Looking
trendy is the new mantra
Mahin
Khan
.....................................................
In
the recent years, fashion industry has shown an accelerated growth.
The variety and options in styling, cuts and presentation is very
encouraging. I think we have enjoyed a great attitude, can do, will
do, and bring a change for you. The fashion fraternity in Bangladesh
continues to invent and reinvent many different ways of creatively
putting together collections. Season after season professional designers
have successfully
generated interesting looks that have found commercial markets. Designers
need to keep their sanity as they are expected to churn out designs
for their target customers over and over. Bangladeshi designers have
found their niche and have finally come of age. Although it is the
fashion conscious Dhakaite's who clearly drives the industry to make
a new statement.ĘThere are rare occasions when designers clearly can
also bring to life and apply a new trend.
 Young
girls wearing cotton tangail sarees woven in the most attractive
patterns with the color combination of red, white and black and
with flowers on hair, glass bangles complete the Nababarsha look
|
On
Bangla Nabo Barsho it is befitting to share with you the favorite
styles for the festival. Let me walk you along with a Bangali fashionista.
She will wear a sari, cotton tangail. Woven in the most attractive
patterns this sari comes in great many layouts. The popular color
combination for Nabo Barsho, naturally are red, white and a black
combo. Keeping with the tradition she would wear this combo most elegantly.
She is most likely to wear it in a Shanti Niketan style drape. She
will wear flowers on her hair, accessorize in terracotta jewelry,
a flat leather choti and nakshi batua. AĘBangali look made complete,
by dawning a beautiful alpona tip to match her ensemble. The man of
her life will probably wear a white khadi kurta with little bone or
wooden buttons paired with a churidar, a kholapuri, and a cotton jhola.
They will walk in unison at the break of dawn towards Ramna Botomul
The advent of monsoon, --'Barsha Kal' will bring with it lightning,
the crack of thunder, and then downpour that will cool the hot sultry
air. The season calls for cool icy hues in light fabrics. The shades
of cobalt, azure, aquamarine, pink tourmaline, lavender, are good
colors. The fashion conscious gal will style her clothes in short
kurtas, ankle length fitted salwars and scarf length orni.
Come fall time --'Hemonto Kal' colors turn for a striking change.
The earth tones of terracotta, amber, emerald, ruby, and coral reflect
the sunny happy days of autumn. The Dhaka girl will now probably go
for heavier fabrics in endi, khadi, and linen. She will style her
clothes in either short or long styles paired with trousers, wear
bold jewelry and carry striking fashion accessories.
Winter --'Sheet Kal' is associated with our festival time. The cool
northern winter breeze brings with it a season of gaiety, and joyous
alacrity. Outdoors or indoors, afternoon, evening or night the city
transforms itself to celebrate good life and momentous occasions.
The city girl in Dhaka prepares to present herself in the most flamboyant
way. She will emancipate her styles and embrace a totally new look.
She will layer her clothes,
drape exquisite shawls and interesting doppattas. Her wardrobe will
change to warm rich colors and dark somber tones, and flaunt bright
accessories in beaded and embellished jewels.
The trends in Dhaka will move with time and change with the settings.
The opportunities will arise and designers must take full advantage
to deliver goods that will offer invigorating concepts and forms for
today's style conscious minds. It is evident from the recent years
that Dhaka scene for fashion has taken off for the better.
The Dhaka buyers are more mature today, they expect a great deal more
than what was expected by their previous generation. They demand comfort,
new style, and a trend setting cut, fashion colour of the season,
smart embellishment, and great fabric. All these and one more key
factor is possibly the price tag accessible to the strata of middle
class.
Gone are the days when you can bank on grandma to sit and make clothes
or receiving blankets for your child. It is very rare these days to
find time for such pleasures. 20 years ago it was still common to
find the mom or the grandma to sit and make little outfits for the
prince or princes. The fashionable parent will never make him or her
wear oversized clothes but rather will be conscious in making sure
the baby is always presented totally in coordinated outfits
Children's styles have also transformed itself in a big way. Dhaka
buyers are very keen on having their kids look smashing. The kids
themselves also have very clear concept as to what they prefer. You
cannot coax your child to wear clothes of your choice anymore they
are defiant, and want to be trend setting. There are styles that are
appropriate for all occasions. The modern Dhaka child is a sharp one,
but we need to set their priorities as they should not be conscious
about their appearances at this stage but should be concerned about
other matters of higher interests.
Those between sixteen and twenty five years of age are the most rebellious
age group in Dhaka. They will try anything, and go to any length to
flaunt their looks. Slashed jeans, lycra tops, cropped trousers, fitted
t-s, stone washed jeans, transparent net shirts, and leather pants,
for the boys. They also do wear ethnic clothes but in extreme cuts.
Shorter than short kurtas and form fitted bottoms. Even the boys want
to wear those low cut necks on their ethnic shirts.
Then the contemporary -- those between twenty-six and forty years
of age. They are the group with a mission in Dhaka. They have stopped
being silly and are matured to handle new shapes in relevance to their
environment. They will at times wear a sari, and the blouses will
be cut in the most alluring and adventurous styles. In Dhaka, they
are the most happening group. They are the young and upwardly forward
young men and women and their clothes shout individuality.
The forty
something group in Dhaka are the most powerful members of the society.
Their clothes reflect success, power, class, and intellect. They have
mastered their style, and now are totally comfortable with their ideas
of what look good on them. The man will only wear branded shirts,
trousers, suits, if he belongs to the upper income bracket, otherwise
he will wear locally tailored garments clean and minimal in style.
He will also wear ethnic clothes for the perfect occasion in simple
lines. The divas will shine in suits tailored in western or ethnic
styles. They enjoy wearing neutral colors with bright accessories
or vibrant colors with light accessories. They will wear saris as
a formal wear.
There is no doubt that we want to look good today, irrespective of
what our purse say. Gone are the days when being fashionable and wearing
latest trends were restricted to the affluent only. Today, with the
advent of large, medium and small boutiques, all of us want to make
a fashion statement in our own individual way. I think our Bangali
culture will continue to reflect on our clothes. We will shun garishness
and embrace sophistication. We are a nation of rich textiles, refined
embellishments, with a superb heritage of applied arts. We should
be able to integrate all the faculties and recreate, practice, appreciate
and promote our indigenous styles. Let us cultivate our traditions
and apply practical lines so that it is not lost in oblivion but rather
elevate it to a functional popular collection.
Rejuvenate
domestic cricket
Gazi
Ashraf Lipu
.......................................................
Cricket
in Bangladesh has come a long way. It will be clear if one compares
the national team of 1982 (when I was playing) and the team that will
be going to England shortly.
In 82, we were very excited being only Associate Members of the ICC,
and we were going to play the ICC trophy. The situation was such that
if we won the trophy, we would have qualified to play at the World-cup.
And now our team is going to play a test and a triangular series in
England. We have also won an ODI and a Test series against another
Test playing nation.
The popularity of the team has skyrocketed compared to that in 1982,
when very little exuberance was noticed among Bangladeshis residing
in England about us.
We were also short of funds. One day, while practicing at the stadium,
we heard that our England tour was being called off for lack of fund.
All the players, along with the Chairman of the Cricket Board, went
to discuss the matter with General Ershad, who was then the Chief
of the National Sports Council. He assured us that necessary funds
for the tour would be arranged and that we had nothing to worry about.
That's not all, an inexperienced Bangladeshi team was going to play
in a country whose climate, the field condition and the movement of
the ball in the field were totally alien to the players.
These days the financial and emotional support is also a great factor
in the remarkable change. Back in those days, we used to get 10 pounds
a day for food and other expenses, which was not enough to have even
a decent meal. And now they are kept in five star hotels, treated
like stars. But I don't have any grudge. The struggle and the will
to go on actually brought Bangladesh cricket to where it is now.
 Lipu
with Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan at Dhaka Stadium in 1986 |
Our
love for the game can not be ignored either. We were more interested
in cricket than studies and possibly that explains our bad academic
results. But I do not regret this, as my dream was to play in the
national stadium and was able to do so eventually.
Cricket's status has now changed from being just domestic to international.
Till 1986 the game revolved around the West Bengal teams, the MCC
and the ICC tournament which occurred every four years. We started
playing ODIs when we played three matches at two-year intervals and
also at the Asia Cup. Those days Domestic cricket was more popular
than the national level cricket. We had club-based cricket stars who
had as much popularity as the cricket stars now.
The cricketers were identified with the clubs they belonged to. Back
in those days there were very few cases of cricketers transferring
to other teams. People loved the matches between Abahani and Mohamaden.
There was plenty of excitement amongst the players as well the day
before such encounters. But today such matches do not even attract
any audience.
The reason behind this could be the image of the players, who are
busy changing one club for the other. Also, the lack of local talented
players who can score a century or double centuries for the audience's
delight could also be a reason.
Domestic cricket is being largely ignored by everyone concerned and
thus club cricket is fading away. Domestic cricket is required to
motivate the fresh talents and keep them in shape and form.
Today Ashraful's face is seen in a poster along with world-class sportsmen
like Schumacher and Tendulkar. These things really motivate the young
players into giving their best for their nation and make the nation
proud.
But there is an adverse effect of this as well. Most players are getting
easy access to international matches and therefore the quality is
also deteriorating. Teenagers like Aftab, Kapali, Rajeen and Nafis
are already in the national team. And that I don't think is right.
Once upon a time, Habibul Bashar, now the captain of the national
team had to struggle a lot to be in the ranks of Atahar, Faruk, Nannu
etc. But none of the new players has had to struggle like that, which
explains the gap in quality that was created with the departure of
the previous generation of players.
The popular concept of a cricketer beginning around the age of 19
or 20 and reaching his full potential is completely unfounded. The
point can be proven if anybody looks at the English or Australian
cricket teams which have no teenagers. The teenagers have to prove
themselves in their domestic scene first before they can qualify to
the international level.
But here our teams fail most of the time because of the lack of such
practice.
I am not undermining the recent success and excellent display of team
spirit and stamina by the Bangladesh team both at home and abroad.
But one must also not forget the fact the good players are born in
domestic fields and hone their talents by playing for the local clubs.
That's why domestic cricket must be encouraged more in order to ensure
long term success for Bangladesh in international cricket.
