India is the world’s second-largest exporter of clothing and textiles. By 2021, the textile sector in our country is projected to be worth $141 billion. The quantity, variety, and calibre of women’s clothing offered in our markets make this obvious. Indian fashion and clothes have experienced many highs and lows, like other big industries, and the fashion we see today is very different from what we started with.
For many years, Indian fashion has been renowned for its ethnicity and beauty. India is a diverse country, as we all know. There are many residents here, each with their own customs and beliefs. However, while having various traditions, everyone in India has long been influenced by Indian fashion. Many people from other civilizations have adapted Indian fashion. Not just we Indians, but many cultures from other countries have adopted our sense of style. Since India gained its independence, the country’s fashion industry has undergone modern-day globalization, which has changed the way Indians dress.
Bollywood has had a significant influence on contemporary fashion. One-piece dresses, sportswear, halter tops, skirts, and flowery gowns started to become popular choices of apparel by the 1990s as a result of the globalisation of Indian fashion brought about by the Internet, TV, and other forms of media. By this time, Indian men were already accustomed to wearing shirts and trousers or a T-shirt and jeans. By the year 2000, when the modern period began, many archaic Indian customs had already been abandoned, and women had mostly established their status, grown more autonomous, and developed a freer way of thinking.
They started wearing bolder and more comfortable attire, including shorts, capris, jackets, shirts, and pants instead of traditional ethnic apparel as they adopted the most recent fashion trends. We also saw the emergence of an exclusively Indian look known as “Indo Western Fusion,” which merged the elegance and femininity of the salwar kameez with the convenience and usefulness of denim jeans. Since then, this combination has controlled nearly every Indian woman, whether she is a college student, a working professional, old, or young.
Indian fashion’s current trends are a mix of all previous styles from the country’s past. What we currently recognise as Indian clothing is a combination of British (western), ancient fashion, which in and of itself encompasses a vast range of regional variants, and contemporary trends heavily influenced by the west. And it is because of this that the industry is the most unique and in-demand, drawing interest from all over the world. Additionally, the west has affected not only Indian fashion but also Indian clothing over time, which is currently highly fashionable in the west.
India’s fashion business is highly lucrative in terms of scope and variety, especially for women. The corporate appearance has been increasingly popular in today’s society due to the rapid development of information technology, but the rebirth of the ethnocultural look has become fairly dominant, popularising the older styles of art and craft. The enormous potential of this industry, which offers tonnes of options to in-house fashion designers, has recently caught the attention of international fashion labels. The Indian fashion business has grown over time to the point where it is now on par with the global fashion industry and is one of India’s most well-known revenue-generating sectors.
People began to be significantly inspired by the fashion sense of Bollywood stars as colour cinema gained popularity in the 1950s. Its culture, as well as the British to some extent, served as inspiration for films.
For fashion inspiration, people looked up to stars like Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand as well as actresses like Madhubala and Nargis Datt. The Indian fashion industry suffered from a lack of organisation and limited apparel styles as a result of the scarcity of bazaars and affordable brands.
The Bollywood era of the 1980s and 1990s accomplished a remarkable job of increasing fashion’s appeal to the general public. Once again, people drew inspiration from celebrities like Amitabh Bacchan, Jackie Shroff, and Zeenat Aman, whose fashion spoke volumes about their personalities. With the debut of denim, bell bottoms, and even sportswear, many 1970s trends were also on par with European fashion.
In India’s fashion sector, indigenized brands entered the mainstream for the first time ever. The Indian public became familiar with brands like Park Avenue, Lakme, and Louis Philippe. Fashion design became a viable career option for Indians in the 1980s. The renowned names of Abu Jani, Sandeep Khosla, and Tarun Tahilani were among the pioneering fashion designers in India, and their creations continue to be adored by their clientele. Competition in the fashion sector increased as additional brands began to emerge. Boutiques were increasingly visible and more approachable to the younger demographic as soon as international brands began to come to India. NIFT was the first organisation to offer fashion education. More fashion progress has occurred in the last two decades than in any other time period, and films like Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya gained popularity for the actors’ styling and attire choices.
As more individuals began watching TV, fashion spread throughout all Indian households. The Indian fashion sector has greatly benefited from exposure to fashion magazines. Manish Malhotra and Rohit Bal were two of the era’s most well-known designers, and people still recognise and value their work today. As a result of Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai winning beauty pageants, this era was significantly affected by worldwide beauty standards. Traveling overseas also got more popular, which increased the influence of western fashion styles. Internet connections were simple, and women’s disposable income increased in the 2000s.
More and more people with cellphones were able to make purchases more easily and conveniently as a result of digital advances, improvements, and a developing economy. Online shopping is becoming more common than ever before as e-commerce gains popularity. In recent decades, India’s fashion sector has experienced a great deal of instability. All forms of fashion are now instantly accessible thanks to the digital age. Wearing fashion is now simple and inexpensive. However, brands must take into account the constantly shifting demands of their consumers, particularly given that Indians have recently been observed to place a premium on quality over all other factors in clothing.
Indian fashion is aesthetically pleasing due to its comfort as well as the varied fashion trends. Due to the fact that Indian fashion has evolved, many Indians now work in the fashion industry. This is because it not only improved Indians’ overall appearance but also gave them confidence and inspired their imagination.
Physics
Biology
Chemistry
Mathematics
Economics
Psychology
Environmental Science
Social Studies
Fashion Studies
English