History of clothing in India, dates back of ancient times, yet fashion in a new industry, as it was the traditional Indian clothings with regional variations, be it sari, ghagra choli or dhoti, that remained popular till early decades of post-independence India.[1] A common form of the Indian fashion originates from the Western culture. Fashion includes a series of sequins and gold thread to attract customers and apply a statement to the Indian fashion community. A famous Indian fashion trademark is embroidery, a art of sewing distinct thread patterns. A way to include the traditional look and create a new fashion statement includes embroidery applied to different dresses, skirts, shirts, and pants to reflect the western culture influence as well as include the Indian tradition. As a part of larger revival movement in the Indian textile industry,Ritu Kumar, a Kolkata-based designer and textile print-expert started working on reviving the traditional hand block printing techniques of Bengal, and making it a part of the fashion industry, established "ethnic chic".[2] She opened her first boutique in Delhi in 1966. In 1973, she first showcased the Zardozi embroidery in his garments, which had its origins in the royal costumes dating back to the Mughal era. This led to the revival of this lost art. In time embroidery became prominent feature of Indian wedding attires, and also one of the biggest fashion exports.[3][4] This was period of revival, where various organisations, NGOs and indicuals were involved in reviving traditional Indian techniques, in weaving, prining, dyeing or embroidery, including ikat, patola (double-ikat), bandhani (tie & dye) and shisha (mirror embroidery).[3]
An early trendsetter in fashion was Bollywood (Hindi cinema), where costume designers like Bhanu Athaiya, started experimenting with film fashion in the 1960s. Athaiya started working on period costumes in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962) and Amrapali (1966), though went on to introduce varied trends through Teesri Manzil (1966), Chalte Chalte (1976),Karz (1980) and Chandni (1989). These were soon followed by the mass market. Also situations and themes in Indian cinema became westernised making way for the display of diverse fashion. Over the years, popular Bollywood trends have been the Madhubala's Anarkali-look with kurtas and churidars in Mughal-e-Azam (1960), purple embroidered sari worn by Madhuri Dixit in Hum Aapke Hain Koun...! (1994), to Rani Mukherji's short kurti-suits in Bunty Aur Babli (2005), Veer Zaara suits and blouses from Parineeta. This comes besides various fashion interpretation of the sari in films like Chandni (1989) with Sridevi, Main Hoon Naa (2004) with Sushmita Sen and Dostana (2008) with Priyanka Chopra, which became fashion trends.[5][6]
However, in the recent decades, with increasing exposure to the West, its influence is no longer as strong as in the previous decades,[5] by the 2000s, with rise in Indian diasporaaround the world and the non-resident Indians, Bollywood continues to exert far greater influence on the fashion sensibilities amongst Indians around the world
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