I didn’t do this post for awhile because I wasn’t able to locate any good pictures, apart from the usual ones of Devika Rani circulating on tumblr, though of course I have posted on fashions of the 20s and 30s. So this post is all thanks to filmkailm (I hope the person running it doesn’t mind my borrowing the pictures!) and its going to be a bit of a spam.
Did the Indian Flapper exist? Not in the true sense of the word, though the fashions of the 20s and 30s in India were definitely influenced by Hollywood and social trends in the West. But these influences were also curtailed by the nationalism movement in India (as book extracts I am posting today show). Like in the West, the modern girl was censured and mocked (though young men were apparently mad keen on the fashions!), with added censure for departing from Indian tradition. At the movies this meant a first half devoted to Western fashion, the second to a re-assertion of Indian values.
The post today is on Sulochana aka Ruby Meyers in Indira, M.A., since advertisements for the film refer to her as a “flapper”. And she was the biggest star of the 1920s and 1930s, epitomising beauty and glamour.
Eventually the modern heroine would be replaced by the nationalistic, traditional heroine. But in their personal lives and their public personas, most of the heroines were “modern”, e.g. Devika Rani (though perhaps her influences were more Weimar, given she spent some time in Gemany and collaborated a fair bit with German film makers like Franz Osten). As an e.g.,publicity material for Achhut Kanya (The Untouchable Girl), has the actress looking quite glamorous in contrast to her role.
And its a pity I don’t have any pictures of Ruttie Jinnah, who was quite the society beauty of the 1920s – the descriptions of her diaphanous silk and chiffon saris, tight blouses of brocade cut to the waist back and front with no sleeves, liberty scarves and jewelled bandeaus suggests a woman who was a 1920s trendsetter.
A snapshot below and more at tumblr here.
Just a few bits and pieces before I move on.
First, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, set in 16th century India. By this century there were a number of influences flowing though India but Mira Nair quite obviously roots her aesthetic in old Sanskrit dramas and erotica.
The accompanying quotes at the link are not from literature from the century but from Sugata Saurabha: The Life of the Buddha, a Nepalese text.
Second, something I stumbled on while researching this post. Illustrations from a “travel best seller”, Ludovico de Varthema’s Itinerary.
More (including attributions) here: http://vintagesareeblouse.tumblr.com/tagged/16th-century
Woman’s Court Costume: Silk with gold and silver braid and pompoms. Lucknow, C.1830-40.
This extravagant costume would have been worn by a dancer or noblewoman at the flamboyant Lucknow Court, although the fashion for exaggeratedly wide trousers like these worn under a full, shorter overdress was popular in several centres of North India during the first half of the 19th century. Women wearing such costumes are shown in Lucknow paintings of the 19th century and in Company style paintings from other centres in North India.
Traditionally reputed to have belonged to the ‘Queen of Oudh’, this outfit is more likely to have been worn by a very young girl for a betrothal ceremony, or even created specifically for an exhibition such as the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855, from which it was acquired by the India Museum in London.
A pair of women’s embroidered trousers with very wide legs. Each leg is made up of 17 triangular panels and one rectangular panel. The fabric is of thin silk with applied gold ribbon (gota) and gold pompoms.
Man’s robe of white cotton, with repeating staggered pattern of embroidered floral motifs in gold-wrapped thread and floss silk. Long sleeves, front opening, floor-length gathered skirt – 18th century, India.
This elegant robe would have been worn by a man at one of the courts of northern India. The floor-length gathered skirt was popular in the 18th century, in contrast to the shorter robes of the previous century. The staggered floral design is typical of late Mughal design, and is often seen printed on textiles, as well as embroidered as in this example.
Copyright: © V&A Images
Other examples at this post.
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In the evening of the last day of war
Deep gloom is spread all around
A desolate lane of Kaurava’s palace
Only two guards on sentry duty.
The stylized costumes of Ebrahim Alkazi’s open air staging of Dharmavir Bharti’s Andha Yug (A Blind Age) which deals with the aftermath of the Mahabharata war. Sadly no up close ladies.
Peter Brook’s Mahabharata,with a multinational cast, takes the anti-Bollywood route with voluminous, austere garments that are nevertheless not accurate for the time.
The first photograph is of Mallika Sarabhai as Drapaudi.
The second is possibly the three elder queens of the epic.
The full Madras cinema treatment (i.e. also not very accurate) for a film adaptation (Manthiri Kumari) of the Tamil Buddhist classic, Kundalakesi. The attire includes a short embellished tunic (with a good degree of frills) and a jewelled belt for the leading lady.
And there’s a fish-shaped instrument – all the better to woo her.
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A few more posts on modern interpretations of Ancient Indian Costume where the productions depart from fidelity to historical costume, either because the production follows the norms of popular Indian cinema or modern theatre.
The full Bollywood treatment (i.e. vaguely accurate) for Meena Kumari’s Chitralekha, set in the time of Chandragupta Maurya.
Yet another irresistible courtesan!
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- The main garment was the antariya of white cotton, linen or flowered muslin, sometimes embroidered in gold and precious stones. The antariya was secured at the waist by a sash or kayabandh, often tied in a looped knot at the center front of the waist. The third item of clothing called uttariya was another length of material, usually fine cotton, very rarely silk, which was utilized as a long scarf to drape the top half of the body.
- Kushan costumes may be divided into five types: the costume worn by (I) indigenous people-the antariya, uttariya, and kayabandh, (ii) guardians and attendants of the harem-usually the indigenous and sewn kancuka, red-brown in color, (iii) foreign Kushan rulers and their entourage, and (iv) other foreigners such as grooms, traders, etc. There is a fifth category- a mixture of foreign and indigenous garments. This last category is of great interest as it shows how clothes changed and evolved, how some of the purely draped garments of the Indians were replaced by cut-and –sewn garments, especially in north and north-west where influences were felt more keenly, and where climatically sewn garments were more suitable.
The links to Ancient Indian Costumes above also have a few illustrative examples of costumes and headgear.
It appears that the introduction of sewn clothing in India roughly dates back to the Kushans who came to India in the 1st/2nd century AD. Prior to that a breast band was sometimes worn, though there are a few examples of sewn tops.
Posting a few modern interpretations of the attire of the time (largely I would assume based on India’s abundant statuary and Buddhist frescoes), most of the movies are set in the time of Gautama Buddha.
Seeta Devi, 1925 (by pictosh)
You can see an example of the breast band in The Light of Asia/Prem Sanyas. The film is about the life of Gautama Buddha with Seeta Devi playing the Buddha’s wife.
There are a number of stills at memsaab’s site, the opening scenes of the movie appear to be set in 1920s India.
Vyjayanthimala in the film on the life of Amrapali, the Licchavi courtesan who converted to Buddhism.
Bhanu Athaiya (who also designed for Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam and later won an Oscar for Gandhi) apparently based the costumes on Buddhist frescoes, though in the frescoes (as in the statues in the first picture), no breast band is worn and the lower half of the costume tends to be the shorter version (the length of the antariya seems to change with time).
Vintage Indian Clothing 
