The Indian way of clothing inspires millions of fashion designers around the world. Garments like saree, kurta-pajama, sherwani, salwar-kurta have their buyers from India as well as abroad. I have been witnessing the tourists in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, etc. wearing various Indian and fusion garments. Therefore, it is interesting to explore why people from the West love to wear the Indian outfits.
The religion
Since India is a country of various faiths, people tend to wear varied outfits. Depending on their religion, people prefer their unique clothing or simply indulge in a regular outfit. The Hindus wear sarees, salwar-kurta, kurta-pajama, or plain pant-shirt. The Sikh men prefer to wear kurta-pajama or pant-shirt, and the women can be seen donning gorgeous salwar-kurta and kurtis with leggings. The Muslims men can be seen wearing kurta-pajama, while their women wear a hijab over salwar-kurta they wear underneath. For Christians, it is common to wear any western as well as an Indian dress.
The region
In addition to the religion, people change their clothing based on the area they live. The traditional Indian outfits change their form and style based on the weather of a place, level of conservatism among people, and many other factors. In cold regions, the cotton fabric may not work at all, so people generally prefer heavy coats made of wool. In the cities and villages where women do not prefer to show off much of their skin, they prefer to cover their body from head to toe. Most of the women residents of the village prefer to cover their head in the presence of a male member of the house or while going out in the streets.
In the metropolitans, the simple salwar-kurta or a saree can be stylish to let the wearer be comfortable with showing off the skin and provide comfort as well. For men in the cities, the salwar-kurta is practically non-existent in their daily life. They reserve the traditional Indian outfits for the special occasion only and prefer to wear pant-shirt or jeans and T-shirt for daily purpose. In the far-off hamlets of the country, men often wear dhoti-kurta as well, especially in the hot regions. Turban is a favorite headgear among the Indian men in villages.
The inspiration for the tourists
If someone is a tourist in the real sense, he or she would definitely indulge in everything that is local in any country or city. When you are in India, you cannot resist adorning the Indian attire at least once. For women from the west, a saree is a must try in addition to salwar-kurta. The reason to wear these clothes is that they are ultra-comfortable in the hot regions of the country, and they protect you from the unnecessary glaring from people. The Indians do not intend to hurt the sentiments of the tourists, but they just stare the tourists out of plain curiosity, except a few thugs for sure.
The men from the West, the inspiration to wear the kurta-pajama comes from curiosity as well as protection from the humid and hot weather in the country.
The idea of being an Indian when you are in India works for the tourists coming from any corner of the world. They like to indulge in desi Indian foods, which refers to the local cuisines of India. Just like you would eat the local foods, you may want to wear the local Indian clothing to roam around comfortably. You may like to take cars on rent to make your travel more convenient if you know driving. Nevertheless, just use the public transport and enjoy your time in India.
As an all time traveler, I like to be always on trips. Here I would like to share my experiences for readers about destinations and activities from my travel experience.