Paris to India via Fashion

A few months back, I dragged my French friend for a Hindi movie. His girlfriend was away on a vacation and he had no plans for the evening. As we both love movies, I thought this would provide him an opportunity for introducing himself into our mainstream commercial movies. The movie was Ek Tha Tiger. A few minutes into the movie, he started laughing. "I know why your movies are long!", he said. After a brief pause, he added, "There is too much slow motion happening on the screen". This is not surprising as we all know this fact. What was surprising was the statement about fashion.

As for me, Salman Khan was looking good in the movie. The clothes were well cut to accentuate his well-tended bulging assets. To be more precise, his biceps. But then who am I? Untrained and a commoner as far as fashion goes. "Why is he dressed like in the sixties?". That sums up the bewilderment of my French friend. Paris is one of the fashion capitals of the world. I have been instructed not to wear sneakers and display myself as a tourist in this city. On a visit to Paris, my colleague from Rennes openly wondered, "Everyone in this office spends so much on clothes!". My colleague is French. It is the French talking about Parisians.

Let Paris be Paris. Yesterday, another French friend was looking at the group photo taken at a offsite team building exercise conducted in India. Have you guessed his question yet? If not, here is it. "Why are these people dressed like it is 10 years ago?". Yes, definitely better than the sixties remark!

Is India so lagging in fashion? This is not my area of expertise. So, you tell me...

Tags: Musings,Paris,Fashion,France



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Comments

  1. I am still enjoying you "Let Paris be Paris" comment. So let India be India. The world is a more interesting place for our differences.

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    1. :) I agree with you. We should let Paris and India show it individuality.

      At the same time, it is interesting when friends poke fun. On the positive side, they wouldn't say this if they were not comfortable with me. If they were not comfortable, then they will always try to remain "politically correct". :)

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  2. India doesn't lag. it is the masses who have no money. But check out the fashion scene in Delh, Mumbai.. The world loves it!

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    1. Interesting viewpoint. But then, Salman does not belong to the mass who have no money. Then why did my friend make the comment about the sixties fashion? This is in fact which intrigued me. :)

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  3. I wonder what is the influence of "global clothes sellers" (Zara, H&M, ...) on the fashion & style of a whole nation.

    These companies are always copying on each others, standardizing what is sold in the whole country... and even continent in case of western Europe.
    Plus they NEED to renew the cuts, colors, models twice a year in order to keep selling.

    Is it a cliché to say that India's market is more... crafty ? It could explain the slower evolution of trends.

    Television is another powerful vector of trends, but here again, in France, all the presenters are dressed for free by big brands.

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    1. I didn't understand the term "crafty".

      I can find the same styles being displayed on Indian shops too. For instance, a friend visiting France was wearing a Zara T-shirt. I am not a big fashion aficionado. So I might be able to tell much on the difference in style. :)

      As for the television, it is the same everywhere. Moreover, we have all the imports from the western world. I don't know why the fashion is not catching on. :)

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    2. Arf, I made up a word :)
      Started from "craft", artisan, craftsman

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    3. I just didn't understand the meaning. That is all. :) The word is right.

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