Gimme red!

Supportive Fans

The Indian Premier League is premier class in more ways than one. For cricket fans watching the game, it is all about making a fashion statement as well.
And given the summer heat and the high-adrenaline game, cricket fans wear the uber cool attitude on their sleeves.

With comfort being high on the cards, tees and jeans are the most preferred among the fans of Royal Challengers Bangalore. And their preferred colour is red, of course!    
You are what you wear, believe Bangaloreans flocking to the Chinnaswamy Stadium for IPL encounters.

You’d spot young women in denims and tight tops, short skirts with flared tops. You’d hardly see people in salwars. Even the  older women, who come in sari, match their colour with the team they support. Some also wear trousers. Boys and girls come in big groups and most of them are seen wearing similar tees and matching colours. The shoes too have streaks of red on them, all in support of the home team. Karan Sood, a postgraduate student at St Joseph’s College, thinks it’s important to dress up for a match.

His band of friends ordered red jerseys and wigs which Karan and 30 other friends are wearing for the matches. “Here you dress up for a cause. The idea is to support the team however possible and what you wear grabs the maximum attention,” says Karan.
 Melissa D’ Cruz, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, says she makes an attempt to wear something in red.

“I am most comfortable in T-shirts and denims. I try and wear either red slip ons, tees or even a red cap to pledge my support. The idea is to cheer on and I wouldn’t be comfortable if I dress up too heavily,” says Melissa.

Arun Nair, an analyst with a finance company, says he admires people who have the courage to paint their faces and wear elaborate hairdos. But Arun says that he doesn’t believe in getting his face painted and would rather settle in for a red tee and prefers dressing in casuals. “The idea is to look as sporty as possible. I think excessive dressing takes away the seriousness of going to a match,” says Arun.