Special Report from BBC Travel: Mumbai's Bollywood Dreams

Tailor Shop in Nishatganj

Bollywood fashion hits the high streets! Another interesting piece about the relationships between high fashion and Bollywood film in Mumbai from BBC Travel. Interesting that although the report is about a couture designer the opening shots are of goats on a city street. The urge to highlight that which is different and call it "exotic" is strong, even for the BBC. Differences in reporting are very evident when contrast to the pages of Indian Vogue, for example, which also covers Bollywood and couture, but without the aid of goats. But on to the cultural notes:

Wednesday Market in Lucknow

As Ms. Lulla points out in the report, Bollywood fans can take images from films along with fabrics and go to their tailor to have similar clothing made. Tailor shops like this, my favorite in Lucknow back in 2010-2011. I usually had to take my sewing kit to anything they made for me to make adjustments, but the location was convenient, the price was right, and there was chai and Urdu in the event of delay. More to the point, these gentlemen could make anything.  

Before visiting the tailor, a shopping trip is essential- at least in Lucknow, it was strictly BYOB (bring your own bling). My favorite place to shop was Budh Bazaar, Lucknow's weekly Wednesday market. Bring your game face and arrive early and well caffeinated, because Budh Bazaar is a Shopping Experience. I loved the treasures to be found- vintage sari for a song, hand-painted ribbon, traditional Lucknowi hand-embroidered chikkan work, lotus flowers, and everything from buckets to scissors to nail polish and fresh sugarcane and coconuts with straws. This is a picture of the fabric alley where I bought the makings for most of my clothing. I loved the creativity of finding a fantastic piece of ribbon or a gorgeous color and building a complete outfit. 

I myself never tried to re-create anything I saw in a film, although my wardrobe was certainly inspired by the clothing I saw in films like Veer-Zaara, Nikaah, and particularly Jab We Met. The last introduced me to patiala salwar, a style I embraced on separate occasions with cranberry red, steel grey, cream, and teal-colored gusto. After all, it is impossible to have too many colors of a good thing. 

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