Four Style Tips for Traditional Indian Clothing
Traditional Indian clothing is filled with various garments that are brimming with historical and cultural significance. From an aesthetic point of view, many of these garments are also objectively beautiful, boasting vibrant colours and intricate patterns.
With so much to work with, it can be difficult to make up your mind about what to wear. How do you make sure you’re respecting the tradition while also staying fashionable and stylish?
In this blog, we’re going to look at four style tips to help you look your best when in traditional Indian clothing.
- Blend tradition and trends
If you want to stand out, consider blending traditional clothes with more trendy garments. There are various ways to do this.The first is to wear modern items with traditional clothes. Men could wear a watch with a sherwani and women can experiment with various western accessories like certain jewellery and scarves.Alternatively, you can wear all traditional clothing but change the way in which you wear them. For example, the dupatta is a full traditional shawl that covers the shoulders and much of the torso. Nowadays, however, plenty of stylish wearers are beginning to wear the dupatta almost as a modern scarf or stole.
Another way to go about this is to purchase Indo-Western clothing. These types of clothing combine the structure and simplicity of western clothing with the intricacies and style of traditional Indian clothing. For example, Indo-Western sherwani for men is typically made with the silhouette of a regular western suit but has the patterns and colours of traditional sherwanis.
- Add in accessories
As alluded to in the previous point, wearing modern accessories can really take your traditional outfit to the next level. They give you an opportunity to stand out from the crowd and give you another way to express your personality.The accessories that you can experiment with include glasses, scarves, bags, clutches, headgear, earrings, bracelets and necklaces. If you have Indo-Western clothing, you can even use pocket squares to add some colour accents on your outfit.By adding accessories, not only will you look more stylish, you will also be making your outfit a little more practical.
- Wear the right shoes
Shoes are important in both the aesthetic and practical aspects of an outfit. Shoes can be used both as the central focus of an outfit (i.e., in sneaker culture) or they can be used as a colour accent. Depending on your intentions, you’re going to want to change up your footwear. If you don’t like the ornate look of jodhpuri juttis, feel free to switch it up to clean white sneakers. If you don’t want to stand out, you can also just go with black classic leather shoes.In addition, if you’ve been at an event that requires a lot of walking and standing, then you know how important it is to have comfortable shoes.So, if you know you’re going to an event where your feet are likely going to suffer, consider wearing more comfortable footwear.
- Explore different colours, textures and patterns
In traditional Indian clothing, colours play a big part of the aesthetic. However, if you want to stand out, you need to be able to deviate from the common colours and be a little bit bolder.For men, sherwanis and kurtas are usually in solid colour with slight variations in shade. If you want to deviate from this, you could try experimenting with sherwanis and kurtas that feature a pattern with two contrasting colours.For women, the dupatta is a versatile garment that comes in various colours, textures and patterns. This can be used to add some freshness and novelty to a predominantly traditional outfit.
There you have it, four style tips for traditional Indian clothing. We hope that this has inspired you to change things up a bit with your outfit. Clothes can influence how we feel about ourselves and can actually increase our confidence. So, make sure to take the time to carefully plan out what you’re wearing the next time you’re going to a traditional event.
