Cosmopolitan Bangalore has become synonymous with youth culture, Gen X and all that embodies westernisation. However, this piece of information will make you reconsider the stereotype this City is associated with. Ethnic wear is more popular than any other genre of clothing in Bangalore. From sarees, lehengas to sherwanis—the City’s dynamic youth still treads the trail of tradition.

At the annual event, South India Garment Association (SIGA) 2007, a forum for garment manufacturers and retailers, the trend analysis surprisingly showed that ethnic wear scores over casual and formal wear in Bangalore. Says T K Venkatesh, spokesperson, SIGA 2007, “Ethnic wear is becoming stronger by the day. People already have enough garments. So, ethnic wear has become an expression of surplus money.”

Stall owner at SIGA 2007, Mahendra Rathi is one of the oldest manufacturers of ethnic wear from Kolkata.  He has been visiting Bangalore for the last 15 years. He says the demand for sherwanis has dramatically escalated in the last five years. “Bangalore is the number one market for ethnic wear in the South, followed by Hyderabad. Earlier it was only the Marwari, Gujarati and Punjabi communities which wore sherwanis and lehengas for occasions. But today even South Indian communities are experimenting. We have had grooms from Kerala buying our sherwanis,” says Rathi.

And Bangalore-based designers who specialise in Indian couture, only agree. They attribute the demand for ethnic wear in Bangalore to the rising cosmopolitan nature of the City, Bollywood exposure and the new youth’s willingness to go back to the roots, once less traversed. Agrees designer Guunjan Sandhu, “Kurtis are really in. Kids are teaming them up with jeans and tights, besides salwaars. For weddings, it’s not only the North Indians but even South Indians who are including lehengas in their trousseau.

“Men don’t want a suit today. They want either a Jodhpuri or a raw silk kurta. Thanks to Bollywood, Salmans and Shahrukhs have changed the scenario in Bangalore.”

Indian trousseau store, Tamanna has been around in the City for ten years. Owner Dhanya Pandya says the growth of the ethnic wear industry has been humongous purely due to the rise of inter-caste marriages. “Arranged marriages are outcast. Today a North Indian boy is marrying a South Indian girl or vice-versa. Thus, customs are not rigid any more. People are flexible about rituals. Event managers arrange for Bollywood theme parties on sangeet or mehendi. Hence, lehenga and sherwani which are worn by North Indians have forayed even into the South Indian culture. South Indian brides want a lehenga for at least one occasion,” observes Dhanya.

She adds that while brides today go back to tradition, they still want a hint of modernism in their ethnic wear. “We get young brides asking for corsets with lehengas or a halter blouse for their mehendi. There is great demand for exclusive wear. Of course, sarees and salwaars are the essence of Indian weddings and the saree will never go out of fashion,” she states.

Reiterating Dhanya’s viewpoint, designer Sooraj Chawla of the label Studio Chawla, says experimentation is high in bridal wear today. He says, “They get their heavy Kanjeevaram sarees revamped.

“We do a variety of embroideries on them such as mirror work, zardosi, patchwork and applique among others. Again, people want to wear their wedding outfit more than once today. Sarees are more popular than salwaar-kameezes for weddings. Men and women in Bangalore spend equally on their ethnic wear today.”
The new youth of Bangalore appears focused and is confident about his or her lifestyle. They have no qualms flaunting their rich tradition while the world beckons them persuasively.