Category Archives: 20th century

All About Hair

I had a bit of a meandering look at the history of hairstyles in India on tumblr and as always this post collates it on wordpress. curnakuntala (Sanskrit): locks or ringlets hair style. alaka-avali (Sanskrit): hair arrangement in spiral locks … Continue reading

Posted in 1600s, 16th Century, 1700s, 17th century, 1800s, 18th century, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 19th century, 20th century, Accessories, Ancient India, Art, Asia, Bengal, Bollywood, Colonial, Contemporary Style, Culture, Dance, Dancer, fashion, Flowers, Hair, historical fashions, historical hairstyles, History, indian art, Indian fashion, Indian History, Indian men, Indian Women, Jewellery, Medieval India, miniature paintings, Old Bollywood, Paintings, regional styles, retro, retro hair, Sanskrit Literature, Sculpture, Sets, Tamil, Tumblr, Vintage, vintage hair, vintage jewellery | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The North-East Post

This doesn’t cover all the North Eastern states of India neither is it chronological or thematic. Rather it’s a North East sampler that includes a fair bit of dance forms in the North-East. The components of the Manipuri dance costume … Continue reading

Posted in 1900s, 1950s, 20th century, Accessories, Art, Asia, Costume, Culture, Dance, Dancer, Early 20th Century, fashion, Folk Dance, Girls, indian art, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Textiles, Indian Women, Jewellery, North East, North East India, Paintings, photodivision, Photography, regional styles, retro, retro fashion, Tribal, Vintage Blouse, vintage costume, vintage fashion, vintage hair, vintage jewellery, vintage style, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Islamic Dress Post

When you think of Muslim influenced fashion in India you think of anarkalis, gauzy dupattas, tight churidars, a North Indian style that has a tremendous grip on the popular imagination not least because of Hindi movies. While the Mughals with … Continue reading

Posted in 1900s, 1920s, 1940s, 19th century, 20th century, Accessories, Art, churidar kameez, Colonial, Costume, Culture, Deccan, Dress Reform, dupatta, Early 20th Century, Family, fashion, Girls, India, indian art, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Islamic Dress, Islamic style, Literature, Mughal, Paintings, Photography, Postcards, regional styles, Religion, retro, retro fashion, Salwar Kameez, Sari, Sari Blouse, South India, Vintage, vintage art, vintage costume, Vintage Dress, vintage fashion, vintage photography, vintage sari, Women | 3 Comments

The Kerala Post

This post was in response to a reader request on tumblr. Its fairly basic and is confined mainly to the 19th and 20th century but does cover some ground. Here goes! Though the “set-mundu” consisting of two pieces of cloth … Continue reading

Posted in 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, 1970s, 19th century, 20th century, Accessories, Art, Colonial, Costume, Culture, Early 20th Century, fashion, Flora, Flowers, Girls, Hair, historical costume, historical dress, India, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Literature, Indian Women, Kerala, Late 19th century, Malayalam Cinema, Period Drama, Photography, regional styles, Royalty, Sari, Sari Blouse, sari drape, sari history, Sets, South India, South Indian Cinema, Studio Portraits, vintage costume, vintage fashion, vintage hair, vintage jewellery, vintage sari | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Bits n Bobs

Gharara/Sharara…still confused by the many definitions. Raghu adds a few more explanations to 1950s hairstyles. Bengal’s laterite soil makes for Japanese dye. Please admire Waheeda – X and X.

Posted in 17th century, 1950s, 1960s, 19th century, 20th century, 21st century, Asia, Bengal, Bollywood, Cinema, Costume, Culture, East Asia, Edo, fashion, Hair, Indian Cinema, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Textiles, Indian Women, Japanese, natural dye, Old Bollywood, retro, retro fashion, Tumblr, Vintage, vintage costume, Vintage Dress, vintage fashion, vintage hair, vintage style, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The 1940s Film Post

இது, இது, இது எல்லாம் ஜப்பான். எல்லாம் செத்து ஒரு ரூபாய் கூட இருக்காது! This, this, this, it’s all from Japan. And all together not more than 1 Rupee! 1940s movies can be a bit amateurish to the modern eye but they can … Continue reading

Posted in 1940s, 20th century, Accessories, Actor, Cinema, Culture, Early 20th Century, fashion, Film Costuming, Flowers, Hair, Indian Cinema, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Japan, Movies, regional styles, retro fashion, Sari, Sari Blouse, sari drape, sari history, Sets, South India, South Indian Cinema, Tamil, Tamil Cinema, Tamil Nadu, Vintage, Vintage Blouse, Vintage Dress, vintage fashion, vintage jewellery, vintage sari, vintage style, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

The Christmas Post

Merry Christmas to everyone and happy holidays! Watercolour by Manishi Dey.

Posted in 1960s, 20th century, Art, Asia, Bengal, Costume, Culture, ghaghra, indian art, Indian Dress, Indian Women, Paintings, regional styles, vintage art, Vintage Dress, vintage sari, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Maharashtra Post

Zee Talkies got a bunch of actors to recreate iconic roles in Marathi cinema for its 2013 calendar. The ones in this post are: Pic 1-Urmila Kanitkar as Shanta Apte in Kunku. Pic 2-Amruta Khanvilkar as Durga Khote in possibly … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, 1950s, 1970s, 20th century, Actor, Cinema, Costume, Culture, Dance, Dancer, Early 20th Century, fashion, Film Costuming, Indian Cinema, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Maharashtra, Movies, Sari, Sari Blouse, sari history, Vintage, vintage fashion, vintage sari | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The 1980s Recap

Apologies for my absence! As always on tumblr the 1980s. Not the best of decades for fashion but damn young Supriya Pathak was a goddess. And my style icon back in time. And a good actress to boot – someone … Continue reading

Posted in 1980s, 20th century, Actor, Bollywood, churidar kameez, Cinema, Indian Cinema, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Salwar Kameez, Sari, Sari Blouse, Sets, Vintage, Vintage Blouse, vintage fashion, vintage sari | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The 1970s Recap

Wrapped up the 1970s on tumblr: 1970s, sari history, fashion history. And a very random round up of the decade it was: Indira Gandhi was elected Prime Minister with a decisive majority in 1971. The same year the Indo-Pakistan war … Continue reading

Posted in 1970s, 20th century, Actor, Bengal, Bollywood, Culture, Feminism, History, India, Indian Cinema, Indian fashion, Indian men, Indian Women, Politics, Sari, Sari Blouse, sari history, Tumblr, vintage sari, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments