# Clothing in India

Clothing in India changes depending on the different ethnicity, geography, climate, and cultural traditions of the people of each region of India. Historically, male and female clothing has evolved from simple garments like kaupina, langota, dhoti, lungi, sari, gamcha, and loincloths to cover the body into elaborate costumes not only used in daily wear, but also on festive occasions, as well as rituals and dance performances. In urban areas, western clothing is common and uniformly worn by people of all social levels. India also has a great di in terms of weaves, fibers, colours, and material of clothing. Sometimes, color codes are followed in clothing based on the religion and ritual concerned. The clothing in India also encompasses the wide variety of Indian embroidery, prints, handwork, embellishment, styles of wearing cloths. A wide mix of Indian traditional clothing and western styles can be seen in India.

## Quotes

* The growing of cotton appears earlier in India than elsewhere; apparently it was used for cloth in Mohenjo-daro.15 In our oldest classical reference to cotton Herodotus says, with pleasing ignorance: “Certain wild trees there bear wool instead of fruit, which in beauty and quality excels that of sheep; and the Indians make their clothing from these trees.”16 It was their wars in the Near East that acquainted the Romans with this tree-grown “wool.”17 Arabian travelers in ninth-century India reported that “in this country they make garments of such extraordinary perfection that nowhere else is their like to be seen—sewed and woven to such a degree of fineness, they may be drawn through a ring of moderate size.”18 The medieval Arabs took over the art from India, and their word quttan gave us our word cotton.19 The name muslin was originally applied to fine cotton weaves made in Mosul from Indian models; calico was so called because it came (first in 1631) from Calicut, on the southwestern shores of India. “Embroidery,” says Marco Polo, speaking of Gujarat in 1293 A.D., “is here performed with more delicacy than in any other part of the world.”20 The shawls of Kashmir and the rugs of India bear witness even today to the excellence of Indian weaving in texture and design.IV But weaving was only one of the many handicrafts of India, and the weavers were only one of the many craft and merchant guilds that organized and regulated the industry of India.
** Will Durant Our Oriental Heritage.
* The women wore a flowing robe—colorful silk sari, or homespun khaddar—which passed over both shoulders, clasped the waist tightly, and then fell to the feet; often a few inches of bronze flesh were left bare below the breast. Hair was oiled to guard it against the desiccating sun; men divided theirs in the center and drew it together into a tuft behind the left ear; women coiled a part of theirs upon their heads, but let the rest hang free, often decorating it with flowers, or covering it with a scarf. The men were handsome, the young women were beautiful and all presented a magnificent carriage; an ordinary Hindu in a loin cloth often had more dignity than a European diplomat completely equipped. Pierre Loti thought it “incontestable that the beauty of the Aryan race reaches its highest development of perfection and refinement among the upper class” in India. Both sexes were adept in cosmetics, and the women felt naked without jewelry. A ring in the left nostril denoted marriage. On the forehead, in most cases, was a painted symbol of religious faith.
* Textiles were woven with an artistry never since excelled; from the days of Cæsar to our own the fabrics of India have been prized by all the world, Sometimes, by the subtlest and most painstaking of precalculated measurements, every thread of warp and woof was dyed before being placed upon the loom; the design appeared as the weaving progressed, and was identical on either side. From homespun khaddar to complex brocades flaming with gold, from picturesque pyjamas to the invisibly-seamed shawls of Kashmir, every garment woven in India has a beauty that comes only of a very ancient, and now almost instinctive, art.
** Will Durant Our Oriental Heritage.
* On that occasion I gave a mantra, ‘Before Independence, Khadi was for the nation; after Independence, let Khadi be used for fashion.’ But I don’t insist people to become khadidhari—that is, wear only Khadi and nothing else. My appeal is that if you have numerous varieties of fabrics in your home, why not make it a point to ensure that Khadi is one of them? Just make it a point to buy Khadi products whenever you can. This campaign is carried out all over the state. As a result, we have witnessed a 40 per cent increase in the sale of Khadi in that one week of Gandhi Jayanti. I also introduced this tradition of offering a Khadi handkerchief and a book instead of offering a bouquet of flowers to dignitaries. I tell people if you give somebody flowers, within a day or two they will land in a pile of garbage. But if you give a book, it can pass on from person to person. So in every aspect of my social reform efforts, you will see the imprint of Gandhi.
** Narendra Modi quoted in Madhu Purnima Kishwar: Modi, Muslims and Media. Voices from Narendra Modi’s Gujarat, Manushi Publications, Delhi 2014.
* Then, as always, when Indian and European women meet, the conversation turned to the sari, this beautiful piece of clothing ... next to which each model dress of Chanel or Dior looks ridiculous, clumsy and graceless.
** Oriana Fallaci. The Useless Sex: Voyage around the Woman, 1961.
* It's not that the woman adjusts to the sari; rather the sari adjusts to the woman. The sari is just a strip of fabric without form; it's the Sari's wearer to give it a shape.
** Amita Malik. Quoted in Oriana Fallaci. The Useless Sex: Voyage around the Woman, 1961.
* The turban is not a symbol of Islam. If you had done your homework you would have discovered that, far from defining it as an "Islamic garment", all dictionaries and encyclopaedias define it as "Oriental or women's head-dress". And the Orient, thank God, is not composed of Muslim countries only. It includes India, for instance, which despite Muslim invasions has always managed to remain Hindu. In India the turban was used a long time before Prophet Mohammed. Think of the black turban of the gurus, of the jewelled turban of the maharajas, of the red turban of the Sikhs who by the way are the most unbending enemies of Islam.
** Oriana Fallaci. The Force of Reason, 2006
* In November 2017, New York Times painted India’s decision to promote its indigenous textile industry as an obstacle in country’s growth. “Since the Bharatiya Janata Party formed a national government in 2014, the Indian fashion industry has been pressed to aggressively promote traditional attire and bypass Western styles” (Qadri, 2017, para, 3). It's ignorance to attack the promotion of local industries of Saree, which has been women’s attire in the Indian subcontinent since Indus valley civilisation and continues to be so today as well. “During his campaign, Mr. Modi had promised to revive the tradition of the Banarasi Saree and to help its weavers, a significant percentage of the constituency’s electorate. The weavers, who are mostly Muslim and following a family trade, largely live in poverty” (Qadri, 2017, para. 14). To prove its point, New York Times goes on to falsely claim that clothing choices are being imposed upon people. “Mr. Modi has made traditional dress a priority and, as many in the country want to please him, the fashion industry has followed along”.
** About a case of media bias against Indian clothing. Analysis of Global Media Coverage of Events in India by A. Parth, in Communicator LVI (4) 125-31, Oct-Dec 2021 . (Qadri, 2017, para 5).