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Fashion Trends in Bollywood (1960 – 2010)
News Directed From:
http://www.bollywoodworld.com
News Date:
29 July 2010
Synopsis:
The history of the fashionable trends or rather the changing trends of fashion in the Bollywood Hindi cinema date back almost to the decades of the 60s till the current phase of the year 2010. And it was in the earlier time zone of time spanning the last four decades of the last millennium that popular star pairs like Dilip Kumar–Madhubala, Rajendra Kumar–Mala Sinha, Raaj Kumar–Meena Kumari, Biswajeet–Saira Banu, Sunil Dutt–Sadhana, Joy Mukherjee–Asha Parekh, and above all Raj Kapoor–Nargis had played a key role in evolving a fashion conscious trendy style of their own, which in the long-run had literally turned out to be a trendsetter of that particular era.
Yet the metamorphosis of these styles endorsed so painstakingly by them had somewhat failed to reach its dizzy heights, its pinnacle even then too as even their collective or individualistic contributions had paled in significance compared to the global standards and parameters of that particular phase. Nevertheless it was their fans who had become their torchbearers by draping themselves in whatever they had flaunted in their on-screen lives thereby gracefully and joyfully albeit blindfoldedly adopting all their styles. Yes, the poor guys used to hang themselves on to every shred of fabric which used to be a part and parcel of their attire just like they were accustomed to hang on to and mouth every bit of dialogues ever uttered by them.
To begin with the analysis of this trendy obsession we go back to the era of Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, who ironically were well-known more for their respective images of a tragedy king and Venus of beauty rather than their wardrobe or their hairstyles. In fact, it was Madhubala’s fetching, winsome, and infectious smile that had a trendsetting impact of its own. The eternal Devdas had lacked in this department too. Later on, it was Rajendra Kumar who had given a boost to executive looks and styles of dressing down while his co-star Mala Sinha had seemed more than happier by slipping in and out of her tight churidaars, kurtas and, of course, hallmarked by her then inventive ‘Chidiyon Ka Ghosla’ (Bird’s Nest) type of wriggly wigs.
And then believe it or faint, the combined haute couture stylish affairs of these two stars were blindly followed by the other stars of their ilk too more especially by Shashi Kapoor–Sharmila Tagore, the latter in her individualistic capacity had also popularized the conceptualized fashion of the tightly knotted at the back kind of cholis probably to kick off a bare backed trend of its own, Jeetendra (who was known more for his obsessive passion and penchant for everything white from headwear to footwear than for his acting skills then) – Mumtaz and last but not the least garam dharm Dharmendra and his better half dream girl (or should it be dream woman by now) Hema Malini. And then but then trust Raaj Kumar–Meena Kumari for being simplicity and serenity personified.
So the former, in tow with the evergreen Dev Sahab (Anand), was content with an ordinary muffler draped round his neck while the latter always relished her plain white and borderless cotton sarees to enhance her tragic image or rarely with heavily bedecked and bejeweled attire to spark off the rich looks of her characters. Then came stars like Biswajeet and Joy Mukherjee who were more fond of their well cut, well tailored (the darzis of that era thrived on them) and well designed trousers rounded off with readymade not made to order body hugging T Shirts. While their co-stars Saira Banu, Asha Parekh and later on even Raakhee, surprisingly aped their contemporaries like Mala Sinha, Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini, and Mumtaz.
Much earlier, it was Raj Kapoor and Nargis, Sunil Dutt and Sadhana who had indeed made a conscious effort to retain their originality by adopting their own style in whatever they had attired themselves with or more pointedly and precisely with the way they used to present themselves and carry it off with great élan and
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