It’s when I went to buy some dress for the month-long holiday I’m planning that
I realised the stupidity of what’s called fashion. I couldn’t get a single readymade pair of
trousers which made me feel comfortable.
Fashion has got rid of pleats from trousers altogether. Get into the showrooms of Pantaloons or
Raymond or even my usual, humble Big Bazaar and you will realise how
uncomfortable they want us to feel in the trousers they are offering.
I asked the Pantaloons boy
whether they had any pair of trousers with pleats. And which were fairly loose. He looked at me as if I was some creature
descended from another planet. I
explained to him that pleats were invented in order to make the wearer feel
comfortable around the loins with a lot of air circulation. Thank my stars, he didn’t ask me what my
profession was. Instead he asked me
whether I had heard of anything called Payback cards. He said he could offer me one which would
entitle me to some reward points for shopping with them. When I
tried to fish out my Payback card from among my other similar cards including
the driving license, he understood that I was a damn fool who didn’t deserve more
attention from a dealer in wares.
I ventured to tell him, however, what a psychiatrist told us, teachers of a public school, in a workshop. “I asked my teenage daughter who was wearing
a tight T-shirt and even tighter Jeans whether she was feeling comfortable in
that dress. She said, ‘What’s comfort
got to do with it? It’s the dress code
for today, decided by friends.’” I told the Pantaloons boy
that I had passed the age for dress codes and peer pressure and wanted to feel comfortable
wearing whatever dress I wore. And I
love loose clothes for summer. Any
season, for that matter.
“What’s comfort beyond the
fashion of the time?” he asked me. Not
in the same words, of course.
I couldn’t get a single
pair of trousers of my choice from any of the stylish, fashionable, branded
outlets. So I got them stitched.
There are a few old-fashioned
businessmen still selling readymade shirts which are comfortable to wear. Most sell shirts which look like
straitjackets. And most youngsters wear
them. Any wonder why we find around us so
many people who are uncomfortable with themselves?
Good that you are still finding tailors that stitch trousers. Their tribe too is going to vanish soon I say.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Indrani. It isn't easy to find good tailors. Last winter one tailor made a straitjacket of the coat I had ordered. Even tailors take it for granted that everybody is interested in the latest style.
DeleteI can absolutely understand this whole fiasco...I suffer from the same fate...Just because I am a female, I am always expected to wear form-fitting kurtis and tops. So I compromise. I wear clothes as huge as tents when I want to feel comfortable and wear that other horrible stuff when my family wants to display me during social occassion :(
ReplyDeleteYeah, it becomes worse in the case of women. I have seen my wife struggling to choose her dress and often settling to get them tailored.
Deletequite a lovely post (I would also add a bit funny). I can't say i m away from fashion I wish I could. I am decently concerned with fashion if I may permit myself to say so. But then what you have written is actually recently shown in Modern family (if you watch it) where Gloria's husband buys her large flat comfortable shoes and begins to see how nice she suddenly becomes in behavior. And he comments that could it be possible that your high heeled shoes have made you a bad person? Of course it was all in humour but somewhere it struck me as wonderfully true. I guess just to add further to your point of having uncomfortable people around :)
ReplyDeleteRicha, since you mentioned shoes, I must say it's difficult to get a decent pair of them these days. You have all sorts of odd looking shapes, pointed and long and ...
Deleteits so true richa..i saw that episode too and unfortunately have to agree that fashion isnt always comfortable :(
Deletethis post is a bit funny and ofcourse lovable and so true.
To the present generation, X or Y, going with time is more important than being comfortable with their outfits.
ReplyDeleteI can understand peer pressure and also fashion consciousness. What I fail to understand is why anyone should choose to wear uncomfortable clothes.
Deletesmiles smiles smiles .. whatelse can you expect from me when narrate reality so humorously.. :)
ReplyDeleteSo true this is .. I have noticed my father almost hating their trouser collections and unlike you he is the one who gives them suggestions and asks them for dates when pleats wala trousers a little baggy ... would be available !! :D
Poor pantaloon guys of 2013 who have compromised comfort long back for fashion .. they have them rarely in stock .. and if at all they have .. it has got a tight bottom ! :D
Tailor-Made is the only option for gentlemen looking for comfort in 2013 and beyond !! :D
They are neglecting the grown up generation altogether, you see :)
DeleteSo true!
ReplyDeleteIndeed...
Deleteha ha ha! At some point i do agree with you! Tod10ay all the brands have gone nuts over fashion and have forgotten that they are also people in this world who prefer comfort to fashion! :D
ReplyDeleteInvariably, Bushra, all of them are cranky - and they think people like me are cranky :)
DeleteSir, what should I say now.... I think fashion has taken over comfort... its a new tribe which likes to look stylish in the process they give up on comfort.. fashion house are very influence by the western culture sadly....
ReplyDeleteFunnily, I should say, friend. Have you noticed the new trousers which reveal half of the wearer's bums?
DeleteI can understand your predicament because of the varied thoughts that come to my mind when I go trouser or jeans hunting for my husband...and my husband is quite vocal about his thoughts and I end up having a cranky husband sans the trouser/jeans.
ReplyDeleteYes, stitching is the best option if you are able to find a tailor. I think people resort to buying and wearing whatever all these mega shops offer just to avoid the hazzle of finding a good tailor which gives you what you want. One salwar kurta can cause you to go five times to the tailor and eventually you decide to wear that ill fitting ready made kurta.
Even my tailor thinks I'm a cranky old man :)
DeleteVery recently my daddy was embroiled in a similar argument at an apparel store. You have very rightly pointed out that clothes few years back, were stitched keeping comfort as the first priority and longevity of the fabric as second. You may not find many choices then, but atleast there was no breaking head in the name of fashion. My dad now prefers to get his shirts and trousers stitched with tailors. Although the tailor keeps poking his nose, by saying wat my dad wants is no more in fashion, but dad pays him deaf ears. For him his comfort is his priority.
ReplyDeleteI love reading you blog. This one is great like always.
I pity all the people like your dad and me who have to go finding a good tailor. I'm lucky I found one.
DeleteThanks for the good word.
There was a time when I found almost all jeans in shops that were low waist. Thankfully that has passed. But I do agree with your sentiment! Give me comfortable clothes any day!
ReplyDeleteLow waist is still in fashion in my school, Mridula. I must tell my boys now that it's out of fashion. :)
Deletehey nice read
ReplyDeleteHa ha Tomichan .. but I have another issue .. whatever fits my budget, I don't like it and what I like is most of the time are way to expensive to buy .. eventually I end up not getting anything :(
ReplyDeleteMaybe I have expensive taste :D
Sangeeta, Even when I was ready to pay (in times of emergency) I didn't get what i wanted. Maybe I have peculiar tastes :)
DeleteWho are you to criticize about not getting proper size clothes?!!!! Remember, I was all of 5' 2" tall, 28" waist and in the US only horse jockeys are of that size, at whatever age! I could not afford custom-made clothes and ready-made apparel were not available for my size. So what did I do? Don't ask!
ReplyDeleteYou get no sympathy from me :)
RE
What about the discomfort provided by the fashion? That's my focus, Raghuram. Availability of my choice is a secondary thing.
Deleteeven i too fail to understand why they are ignoring the pleats in trousers- don't they wear the trousers they make themselves and realize how important the pleats are?!
ReplyDeletesuch a nice read. sometime back I went with my father for shopping and i was bringing him all these jeans to try and he was just looking at me hoping me to understand that he wont be comfortable wearing any of those. now i understand his situation better. he just wanted to be comfortable.
ReplyDelete