Cloth, clothing, or the lack of it, has been of great political, economic, cultural and social importance the kapda of roti, kapda aur makan. The clothing of Indias nakedness by its colonial masters, the symbolism of Gandhis loincloth, the identity of dress in an Indian village undergoing modernisation, are all highly significant processes that directly link clothing to the political.
Emma Tarlos Clothing Matters is an innovative and sensitive piece of work that comes as a wonderful surprise after the mundane cover design. The theme of dress and undress is very much at the forefront, with fashion shows, designer chatter and debates on beauty contests. Tarlo puts all this into a far superior dialectic of cultural identity in the context of historical change.
The clothing of two thousand naked savages with Manchester saris at political agents expense in the late 19th Century raises the curtain on an exceptional piece of research on British attitudes.
Tarlos research covers British and European attitudes to Indian dress, Indian attitudes to theirs, and the clothing dilemmas of the Indian elite. A collection of etchings, advertisements and cartoons of that period present a revealing picture of colonial attitudes to its uncivilised subjects. Tarlos portrait becomes a mirror of contemporary times, and the honest would admit that times havent changed.
The salwar kamiz was originally a stitched garment adopted from the Moghuls, which became a regional style of Northern India. Today it has spread not only across the country as an Indian style rather than Hindu or Muslim but has been globalised by trend setters like Jemima Khan and Princess Diana. Unstitched cloth is traditionally considered less permeable to pollution and Indians now wear stitched western clothes to work, shifting to traditional styles at home, leaving behind another identity at the doorstep. At the turn of the century it was conveyed to Indians that tailored garments are a sophisticated advancement, that gender differences are highlighted by revealing the outline of the body, hitherto ambiguous in Indian attire. This simultaneously attempted to bring Indians to civilisation and yet maintain a sartorial distance between the ruler and the ruled.
There are echos of clothing as civilising when, today, polyester is promoted despite cotton being more suitable, and when airline hostesses wear skirts and nylon stockings instead of the looser and cooler sari. The intricate psychological nuances between dress and nationalism explored by Tarlo would serve as an eye opener to todays elite classes. The study may indeed expand our understanding of why V P Singh needed the fur cap and sherwani to demonstrate his secularism, and why Deve Gowda constantly refers to himself as the first dhotiwallah prime minister, signifying his indigenous, son-of-the-soil image.
Two chapters are devoted to the role of Gandhi and khadi in the freedom movement how Gandhi the Designer modified the Kashmiri cap for use as a symbol of unity for freedom fighters and the Congress, and how, through the wearing of khadi he sought to unify classes and castes.
A study of sartorial politics extends from the British and Gandhi to a brilliant vignette of Hansabens cardigan in Gujarats Jaria village. Tarlo portrays social customs, patriarchal attitudes and family relationships. She charts subterfuge, manipulation and reconciliation within the story of a young woman who asserts her independence by affirming her right to wear a cardigan which, to her father-in-law, is a modern abomination that spoils the drape of the sari and its mandatory veiling of the face. This story, more wonderful than fiction, is one that every feminist writer should read.
This book puts into correct perspective the fallout of the inexorable advancement of modernity in India. A synthetic sari is a sign of upward mobility for rural women, who are discarding the old mirrorworked bodices with exposed backs because they were embarrassing and immodest. Yet in cities the more you reveal, the more fashionable you are.
Finally, there is a past and present study of Delhis Hauz Khas village. As a cameo it is a devastating commentary on a society that has lost its idiom of dress and culture. However, omitting this chapter on Delhis ethnic chics would have rendered the study more integrated and serious in its approach if not in its purpose.
Journalists who observe the dress styles of politicians, for fashion writers and student designers, for those indulging in swadeshi politics and who describe globalisation as neo-colonialism, for boutique and Bina Ramani lovers, political khadi wearers, the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty watchers, students of the freedom movement, textile historians, designers Rohit Bal, Ritus (both Beri and Kumar) et al, would find this tome on sartorial politics both engaging, informative and provocative, as any good book should be.
