There is something about summer that occasions the shameless abandonment of decency and taste. Only in the summer do respectable adults and usually well-dressed women don juvenile and unflattering styles. If you have been out of your home in the past few weeks, you have no doubt witnessed some of the season’s more common bloopers: exposed bra straps, bare, bulging midriffs and thunder-thighs. And you may have asked yourself why the hot days of the year are like a fancy dress party—a chance for people to wear whatever (or however little) they desire. Here are few worst summer fashion disasters.
The most glaring blunders arise from improper underwear. Most women despair of finding lingerie to suit the season’s skimpy styles and diaphanous fabrics. Many don’t even bother to try. So bra straps, often dirty, twisted or pilled from numerous washings, overwhelm delicate spaghetti-strap tank tops. A faux pas that has become almost admissible. Honey, strapless bras are an old invention. Which century are we living in?
Floral, polka-dotted and black-lace panties wink from beneath tight white jeans and slacks. With summer whites, wear only flesh-toned underthings, don’t we all know that? Thongs are available everywhere. Yet we see those putting off panty-lines embossed on Chanel cigarette pants. A friend recently made an interesting observation: “Have you noticed, all the big labels are making a foray into the country but not a single up-market lingerie brand is here.” Indeed a point to ponder upon but then I said, “We desis hardly bother about ‘andar ki baat’. It’s the outside that we are all concerned about.” If you go on a survey at Peddar road apartments where rich Mumbaiyas have extendable drying lines popping out of every window, you will see how careless we are about ‘andar ki baat’.
It seems that such errors stem from either a freak exhibitionism or a stubborn refusal to buy tasteful underwear. Guess the latter is the more dominant reason. Body consciousness and strapless bras are not readily incorporated in their minds when the mercury soars. Shirts tied in the front à la the Baywatch girls with surf-board torso and the miniature ‘short shorts’, which at their smallest often measure mere six inches from waist to hem, aren’t for everyone. Yet in summers we have ladies exposing bulging midriffs below the knotted shirt or strolling in the supermarket in shorts short enough to tell all that you have a cellulite problem.
Open-toed shoes are comfy but you need to follow a few rules. A pedicure is must. Wearing stockings with them is like putting on underwear over your pants.
The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own