As an investment banker in New York City, Poornima Vardhan had all the right clothes: power suits, cocktail dresses and jeans. Then she returned to India and realized that her wardrobe was as bland as an American breakfast.
For women like Vardhan who move easily between Asia and the West, India’s vast and vibrant array of traditional clothing styles presents an unusual sartorial challenge. “My wardrobe had to expand by at least 50 percent when I came back,” said Vardhan, 28. “There’s a lot more diversity to the clothing needed in India.”
Vardhan is one of tens of thousands of recent “repats” — Indians who left for educational or work opportunities abroad but then returned as India’s economy began to boom.
But women confront an additional challenge that their male counterparts do not: remaking their wardrobes. For Vardhan, the style adjustment is central to her return. She came back in part because she was convinced that India’s rapidly growing retail clothing industry was a perfect business opportunity. She is now the general manager for brand strategy and retail planning for Genesis Colors, a leading Indian fashion house. As part of the job, she has taken charge of the handbag business for Satya Paul, one of the fashion brands managed by Genesis.
Going from finance to fashion has been more challenging. “Now I have to think creatively and have an entrepreneurial mind-set, unlike in investment banking,” she said.
Vardhan is expanding her own wardrobe, trying to fully embrace some of the bright colors and elegant silhouettes of India’s traditional clothing. Having a foot in two worlds also means owning a lot of shoes.
Standing in her empty apartment in Gurgaon, she described one of her first purchases after arriving home in April. It was a bright yellow sleeveless cotton kurta with white churidar pajamas. “I bought several of these outfits right after I moved back,” Ms. Vardhan said. “And it’s what I wear on a regular basis to work.”
Together, the pieces make an outfit, churidar-kurta. Like the similar shalwar kameez, it is both modest and cool, essential in a place where summertime temperatures routinely reach 120 degrees. Vardhan’s pajamas are so lightweight they are see-through, but the long kurta ensures modesty.
Modesty is a crucial part of the adjustment to India. While the country has none of the strict clothing laws of some avowedly Muslim nations, a woman’s knees are rarely displayed. “A complete no-no in Indian modesty is to show legs,” said Mukulika Banerjee, a professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science and co-author of “The Sari.” “Cleavage is fine but not legs.”
©2012 The New York Times News Service
