Robust jewellery
Men feel macho wearing rings, tiepins, chains and gold watches,
says Hector Choksi

For some men, jewellery has meant vigour and masculinity

Yes, you have seen Govinda and Hrithik Roshan and a list of celebrities dressing up with skin-tight sequined shirts, showing a lot of glitter. Bappi Lahiri can be occasionally mistaken for a Christmas tree. Salman Khan moves, clad in floral prints and embroidered clothes.

These attention-grabbing stunts have been interpreted by fashionistas, that our better-known males are strutting about, just to show that what the women can do, they can better it. It appears that men are getting tired of the classic ensemble of trouser and shirt, or even colourful kurtas, and are taking to more attention-seeking bling.

But it has to be conceded that such ambitions are not new. In fact even in primeval tribal days, men had attempted to outdo women, not only in their attire, but also in dressing themselves up with colourful and bright accessories like beaded necklaces, ornaments, feathers and headgear. Actually, fashion history opines that it was only later that women began to take over these embellishments.

Explains Mumbai based designer Anju Chotrani: "In India the male had always been a strutting peacock. But these ambitions were contained by colourful dhoti-kurtas and sherwanis." Well, fashionistas like Chotrani have attempted to correct this imbalance by taking to tribal fashions and mythology and started their collections of 10-headed Ravana pendants and tiger design brooches.

This had the additional advantage of ensuring that the main elements of men’s jewellery in Indian culture and heritage was revived. Yes. Ranging from the days of Karna of Mahabharata days, jewellery had meant vigour and masculinity.

Anju Chotrani has as her clients the stars in the Indian firmament like liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya and cricketer Kapil Dev. She also ensures that when her clients buy exclusive jewellery, it is matched by her couture, which is coordinated with ornamental buttons, rings and chains and is heavily embellished.

Explains Ramesh Khaturia, a fashion designer in Bombay’s jewellery market of Zaveri Bazaar: "I stock quite a variety of jewellery like rings, tiepins, chains and gold watches as I find that the men feel very macho wearing them, and we in the fashion world find it profitable not to confine ourselves to women’s jewellery alone."

But Khaturia also points out that unlike the jewellery for ladies, which is dainty with floral patterns and a lot of detailing, men’s jewellery has to be very robust with a masculine flavour, and the fashion designer has to incorporate animal forms like intertwined snakes and dragons, which have become very recurrent motifs in macho jewellery.

Khaturia opines that we should concede that it is all a matter of attitude and concept, and adds: "Let us take the case of a VIP like Amitabh Bachchan. When he decides to sport earrings, it is not dandyish. But if any other suited and booted man begins to display earrings, it is taken as an effeminate step. The basic trick is to ensure that you should be capable of carrying your jewellery and know how to wear it, so that it suits your personality."

Same is the principle when it comes to clothes, and designers find it adventurous to take to reds and yellow for gents’ dresses. Conceded that when Hrithik Roshan comes in a floral-printed dress, it is OK if it suits the occasion. Occasion is the important word when it comes to men being bold and beautiful. The ultimate question is as to whether you want to stand out or not. Otherwise, one cuts a bad figure. Fancy wearing a glittering shirt for a business meeting.

Designer Chandrasena Mathur of Bangalore feels that all these "bold and beautiful" effects are due to the availability of fabrics like rayon and lycra, which can be bought in different textures and in spun and transparent varieties. But whether this bold and beautiful will be a permanent trend can be known only with time. Meanwhile, bling on boys. — MF