Fashion has undergone tectonic changes thanks to satellite television, MTV and the Internet
Fashion has undergone tectonic changes thanks to satellite television, MTV and the Internet
TeaThe next day I went to a college to complete my daughter’s admission formalities. The half-hour session went on to brief the children and parents about the rules and regulations.
Girls were instructed to avoid tight-fitting and short-sleeved clothing, jeans and colored hair. However, I was surprised and surprised in the next slide regarding the dress code for boys. The forbidden list was much longer than that of girls, reflecting the long strides made by the male grooming industry since my college days in the 1980s.
Boys were also forbidden to wear jeans and cargo. The prohibited list included tattoos, body piercings, hair gel and goatees.
Perhaps if a list like this hadn’t been made in my college days, it could have just consisted of jeans and long hair. Those were the early days of TV, and Bollywood was the ultimate style guru. And there was a trend to have long hair to cover the ears, thanks to Amitabh Bachchan.
Shampoo and blow-dried hair were the norm. Therefore even traces of coconut or any other oil were considered a major fashion barrier. Prison was unheard of. He had curly hair.
Apart from full beard, French beard was the only option in those days, which was popularized by some old cricketers.
Tattoos were again considered downmarket and confined to religious symbols, and tattoo artists were placed in small stalls with instruments of suspected sterility in busy markets. It was used as a prop in movies, but never as a fashion statement.
In Deewar, we got Amitabh Bachchan branded with the infamous childhood tattoo Mera Baap Chor Hai. Tattoos and birthmarks played an important role in reuniting the disparate brothers, like in Manmohan Desai’s lost pottery. Villains like Amrish Puri and Bob Christo had tattoos of snakes, mainly cobras, on their sly arms to make them look more dangerous.
The piercing was unheard of. In the 1990s, it took hold, but even those who were fearless enough to get into the ear piercing gun risked being branded as gay.
The interim decades saw a tectonic change in fashion, thanks to satellite television, MTV, and the Internet, giving rise to concepts such as metrosexual men. Even Bollywood was forced to part ways between Aamir Khan in Dil Chahta Hai and Salman Khan in Tere Naam.
One of the early casualties of this trend was the friendly neighborhood tailors, as customer preference shifted towards readymade and branded clothing. They either had to shut shop or join as a supplier of apparel units.
The second casualty was the barber as he had to either go to the new-age saloon or close up.
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