Why and How Indian Women's Ethnic Wear has Undergone Change?

FASHION

Fashion is the one of the most dynamic aspect of lifestyle. It is always changing, always evolving. The saying holds true for all categories of fashion. The women ethnic wear segment, which has forever been influenced with traditional and cultural elements, has experienced changes too.

Irrespective of how much changes, transformation and new fashion trend emerges, Indian women and their choice to go for ethnic wear is never going to disappear. They prefer ethnic wear for both daily wear and occasional wear. The industry however keeps evolving on the basis of new consumer demands and modern trends.

History of ethnic wear

If we look back at our history, we will observe an intricate evolution of the Indian ethnic wear across the country in terms of their style, the fabrics used, ornamentation and comfort. It is interesting to be noted that even though the new era has imbibed a lot of fashion influences from all across the world, the Indian present day ethnic wear has still retained its Indian roots. Examples include the Anarkali Suits from the Mughal-e-Azam era, which has now evolved into Anarkali Gowns. They are worn without the use of dupatta and churidar by women.

This evolution happened by the impact of several factors. Here are some of the factors that impacted change in Indian women ethnic wear:

The emergence of Indo western or Fusion Looks-

The present day fashion is a big influence of fusion elements from all across the world. However, in the 70s & 80s, the Indian clothing was all about the traditional Indian clothing. The Indo-western term in simple language refers to a mix of Indian outfits with western elements. Dresses like the Salwar Kameez have evolved over the years into different forms like shirt style kurti, asymmetrical kurtis, etc. They are seen being paired up with denims or pants by women of the modern age. Another dress combination which is widely popular is crop tops, sarees with shirt etc.

Evolution of Sarees into Ready-to-wear Sarees-

Saree is the oldest Indian garment and still the most popular women's garment in the nation. However, since the modern women tend to give more preference to comfort, it has been noticed that women consumers are crossing over to wear normal ready-to-wear sarees. Along with it, while trying to keep up with the rapidly shifting consumer mindset, we can see a lot of Indian brands in the market who present innovative styles in the ready-to-wear saree segments. The old cotton sarees are now available in options of saree gowns and from the Kanjeevaram sarees to pre-draped sarees, Indian sarees have undergone a huge transition.

The Western influence

Taking in consideration the comfort and designs that western clothing has offered, we can deduce that it has greatly influenced the Indian women. It is the influence of westernization because of which we see women in the present day wearing traditional Indian silhouettes in western ways in order to be in line with the current trends and cater to the fashion. We can notice that sarees have evolved into various forms like the pant sareee which working women wear to reflect their corporate image. On the other hand, dhoti salwars have transformed into dhoti style jumpsuits. Furthermore, the traditional polki incorporated lehengas have evolved into modern prints skirts/lehengas and so on.

The Advent of influencers-

Fashion has always been greatly influenced by cinema or Bollywood. Cinema has always been a major factor in influencing fashion trends in India. The influencers who are quite popular in social media in the present day have an immediate impact on the fashion trends. They can be the catalyst in giving birth to new trends and ideas. Some top influencers are seen stepping up the Indian wear with their new styles of drapping. Women now drape the dupatta in a modern way and they pair up a lehenga with a shirt. They even add a blazer with a saree and such styles have gained very wide popularity over the years.

A detailed analysis into each of the particularity in which Indian fashion segment has changed will involve months and years of study. Despite women ethnic wear experiencing vast evolution, we can still notice that consumer demand in women's ethnic wear is still very high. The preference of how to go about with their ethnic wear differs from woman to woman. While some prefers to keep it traditional and aligning with the cultural identities, many others prefer attaching a blend of modern style. Different analysis will lead to different ideas and expectations, however, the ethnic wear category of Indian fashion is never going to disappear and the wardrobe of Indian women will always be filled with ethnic wear.

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