Here's an interesting article by my friend Arpita Atyunita (MICA) on the changing clothing patterns in India. Here it goes...enjoy..
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Clothes and costumes form an important part of a region’s cultural heritage - very usual and normal for those native to that place, but unique and interesting for an outside observer.
Hailing from Eastern India, we felt that we should do some research on the traditional clothing patterns of Palampur city, believing these to be culturally different from ours. We, however, realised that in the globalising world, no tradition would be intact in its ‘pure’ form. Our focus thus shifted to studying changes in clothing patterns and tracing the various factors that may have resulted in these changes.
While going through literature on ‘traditional clothing’, we found some elaborate descriptions about the Himachali people. Clothing, it seemed, varied according to people’s religion, class and sect. Women’s clothing was distinct in the context of an emphasis on glitter and volume. ‘Ghagra-choli’ and salwar kameez seemed ideal for women, while men wore choli with ghagra till the knees with churidar (pajamas) below.
This was the image we bore in our minds when we reached Palampur on September 16, 2010. We found, although Palampur was not a posh city full of high rise buildings, it was not a village either. It was, in fact, a market hub of the Kangra district. A CITY IN TRANSITION. This left us confused as to whether we should conduct our research in the market place or through door-to-door interviews. A study of the market place (mainly the cloth houses) would show the ‘seller’s perspective’ while a study of those in their houses would throw a better light on the consumption patterns. We decided to study both, because focusing on one aspect and ignoring the other would give only a partial view.
Since interviewing everyone in Palampur would have been impractical and impossible in a matter of two weeks, we decided to take samples from the population and framed five sets of questions for five distinct groups, namely - School students, College students, Adults, Elderly citizens and the Market place (tailors, boutiques, cloth-houses). Equipped with our interview schedule we moved into the field and asked questions pertaining to the clothes worn, preferences and their acceptability in society.
An interpretation and analysis of the data not only helped in understanding the changes in clothing patterns and the reasons behind these, but also spoke volumes about the intersection of tradition and modernity through the categories of gender, class and caste.
We found that clothing patterns had indeed undergone a change over the years, but also found that these changes were not uniform across different sexes and age groups. As for present clothing patterns are, the wearing of traditional attire, for men, is restricted to occasions such as festivals and funerals. Ready made garments have replaced tailor-made clothes especially in the case of college students and young. As far as girls, and women are concerned, it is traditional clothing that has been retained, in the form of salwar-kameez. Ghagra-cholis are worn usually only during festivals, weddings, funerals by Gaddi women in the villages. Some of the younger college-going girls prefer to wear jeans, t-shirts, churidars-kameez, slacks-kurta, etc. With Palampur’s climate becoming warmer over the years, cotton has also gained more popularity.
The change in clothing patterns in Palampur could be attributed to a number of reasons. Apart from the ‘functionality of modern clothes’, locals also cite multiculturalism as an influencing factor in the choice of clothes. Migrants from different parts of the country have brought in their own cultures. The presence of the army cantonment has continued to bring in people from various regions and backgrounds – who often act as trendsetters. Moreover, the youth of Palampur have had more interaction with the metropolis; a number of them having studied there and having come back ‘modernised’. These youth also believe that T.V. serials and films have made people more fashion-conscious, urging them to look ‘smart’, ‘decent’ and ‘fitting’, for the larger society.
There is a general belief that education has broadened peoples’ minds, breaking the orthodoxies of the ‘traditional’. But then as sociologists, it was interesting to note that though there were many ‘equalisers’, changes in the clothing pattern are definitely tied to the person’s class, status, family background, and gender identity. While young men can and do wear a variety of ‘modern’ clothes, from t-shirts to cargo pants, young girls, especially young married ones are mostly restricted to Churidar-kameez, or jeans-kurtis, still bearing the symbol of ‘modern girls with traditional values’ and hence act as the preservers of cultural values in Palampur. Understanding whether or not they are comfortable with this identification would have taken us further, exploring far more complex questions. Owing to limited time and resources, however, these questions have been left for later.
All along it has been a wonderful experience, leaving us with fond memories of a beautiful place with extremely hospitable people and an enjoyable trip with friends.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clothes and costumes form an important part of a region’s cultural heritage - very usual and normal for those native to that place, but unique and interesting for an outside observer.
Hailing from Eastern India, we felt that we should do some research on the traditional clothing patterns of Palampur city, believing these to be culturally different from ours. We, however, realised that in the globalising world, no tradition would be intact in its ‘pure’ form. Our focus thus shifted to studying changes in clothing patterns and tracing the various factors that may have resulted in these changes.
While going through literature on ‘traditional clothing’, we found some elaborate descriptions about the Himachali people. Clothing, it seemed, varied according to people’s religion, class and sect. Women’s clothing was distinct in the context of an emphasis on glitter and volume. ‘Ghagra-choli’ and salwar kameez seemed ideal for women, while men wore choli with ghagra till the knees with churidar (pajamas) below.
This was the image we bore in our minds when we reached Palampur on September 16, 2010. We found, although Palampur was not a posh city full of high rise buildings, it was not a village either. It was, in fact, a market hub of the Kangra district. A CITY IN TRANSITION. This left us confused as to whether we should conduct our research in the market place or through door-to-door interviews. A study of the market place (mainly the cloth houses) would show the ‘seller’s perspective’ while a study of those in their houses would throw a better light on the consumption patterns. We decided to study both, because focusing on one aspect and ignoring the other would give only a partial view.
Since interviewing everyone in Palampur would have been impractical and impossible in a matter of two weeks, we decided to take samples from the population and framed five sets of questions for five distinct groups, namely - School students, College students, Adults, Elderly citizens and the Market place (tailors, boutiques, cloth-houses). Equipped with our interview schedule we moved into the field and asked questions pertaining to the clothes worn, preferences and their acceptability in society.
An interpretation and analysis of the data not only helped in understanding the changes in clothing patterns and the reasons behind these, but also spoke volumes about the intersection of tradition and modernity through the categories of gender, class and caste.
We found that clothing patterns had indeed undergone a change over the years, but also found that these changes were not uniform across different sexes and age groups. As for present clothing patterns are, the wearing of traditional attire, for men, is restricted to occasions such as festivals and funerals. Ready made garments have replaced tailor-made clothes especially in the case of college students and young. As far as girls, and women are concerned, it is traditional clothing that has been retained, in the form of salwar-kameez. Ghagra-cholis are worn usually only during festivals, weddings, funerals by Gaddi women in the villages. Some of the younger college-going girls prefer to wear jeans, t-shirts, churidars-kameez, slacks-kurta, etc. With Palampur’s climate becoming warmer over the years, cotton has also gained more popularity.
The change in clothing patterns in Palampur could be attributed to a number of reasons. Apart from the ‘functionality of modern clothes’, locals also cite multiculturalism as an influencing factor in the choice of clothes. Migrants from different parts of the country have brought in their own cultures. The presence of the army cantonment has continued to bring in people from various regions and backgrounds – who often act as trendsetters. Moreover, the youth of Palampur have had more interaction with the metropolis; a number of them having studied there and having come back ‘modernised’. These youth also believe that T.V. serials and films have made people more fashion-conscious, urging them to look ‘smart’, ‘decent’ and ‘fitting’, for the larger society.
There is a general belief that education has broadened peoples’ minds, breaking the orthodoxies of the ‘traditional’. But then as sociologists, it was interesting to note that though there were many ‘equalisers’, changes in the clothing pattern are definitely tied to the person’s class, status, family background, and gender identity. While young men can and do wear a variety of ‘modern’ clothes, from t-shirts to cargo pants, young girls, especially young married ones are mostly restricted to Churidar-kameez, or jeans-kurtis, still bearing the symbol of ‘modern girls with traditional values’ and hence act as the preservers of cultural values in Palampur. Understanding whether or not they are comfortable with this identification would have taken us further, exploring far more complex questions. Owing to limited time and resources, however, these questions have been left for later.
All along it has been a wonderful experience, leaving us with fond memories of a beautiful place with extremely hospitable people and an enjoyable trip with friends.