Pair those diamonds with your torn jeans

Designer Pallavi Dudeja Foley talks about the shift to casual dressing, and the jewellery that complements it

We have all always believed in the concept of the world is one. Even though international borders still exist, with overseas travelling and the world wide web, we seem to be speaking in one voice when it comes to how we live, how we dress, how we define success and more.

The millennials are the motivating force behind this transition we see in our dressing today, from work to evening wear. The big shift from the typical formal wear to comfort driven casual dressing is visibly the new cool.

Generation X and the millennials are significantly bringing in this trend globally with such ease that formal wear is getting limited to specific occasions.

The influence of the tech world and the craze for fitness add to this trend of casual-sporty-laidback-yet-chic dressing style of these generations.

Silicon Valley’s role in the world economy and modern e-commerce has contributed to this trend of lighter and casual dressing. The young techies embrace the casual, hip and comfortable dressing style, and the other industries are beginning to mimic that culture and aesthetic, seeing the merits of personalised comfort dressing at work when compared to formal dress codes.

I see jewellery trends also taking similar tones of preferences from customers. The trend of layering of chains, multiple rings, stackable bracelets, charm bracelets come with a fashion tag of casual, easy, chic yet comfortable jewels.

As sweat pants, torn jeans and quirky mixture of styles are getting a thumbs up at workplaces, we have started to look beyond material things and dressing codes to define success and the ability of a person.

We must caution ourselves that dressing is depictive of what we are feeling, and getting too casual might also have its own drawbacks.

Nowadays, my customers tell me that they don’t change their jewellery as often as they used to earlier and that there is no need for it to match your outfit. The trend of layered and link chains in gold and silver match everything one wears, making dressing faster and easier.

There also is an emergence of a contradictory trend in jewellery because of the trend of casual overtones in outfits. Since clothes are so casual, I see stylists looking for more OTT (over the top) jewels to bring in the element of personal style and quirk in the dressing.

It is absolutely alright to wear your diamonds with your torn jeans, just as it is to wear it with your LBD (little black dress). One could wear an oversized costume jewellery statement necklace to work with a vest and a skirt or jeans as the play of the two contradictory styles is not questioned today.

Large hoops with sweatpants and a work out jersey is a common sight in global dressing style. I too wear my dresses with sneakers many times. Though there are merits and demerits of the trend, we are a generation that believes in doing what gives us happiness.