Yes, Its "Equality"!
Just recently, I lost my
blazer. Being a lawyer, a black blazer is something that is very important to
me. Having lost it, I needed a new one. So I & my mom decided to go
shopping at Vashi & also get a new Blazer for me.
We reached Vashi, & went
to Central. Yes, Central - the famous clothing store. I told the person in
charge there that I needed a black blazer for myself. He pointed me towards a
section. They had a stock of WL blazers. I went through them, but
they all were ill fitting for me. All of you who have worn blazers must be
aware of the fact that a proper well fitting blazer is a real complicated
search. As I did not find any of them suitable, I shifted to another counter-
PA. Now that's a well known formal brand. I pulled out a medium sized
blazer, just to find out that it was a short one. Putting it straight, it
wasn't a "professional blazer" blazer, it was a "stylish blazer" blazer. Like these
days, women wear strappy shirts & tacky palazzos as formal wear. Yeah, that kind
of Blazer. & hence I once again moved to the next counter. Though I forgot
the Brand name now, but it only had navy blue colored blazers. None in black.
& I needed a black one only. I asked the helper if there were any more &
he sheepishly told me they did not have any more. As I was leaving Central, I realized they had more of party wear than formal wear. Now I am a regular
shopper at Central & I love it. I wouldn't say they do not have good formal
wear- they have great ones! However it always appears very dumb to me that they
stack same kinda lots for a period. Once you go, you will find all formals. The
next time if you go for formals shopping, you'll find 80% party wear. Next
time, maybe something else. When you have a multi-brand store, shouldn't you
logically stack all season clothes in similar proportions?
Anyways, being disappointed,
we moved to another mall. We went to another Shoppers' "destination" & the helper showed me
one stack of blazers- which had only 4-5 pieces- in dark blackish blue only. I
tried out one thinking why not buy one anyways. As I tried it on, I realized it
was a large size & hence told the helper to give me a medium size. He went
through the stack & informed me (yes again sheepishly) that they did not
have a medium size. Honestly, I felt like burning it all down. I mean how can
you not have all sizes in a simple blazer!!! First- you do not have any
varieties. Second, you do not have colors. Third, you don't even have all freakin’ sizes. & then you claim to be one of the biggest shopping destination!
Huffing, I left from there & went to a Park Avenue Store. The ladies section had few blazers-
& to my bad luck, it was totally ill fitting for me, given my stature. I am
a short heighted person- 5'2". All through my life, I have been altering
clothes because none measure up adequately to my short height. Be it jeans,
long sleeved tops, pyjamas, kurtis- I have to always cut them out because all
of them are immensely long. At times I really wonder- when 70% of the ordinary
Indian Women have a height in the range of 5' to 5'5",why are the clothes
designed for women who would be over 5'5". Indian Society really needs to
get out of the rut!
As I miserably wandered
through the three-storey-ed mall, I realized there were umpteen number of stores
displaying formal wears. Lines & lines of Shirts, stacks & stacks of
trousers, shelves full of various colored & styled blazers. But to my
shock- all of them were Mens' Wear. For a moment there, I really really lost my
cool. The mall had innumerable stores flashing innumerable formal wears- all
men. And the mall also had innumerable stores flashing innumerable saarees,
tank tops & kurtis- for women. Is that how it is?? Is it that women just
wear flashy Anarkalis & halter
tops, while men just wear formals? Do women not wear complete formals & men
not wear party-wear jazzy tee-shirts?'
No. That's not how it is.
Almost seventy per cent of
the women today go out & work. They go out into the world- they work in corporate- they deal with clients & THEY DO IT WEARING FORMAL WEAR. Not
some jazzy flashy clothes. Shouldn't stores have a bit more formal variety for
women as well & be at least a bit equal with men? Isn't it the need of the
hour?
I bet, had there been a guy
at my place, he would have found a blazer for himself in ten minutes. But I did
not. Because I am a girl. I don't have much option when it comes to blazers.
Because I am more supposed to wear a f****g anarkali than a professional
blazer.
I accept it is not a very bad
state- we women do find good formal wears. But not like the men!
I feel the problem might be
two sided.
One, maybe the society still hasn't progressed
to the speed where it sees women in as much need of formals as men. Maybe they
still see the working woman clad in India Formals only. Thinking of that, it
makes me go through all the working women I know- aunties, as well as my
friends. & I agree, many of them do wear Indian Formals. But a lot don't.
Especially not the ones from my- going back to my previous- generations. Oh
& by the way, none of them wear anarkalis
or tube tops to offices!
Once during an exam, the
portion we had was divided in the ratio of 80:20 as would be appearing in the
examination question paper. Most of us left out the 20% part thinking "itnasa toh hai...kya jarurat hai. Bus uppar
se ek read maar lenge".
Standing there, looking at
the glaring difference, I remembered that same incident. It felt like I had
been pushed into the 20% slot & it didn't really matter to others as much
to consider it.
The second aspect might be
that Women in their quest for style & fashion have broadened the horizons
of "formal" wear to the extent that nobody really knows if a piece of
clothing is formal or casual or semi. Wearing printed palazzo, or wearing a
deep-neck collar top- girls, that is not formal wear. You can spare a bit of fashion
for the corporate at least. Not that you needn't be fashionable. But at least
stick to the corporate standards. Otherwise there would be a day when a
salesman at a shop shows you a backless top with a stringed collar as formal
wear. Like the blazer that I saw- it was more like a crop- blazer!!! What next?
Crop tops to office??
& as for the horrible
experience of finding a simple black medium sized blazer- I would like to
assume Navi Mumbai still is tad backward when it thinks of corporate women. I
hope that's not the case everywhere. I hope everywhere the malls aren't stacked
with tonnes of men's formal wear but only spares of women formal wear. & I
badly hope that malls in other vicinities aren't literally divided into formals
for men & jazzy for women.
Because it is high time that
people stop stereotyping women into wearing only sexy party wear or flashy
traditional clothes majorly.
Though I eventually after a
lot of struggle did find a good blazer, the sourness of "Gender
EQUALITY" has left its taste on my tongue.
(P.S. Yes, the name of the Post is Sarcasm!)
(P.S. Yes, the name of the Post is Sarcasm!)
Images are taken from Google Images.)
No comments:
Post a Comment