GOING BACK TO THE TRADITIONAL RETRO, VINTAGE AND CLASSIC WITH A GOAN ESSENCE

Goa is beautiful, a lot of credit goes to the startling impact of the architectural design left behind by the Portuguese; the monuments, their culture and their traditional clothes, which were entirely western, since they belonged to Europe, but what we don’t cease to remember is our past traditions and our ancestors who were residents of the State.

Goa is full of famous ancient memorabilia; although despite being a very small state in India, we have have had a prodigious past, we Goans have a tendency to always keep our heritage, traditions, and culture alive in even the smallest of ways.

Just like the other states, who have had their own respective traditional sarees, like the Bengali saree, the Maharashtrian paithani and so on, Goa has also got its own traditional sarees, which have become quite famous after well known designer in the Indian fashion industry, who is known to be of Goan origin, Wendell Rodrick’s whose ongoing fashion project is about reviving the Goan traditional clothes, and incorporating it into modern contemporary fashion.

Goa is well known for its various traditional attires, beginning with the Kunbi Saree. The term Adivasi saree often leads people to think of the red and white chequered sarees, but the variety is much more. Considering the Adivasis were spread across Goa and known by different names – Gawda, Kunbi, Kulmi, and some of them following Hinduism, some Christianity, it would be truly ignorant to generalize their clothing.

As we might or might not know about the other sarees that are included in our heritage like Ikat, Chanderi, Puneri, Laheriya, Bandhej, Bomkai, Gadwal, Narayanpet , Maheshwari, Kantha and Kanjeevaram. So as a Goan fashion Blogger I am dedicating this article to Goa, by adding this special Goan essence in my overall look for the very first time. Of course, we cannot revive our tradition by wearing a traditional saree for an everyday outing or as we young generation call it “hanging out”, but what we can do is add a hint of beautiful traditional wear like the traditional clothes or even jewellery. Here is a simple way of how I styled my casual, modern day outfit by transforming a Kunbi saree material into a tube top, blending a bit of the vintage Goan and the modern 21 st century Goan for this look.

As I adore and have begun liking towards the vintage and retro culture, I make sure that there is at least one component which resembles the style of the  70s to the 90s, as I am very fond of the retro pop art, the music, the vintage, furniture from the yesteryears. Although Goa has its traditional fashion in place, it would not only be challenging but also a major faux pas for us to wear sarees as a casual wear unless it is an occasion suitable for an attire like that. So why don’t we explore and style an outfit for a casual outing making the best use of that traditional piece? That’s why I decided to put to use and channel my inner vintage soul and of course draw inspiration from the place I call home, Goa.

White cotton always goes the best for a climate like Goa, so instead of using a denim jacket, I switched it with a cotton shirt as an over wear. As the main top here, I modified this Kunbi material to a tube top, not missing out on the show of the fabric as well as the details of a Kunbi saree. Below that, since the 90’s generation wore high waist bottoms I wore blue high waist denim to give it a vintage look.

My accessories are always minimal, so as an element of the vintage again, I wore a black choker which complimented the entire outfit. The tote bag is very much of an advantageous item whenever you’re going out somewhere. Girls always have lots of stuff to carry whenever they move out of the house, a bucket bag always helps because we can then dump as many things we want without making the bag look over packed or congested. For the footwear, you are free to wear flats, boots or anything that you like. So there you have it, the perfect blend of traditional ethnic, vintage and modern all coming together in a beautiful combination that will make sure you catch all the attention.

TEXT: SHRUTI HALDANKAR

PHOTOGRAPHY: TANMAI CHODANKAR