Do clothes maketh a woman?

Does your fashion sense reaffirm your attitude?

The way you and I dress up, does it say anything about who we are, what we feel and think and also our positioning in society. If you are already getting sceptical about your answer then here's cue enough... To work, why do we dress up in a formal or semi-formal manner (unless if you are a creative person and so anything you'd wear would be considered fine by your boss)? At a party, why are we so fine with a little bit of cleavage and our toned legs showing and guys would walk around in unkempt looks, sporting tight jeans and a tee to emphasise their broad chest? Perhaps, clothes do make a difference. To us, clothes can be good mood elevators and to others, who see us for the first time, perceptions get defined by the way we dress up.

GETTING BLOUSY: One of the most interesting observations that fashion experts have maintained to have noticed is that clothing sense greatly earmarks the attitude of a particular era. So, after world war II when countries were struggling to emerge out of financial depression, many people tried to flaunt an image to portray themselves in a rich refined manner while the fabrics they used were of poor quality, giving away their economic status. Steadily, times changed and people's clothing started to state their attitude and spending powers.

Today, however, men would be happy to know that women have indeed turned more vocal and demanding about their needs and wants. That makes the task easier isn't it of not having to probe too much and understand a wee bit of what women desire.

And so, this festive season, when most of us are attending at least one or two weddings and receptions, men are complementing their chiselled bodies with clothes that give away a faint hint of worked out physiques while women are going great lengths in wearing what they best feel comfortable in. Giving respect to our Indian tradition, saree remains the staple but the quintessential blouse is shedding its conservative boundaries.

So, criss-cross, halter, backless with few doris, racer back and corset look is in. Giving a neat glimpse of the well-toned backs, these bold blouses are here to stay. Not just sensuous, these garments have a message to convey in an abstract manner. Today's woman is well-exposed so experimentation comes easy to her. It's not just men who can claim to have had better exposure anymore. And women are no longer demanding their attention anyway. Happy with their work profiles, equally comfortable with any other woman's success, today's lady is elegance personified. When this woman dresses up, her traditional saree shows how rooted she is to her values. And the way she wears her blouse speaks how evolved she is in her mind. She's fit, she has arrived in her own way and she's ready to call the shots. Do you agree?

Girl with the blue scarf says: Indian urban populace is indeed at a cross junction. Men find women more aggressive at home and workplace while women find men more or less clueless about what women want. The man who gets a hang of that maxim is clearly more preferred. But does this setup give away the fact that today's woman is re-looking at what a conventional marriage had to offer or is a union of two souls more important to her... You tell me.