way of the West. The West is something else. You can rest assured of that.

[Bebeto]

We would be like the Taliban then, covering women from head to toe, by God, even the face. That is not healthy!

We should cover all of us with saffran robe. That is much healthier and then we easily obey RSS!

[ssanjinika]

Hey!!!I never said that the trend was to wear pink! I only said that the fashion gurus turned to pink and a few of my friends bravely ventured to buying pink and lavender shirts. They didnt wear them (atleast not when I met them :lol:). But hey since so many outlets made pink shirts,theres gotto be a reason why they made them rite.. If people didnt buy them why would they make them?So maybbe there were people who bought pink shirts.

[Lambretta]

Thats y its called "entertainment." :D No one is saying to the real-life folks, "okay, watch these stars gyrate, & when u go home, practice it." I am not sure how Indian society came to be so conservative... I think its the fact that Indian society was extremely liberal once upon a time, that we haven't gone the way of the West, which was closed up for so long, and then one day exploded into the immoral one you see now. Our arts, literature, religious teachings etc. by discussing these issues in the proper context have actually done a great service to the society.
*sigh*..........oh well........to each their own! :roll: