Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!

This post is dedicated to (as promised) and inspired by Bhaswati- friend (the kinds you make 3:00 am confessions you can’t make to any one else), ex roomie (the kinds you wake up at 3:00 am to make the kind of confessions you can’t to anybody else), photographer and shoe fiend. While she is the go- to woman for all things fashionable in general, shoes are her special forte. When she is not buying them, gazing lovingly at them or generally daydreaming about them, she photographs them. (And boy is she good).
The better pictures in this post are from her personal album (and shoe closet. The two in her case are not always mutually exclusive).
Our fascination with shoes in general and heels in particular can be traced back to the earliest civilisations. And while it may seem counterintuitive, being utilitarian was not always as high in priority as aesthetic value. So we have murals with ancient Egyptians strutting around in heels. In the 15th century women of the nobility tottered around in chopines (wooden platform shoes) that could be as high as 50 cm.!

But for everyone who’s tried to go shoe shopping, buying the perfect pair of heels is never easy. Specially if you live in Pune. So imagine my surprise when I discovered these affordable pairs in a shoe store in Ambala Cantt. (Which even Bhashu agreed could almost rival Zara shoe). They even let me take pictures!

(Shoe Mantra store Ambala Cantt.)

(A bright pink pair of heels at the store. Photo edited by Bhash. )

(I bought this beautiful tan pair with pretty detailing)

(More shoes)

(Polka dot wedges)

(An original Bhaswati photograph!)

Footwear for the Monsoon

The monsoon seems to be here to stay. I left from Mumbai for my parents’ place in Ambala last Saturday, amidst cloudy skies and was greeted with a thunderstorm here yesterday. A much needed respite from a summer that seemed specially brutal this year (short lived though. We’re back to sunny skies and the highest humidity levels in 5 years).

Summer rains in Ambala. Notice the cloudy, grey skies at 12:00pm in the afternoon. A rare treat on a summer afternoon.
Footwear for the monsoons can be tricky. Your regular pumps, sandals and sports shoes just won’t do. For one you would ruin expensive footwear. Or worse run the risk of infections due to wet feet. Luckily there are inexpensive and very chic alternatives readily available. I picked up this pair of bright purple, plastic ballerinas from a Madame store in Ambala. They also had an interesting bubblegum pink pair, sure to add color to a gloomy, monsoon day. Also if you’re walking around on the streets in a downpour with seriously reduced visibility, the bright neon just might save your life as you cross treacherous roads. 😉

Sunglasses

What we now know as sunglasses (or shades or glares or other cool, expensive sounding names- but more on that later) had rather non glamorous origins. They first made their appearance in 17th century Europe as tinted spectacles considered beneficial to the eye or to conceal the eyes of the blind. In the 19th century early polar explorers and high altitude mountaineers felt the need to protect their eyes from the sun and snow glare giving rise to the first sunglasses. Tinted spectacles soon caught on with European and American explorers to the tropics.
But it was only in the 1880s that ‘sun glasses’ became popular among the general public when Europeans took to seaside holidays and bathing. Sea side vendors began selling cheap, tinted dark glasses and called them ‘sun glasses’. In the 1910s, with the invention of automobiles, motoring became a fashionable sport, and protective tinted goggles became popular among motoring enthusiasts.

(Leonardo Dicaprio as Jay Gatsby takes Toby Maguire’s character for a spin, sporting a cool pair of sunglasses. The Great Gatsby, the book and the 2013 movie, is a social commentary on the decadence of the 1920s post war American society.)
What really gave sunglasses their current, exalted status as the quintessential fashion accessory was Hollywood’s embrace in the early1930s. Sunglasses came to symbolize the glamour of Hollywood, with movie stars sporting them at public events (often in an attempt to remain incognito). Despite this, sunglasses of the period were fairly basic, with round, flat glass lenses with narrow, celluloid frames. Over the years sunglasses have continued to evolve both in design and utility.
Some of the popular styles include aviators, wayfarers, over size sunglasses and wrap arounds. I found this interesting website on trends in sunglasses for 2013.
http://fashionbombdaily.com/2013/04/02/spring-2013-shopping-10-must-have-high-fashion-sunglasses/

Oh and now for my favorite bit- popular names for sunglasses. Here are a few interesting ones.
-Shades: sunglasses are commonly called shades in North America
-Glares: commonly used in India specially if the glass is dark
-sun glass: a monocle version
And my absolute favorite. Got this out of Wikipedia, although I have never heard anyone use this.
-cooling glasses: a term used in South India, predominantly Kerela & also the Middle East.
(Source: Encyclopedia of Clothing & Fashion; Wikipedia)

Gladwell’s Ketchup Problem applied to Fashion

One of Malcolm Gladwell’s most interesting articles ever is on the ketchup conundrum. In case you haven’t heard about it do check out his 2004 TED Talk ‘Choice, Happiness and Spaghetti Sauce’. The basic idea behind the TED Talk is that there is no perfect, in this case, spaghetti sauce ( which is essentially tomato sauce with condiments) for the entire population. Which is not really unexpected as individual preferences are bound to creep in. It was found that the preferences could be clubbed in to clusters. While this is true for other stuff like coffee, the ketchup conundrum stems from the fact that there seems to be genuinely one perfect ketchup. The other thing about food according to Gladwell is that people don’t know what they like. They will never be able to vocalise their preferences accurately.
While market segmentation has existed for a long time now, fashion seems to not follow any of the established rules. Within cultural context fashion is the popular practice of clothing, footwear,accessories, makeup etc. From an individual perspective fashion may be the habitual style of dressing the person adopts in keeping with the larger social context. So essentially in a society fashion may be a form of self expression but one severely limited by the popular practice. So it is just not as simple as coffee preferences. You can’t just go by what you intrinsically prefer (often this may be latent. But once you’ve found that perfect coffee you won’t drink anything else). That is if you want to fit in. So were you able to identify clusters of preferences at one particular time, in one particular cultural aspect for instance in jeans- say skinny and non skinny, it’s not as simple a matter as what you prefer deep, down inside. Drinkers of Nescafe would not have strong opinions about Bru drinkers.(or at least I hope not) That’s not true for fashion. I recently, after a lot of aerobic activity in various trial rooms across the city bought a pair of Levi’s jeans (which may arguably be the most popular brand for jeans in India among women in the upper middle income group).
They fit well and were exceedingly comfortable with what I felt was just the right amount of roominess. Or so I thought.
My first indication that I was on my way to making a fashion gaffe should have been the salesman’s suggestion that I should try out the other Levi’s curve jeans which were more appropriate for my build. I assured him I knew what I was doing and bought the jeans.The first time I wore the pair one well meaning male friend informed me that he was sure that even the very conservative women in the North Indian small town he came from wore more fashionable jeans. But you obviously don’t take fashion advice from men so I brushed off his remarks. It was all downhill from there sadly. Another friend told me the pair didn’t qualify as skinny jeans at all. I offered to show her the label on the back of the jeans which said they were skinny, but she still refused to believe me. Any way the jeans have been hanging in my closet for about two months now. The following weekend I bought a pair of Benetton Jeans that fit me like second skin. I don’t take them off, I peel them off.
In India fashion is a relatively new concept as compared to the west. Until quite recently in the pre globalisation days fashion did not change quite so rapidly or so distinctly. A lot of what catches on in terms of fashion comes from Bollywood movies. An interesting concept is something called anti-fashion. Anti fashion changes little over time and may be distinctive of a region or culture. A bit like ketchup in Gladwell parlance. For a specific culture or region a particular kind of clothing does not change and would be considered perfect in that context.

This is a picture of me and my parents. I am wearing the Lehenga my mother wore on her own wedding 27 years ago.

Tank Tops

Tank tops are part of almost everyone’s fashion vocabulary. Fascinating name too. Though until about a day ago I realised that all that I presumed to know about tank tops was false!! I had thought of putting in a little post about the origins of the word only to realise that the kind of top I have insisted on calling a tank since school is actually a crop top.
A tank top is a sleeveless, collarless, broad necked top worn by men and women. It gets its name from the top half of the kind of swim suits people wore in the US in the 1920s. These outfits were called tank suits because you wore them and swam in a tank.

Leonardo Dicaprio in a tank suit in The Great Gatsby. The movie like the book is set in 1922 America.

The Great Beret

Beret pronounced berr-A, is French for those flat, round, unpretentious caps usually made of wool or cloth. I researched a bit on their history, and as far as headgear goes suffice it to say that berets have been runway material since at least the Bronze Age. Berets have enjoyed widespread popularity in Europe and among the militia of many countries- including India.

My earliest memory is of my Dad’s dark navy Indian Army Beret. In fact I was in awe of it and of just how grand Daddy looks in it. I was even allowed to try on the discarded ones (as long as I wasn’t seen outside the house in them.(That’s highly disrespectful to the uniform). In fact the concept of the beret to me has been so deeply associated with something powerful and well military that it took me a long time to appreciate that some form of it could be considered a fashion accessory. It still comes as a bit of a shock to me if for instance I see a bright pink, fluffy contraption perched
precariously on a pretty head, being called a beret.

On the very other end of the spectrum, in absolute contrast to the military image, see a civilian in a beret and you may just conclude that the wearer is a musician or a painter. Berets have long been associated with the stereotype of artistic, intellectual or otherwise bohemian people

Henry VIII in a beret (picture source: Wikipedia)

The iconic Che Guevara beret (picture source : Wikipedia)

That’s me in what may or may not qualify as a beret.

Ever wondered about those pointy toed men’s shoes? Since there is no escaping them (they come in all shapes, sizes and colors. My favourite ones are those which end with a pronounced flourish), might as well know what they’re called. Yes they have a name! Winklepickers!! You just got to love that name!! The shoe […]

Trivia: Halter Necks

For something which I personally find extremely attractive, halter necks have a definitely unsexy name.
The word itself is derived from Germanic words meaning ‘that by which something is held’ according to Wikipedia.
Halter may be used to refer to something you put on a domesticated animal to lead it by. Very medieval and uncomfortable looking contraption.

That’s what it look’s like. Picture courtesy Wikipedia.
Even more sinister the term may refer to a rope for execution by hanging or simply death by hanging.

So here’s a picture of a horse (source Wikipedia) flaunting a halter.

And that’s me in my favourite halter top.

Why the officious, academic Name

My relationship with anything to do with fashion has always been uncomfortable. it’s one of those things where you feel slightly out of your depth and definitely not qualified to make any kind of profound insights. A bit like trying to discuss the strategic implications of the company’s newest acquisition with your boss over those tedious coffee breaks. You wish you knew more, make a mental note to read up on it and well never read up on it.
Unfortunately it’s also one of those things that seem to come naturally to a lot of people and is an ubiquitous conversation filler, conversation starter or even something people form instant connections over. And this is not just true for women to women interactions though it may be less obvious in other social interactions. Having said that, the stakes are definitely higher for women. If you’re a girl you are expected to have this sixth sense about fashion. If you are intuitively impaired you do research. Hence the project. But this is one project I expect to have a lot of fun researching.
So I have some ideas for this blog. More to the benefit of this project, I have some wonderful modern day fashionistas as my closest friends. More on them later.
So here’s my primary hypothesis (oh yes we’re going to follow the rules and do it right).
1) Fashion is about self expression and is highly personal- but not really.
2) it’s all about social identity-again not really.

Disambiguation to follow soon.
Meanwhile here’s a picture of a cat who’s got it all figured out.