There is a perception among the middle-aged people of today that they were much better dressed in their younger days than the youth of today are. The flip side is that today’s youngsters make fun of the manner in which today’s uncles and aunties dressed while they were young
Rajeev K Nair, email
“Fashions fade, style is eternal.” Trend in the 1980s was spot on to the above quote by Yves Saint Laurent. Though the new generation often mocks the way the middle-aged used to dress when they were young, their fashion had the stamp of an eternal sense of style they had created back then. The middle-aged people have a sensible perception about their dressing, and they were, at least, true to what we call our tradition or the so-called ‘Indian culture’. In fact, it’s undoubtedly far better than the current sensation of ‘copycat’ from the West, which rather creates transient fashion than eternal styles.
Sunny Joseph, Mala
I believe that we, the middle-aged people, were better dressed in our younger days. Those times, our favourite dress code was white mundu and shirt, which were nice, simple, easy to wear and wash. Nowadays, the youth are fond of jeans and pants, which are not adapting to our climatic conditions. We are simply aping the western style. In my opinion, sari and blouse is the ideal attire for our ladies than their jeans or churidars. Sari is considered an executive or formal wear for them. The air hostess and hotel executives are often preferred to wear sari to express our unique culture.
Ajay S Kumar, Plavode
Today’s teenagers are highly influenced by the western culture. Instead of sticking on to our culture, they are just forgetting our culture and are totally influenced by the western way as they feel it more attractive, trendy and modern. In this age of modernisation, everything has become modern and in the case of human beings too the stylish haircut, outlook, dresses have become important. Earlier, we used to wear clothes to cover our body but today we wear it for fashion so as to look more trendy and modern. According to modern trend, the more you expose, the more modern you are. Low waist is one such example where youngsters expose even in front of a public. It is only during Onam and Vishu that the modern youngsters wear saris, shirts and dhoti and this itself sometimes due to pressure from their parents. It is not mandatory that youngsters in this age should always wear saris, shirts or other such traditional dresses by avoiding modern dress but at the same time they should remember that it is their duty to keep our culture alive.
Thomas K M, Muvattupuzha
The concept that the middle-aged people dressed more elegantly during their dawn period than the current younger generation is apparently fallacious. Hypothetically our uncles/aunties due to psychological reasons are apathetic to acknowledge the tremendous changes of the world during the past four-five decades or their hush-hush ego to admit the truth. Similarly, our culture, rituals, customs etc are also subject to radical changes and a reference to Kerala’s annals will expose the phenomenal attire of persons around a century ago. Pants/jeans, the much-loved garb of today’s younger generation, were extremely scarce even in colleges around four to five decades ago.
Ashwathy, email
I agree that the middle-aged people today were much better dressed in their younger days than the youth of today. Today, our youths have adopted the western culture. Shorts and sleeveless dresses may seem classy and cool to many, but in a tropical country like ours, the traditional dresses are the best bet. The clothes of olden days were able to depict our culture, which was diverse and distinct. But the youth of today are acting like baboons, they try to modernise by copying the culture of other countries. In olden days, people used to dress to cover themselves and as part of respecting their tradition but, nowadays, kids dress to exhibit and attract others.
Dhiya Varghese, email
Dressing styles undergo a sea change with the changing times. This is also closely linked to the cultural aspects of a society as well as one’s attitude. Many of today’s uncles and aunties dress in accordance with the culture they were exposed to while there were young. But, the new generation has adopted the western style and a blend of traditional and new age style. They feel more comfortable with it.
SUNDARAM GOVIND, Aluva
The Shakespearean saying “Apparel maketh the man” is a universal truth. In olden days, the attire was so simple which served its purpose. Gradually, the sartorial habits of youngsters has changed imitating their heroes and heroines in the tinsel town. When we see film star the late Jayan spotting bell bottom pants and cut piece shirts with multicolours, we laugh spontaneously.
Dr George Jacob, Kochi
It is true that today’s generation scoffs at the dressing style of yesteryear. Bellbottoms, dog-tongued shirt collars, trimmed hair and puffed sleeves are laughing stock. Call it the ‘generation gap.’ Likewise, yesterday’s generation beholds with contempt the ways of today’s generation. Spiked hair, attires that border on transvestism! There is a wide difference in the way life is lived by the two generations. The crux is for people to dress appropriately, respecting modesty, to the occasion. Undoubtedly, today’s generation has it all wrong. That is why fashion of today hardly survives beyond two months, while yesteryear fashion still lives on today.
Arun P Jacob, email
Fashion world is rapidly changing and it’s quite natural that people try to adapt to the latest styles. The middle-aged people, in their younger days, used to wear dress in tune with the trends of those times. However, they have failed to adapt to the changing fashion trends and that is the reason why they cannot accept the dressing style of youths. Today’s youngsters dress according to the latest trends and fashion, but this style, too, will become a thing of the past, and the coming generation will make fun of our dressing manner, like we do to our elders.
Alex P Oommen, email
The basic idea behind fashion is setting a statement on style. It’s true that people find various way to define the concept of fashion. Clothes, hair, behaviour can be changed depending on your attitude. Fashion has changed a lot since then, but better dressing means old concepts have been out of the window and new attire has set in. There is a disparity between generations so finding conflict in their ideals and fashions is undeniable. Simply, you can’t brew two things in one pot.
Dr Titus Sankaramangalam, Tiruvalla
Tweaking the back of the blouse to nearly nothing is the thing among young sari clad girls. Sadly, the bareback of the female chest is a no visual treat. Contrary to expectations, the middle aged women now looked much more beautiful and elegantly dressed than their daughters. Beauty seems to be on a downward slip among Kerala girls. Though nothing notable above the belt to expose, the boys somehow look smarter than the girls. Personally, I feel that my parents and grandparents were more elegantly dressed than me and my son.
Suman G Pai, Kanhangad
It may be true to some extent that the older generation finds the dressing of the youngsters, not worthy of being seen in, the youths find the dressing of the ‘oldies’ mostly funny and laughable. However, just as “One man’s meat is another man’s poison,” the taste of clothes differs not only from generation to generation but also from one individual to the other. It is fashion that dictates the rules of apparel. So there is a very narrow line between the two, decent to be laughed or unworthy clothes to be seen in are decided entirely by the individual and today there is a crossover by both the elders and the youth on the clothes they choose to wear.
VIKAS NARON, Thalassery
More than 32 inches bell bottom pants, bushy hair hanging sideways, bright coloured shirts and pants... It was the feature of the hippy culture that conquered the younger generations of yesteryear. But this was not accepted by the elders. They opposed it strongly but failed miserably and the style went strong mocking the elders. History is repeating with a bang. The elders of yesteryear have faded away. The old youngsters are now graduated to responsible parents with no angry towards anything but to their children. Today’s parents cannot accept this low waist, WhatsApp culture and they oppose it without any compromise.
Thomas Matthew, Muvattupuzha
Goodness gracious! The new gen youth dress up very well and beat the older generation hollow. With their loose shirts and ill-fitting trousers our uncles were indeed horrid, to say the least. Today’s shiny generation dress up in style wearing trendy clothes which fit them well. And lo- the girls! they look absolutely charming in their tight jeans and other modern, trendy Punjabi kurtis which come in various tantalising shapes and forms. Our youngsters follow the most modern trends unlike the old uncles with their ‘constipated’ looks. How I love to wear the clothes worn by my son and daughter!! (It’s a confession by a man of 70 plus!)
Gopika H Kaimal, email
Perfection comes only when we place our feet according to the time. Costume is the mirror of one’s personality. That is why people travel miles in search of their convenient apparel. In this world of competition, new gen opt for simplicity where as old generation promoted traditional mindset in garment selection. New gen can’t accept an old generation dress code and vice-versa. It’s all the time which imprints changes. Mocking old generation’s trend or conversely is awful. A transition is essential in all ages.
Since the debate is based on a subjective topic, ‘Express’ doesn’t wish to take a position on it.
