New england has very conservative style of dressing so formal often means Black. What makes me write this blog today is viewing Ralph Lauren’s Fall 2012 line and is full of long black dresses with heavy gold ornamentation, feels like inspired from Egypt. American women with classic taste have always been pairing black with silver or white gold but it seems that a lot of yellow metal will be worn with black in 2012 as D&G, Bottega Veneta and many others have also shown the same combination in their clothing and accessories for Fall this year.
In Indian fashion scenario, color Black is viewed as modern, fashionable and glamorous choice. The tradition tells a different story though, about black clothes not to be worn during any joyous, auspicious occasions. Recently, I read guidelines for travel to India which said ‘Do not wear Black clothes while visiting a Jain temple’. Inspite of availability of finest Indian traditional clothes in black, it is hard to find a Hindu bride or groom’s mother wearing Black saree during wedding, or a part of trousseau collection. The Pooja (ceremony of worshipping Hindu God) host and their close family members also avoid wearing Black.
The popularity of Black as a formal choice comes from the fact that it helps wearer hide curves and look thinner, but that also depends on the silhouette. There has been centuries of religious and cultural symbolism in India favouring bright colors. We can blame it on heat also. Schoeller Textil’s coldblack technology has come up with a fabric finish if applied on the garment, the wearer feels temperature a few degrees lower, should make it easy to wear black during summer.
Black threads in India are often worn by men, women and kids as protection from evil. Black beads are also part of Indian traditional necklace ‘Mangalsutra’. A consultant from Gabriel Design was surprised to know that the Black spaniel and diamond necklace they were displaying actually resembles an auspicious piece of jewelry given to a wife from her husband after marriage.
Lakme India fashion week in March 2012 showed designers using Black and mixing it with whites, gold ornamentation and prints. I liked the way Anita Dongre, Arpam Vohra, Malini Agarwalla and famous designer Rohit Bal have used it keeping the conservative Indian styling in mind and playing with colors and surface ornamentation. Although a new england resident will still find these clothes too modern to be worn in an Indian social get together.
The Indian designer Manish Arora who is known worldwide for his surrealist runway collections, joined french designer Paco Rabanne in 2011 as an art director and worked on a project to create ready-to-wear line which can portray the right brand image as this french designer also is known for highly creative surreal creations. He has now resigned. I am sure Lady Gaga is not happy with this news as this design duo could create more things well suited for her.
Fashion thought of the Month: “Those who wear Black live a colorful life”.
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