Fashion Mode

Do white people (or western origin people to be politically correct) wear Indian clothes? Should they wear Indian clothes? Do they care? Let's look at each of these questions in a little more depth.

Do white people wear Indian clothes?

Non-Indian people usually consider clothes from India an occasion driven dress. They tend to buy clothes for key events like a friends or colleagues wedding or when they travel to India. Each of these occasions seldom arises in the lifetime of this segment of people. In order to get fully immersed into the event and the culture, white people wear clothes from India in traditional styles.

Should they wear Indian clothes?;

Wearing a certain type and style of clothing is a very personal choice for people. If the situation demands that Indian Clothes be worn, then yes - even white people should wear such clothes. For other times, it would be considered unusual for white people to be wearing Indian clothes, so should be avoided. Occasions that demand such clothes are very specific and are enumerated below.

Do they care?

An increasing trend towards globalisation and a lot of western stars like Niki Minaj, Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna, etc. wearing Indian designers are certainly a strong influence for people to start knowing about clothes from India. Each of these designers has chosen leading Indian fashion designers for important events. Indian designers create products that are unique and stand out amongst so many generic designers and styles.

Hence people in the west or white people are wearing more Indian clothes. Not all of them are traditional in styling, but Indian designers and hence Indian clothes make them.

The styling, cut and colour of clothes chosen by this segment of customers is normally very different compared to Indian customers. The choices are usually towards tighter and better fitting silhouettes, minimalistic styling and detailing. The cut of the clothes usually varies by the age of the customer, but can it be modest or more modern and trendy - the choice is fairly broad. The colours are usually lean on pastel shades. Of course a lot of the choice depends on the season and the number of times that people expect to be wearing these garments. In general, these are seen as an investment and a one-time buy by people - so they tend to spend more money that one would normally expect of them.