As we experiment with different styles and fashion in contemporary times, it was the 90s that set the ball rolling as far as fashion is concerned in India. One can simply see the changing phenomena in Indian style and fashion in the that decade, the first half is a stark difference to the second half.
Bollywood fashion in the 90s
If you see the song picturizations of Bollywood movies in the time from 1990 to 1995, you will see that most of the styles for men and women were flashy and loud. Baggy pants were quite common among men as you would see in the dance sequences of Salman Khan from movies like Saajan. Post Mid-90s, there was a revolution in style and fashion as designers like Manish Malhotra gave a whole new look to the Indian woman
Manisha Malhotra perked the sexiness of the Indian woman with some trendy and stylish wear. Urmila Matondkar, Manisha Koirala, Madhuri Dixit and Karishma Kapoor got a huge boost to their image and sensual appeal by a new-found dressing style. Manish Malhotra still continues to be an influential figure as far as Bollywood is concerned. Rangeela (1995) in particular was a pivotal point in Bollywood fashion, with short skirts and trendy outfits for the ladies coming up in vogue. Movies like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge(1995), Raja Hindustani(1996) and Dil To Paagal Hai (1997) changed the fashion scenario in Bollywood. Movies like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) triggered a fashion fever for uber-clothing among men with Shah Rukh Khan flaunting foreign brands like DKNY and Tommy Hilfiger.
90s Fashion in India – A ‘See’ Change for the Style Decade
Some ultimate designers like Suneet Verma, Manish Arora and some other talented designers during the decade introduced new trends in the world of fashion. The trend of corset blouse was launched for the first time in 1992 which was made up of satin, stretch lace or polyester taffeta. The design was inspired from the corsetry from France. This beautiful bust dressing just replaced the ancient choli with sarees and letter also be tried with short pants and skirts.
The trend of haute couture had been already set up just a decade earlier of this and enjoyed flourishing growth in the national level retail industry. Better quality and wide range of facilities for production supported this trend a lot. This is the main reason for which the Indian designers got success in establishing their ready to use range of dresses.
Apart from this, the Indian embroidered tunic earned great attention of designers and fashion lovers all over the world. By shortening the traditional kurta, Monisha Jai Singh designed kurti and made it successfully the universal dress for Indian women. This was an important invention of that decade which is still in trend. Saree became more glamorous and turned into cocktail designs; this simply revived the old fashioned sari into a totally modern dress.
As mentioned, Bollywood played an important role in setting up all these trends during 1990s. The 1990s fashion in India is definitely a successful outcome of grand collaboration between designers and some leading Bollywood stars who walked on the ramp for some designers.
The trend of hairstyle and makeup was weird up to some extent in Indian women; for instance, dark lipsticks and lip liners with matte foundation, weird updos and gaudy hair jewels were in fashion. Curls and crown hairstyles were highly popular while a wide community of women also preferred designing their hair into stylish manner by cutting front fringes. Embellishing the hairstyles with lots of metallic and pearled jewelry was a well known trend.
Men fashion was also equally dramatic and printed shirts were highly popular. Polka dots set up as a style statement and were used frequently in male scarves. Hairstyle with front fringes were in fashion in males also and galis was the leading trend.
The leading fashion centers of India was Delhi and Mumbai that time also as these cities got good points for manufacturing and designing.
Bollywood fashion in the 90s
Bollywood hairstyle in the 90s