Aparita

2003 July 05

The Globe and Mail

From tunics to sandals to ankle bracelets, the look this summer is inspired by the subcontinent

By APARITA BHANDARI
Special to The Globe and Mail

NEW YORK — In New York’s hip new lounge K Space, replicas of erotic temple friezes decorate the walls, while chaises and red plush cushions and low, ornate silver tables encourage intimacy. The women tending bar in low-cut tops and sarongs look as if they walked straight out of the 1997 Mira Nair movie Kamasutra: A Tale of Love. But that’s entirely appropriate, since K is inspired by that ancient Indian treatise.

“I wanted to create something that’s indicative of India and the Kama Sutra, interpret it in a modern way,” says K Space partner Vikram Chatwal from Paris, where he is rehearsing for One Dollar Curry. He stars in the movie as a Sikh cabbie turned chef. “I wanted to create a physical and a spiritual ambience of sensuality,” says Chatwal. Presumably the spiritual connection of the love nest is provided by the other two partners, Gotham and Mallika Chopra, children of über-guru Deepak Chopra.

Fittingly, the club sits above Chatwal’s father’s Bombay Palace restaurant on 52nd Street.
With everyone tripping off to lunchtime and post-work yoga sessions, little wonder that all things Indian are the current vogue. It all reaches fever pitch in Toronto this weekend with the crowning of Miss India-Canada 2003 at the International Plaza Hotel. The guest of honour for the event: veteran Bollywood actor Rati Agnihotri, who rose to fame at the age of 16. To date, her glamour quotient extends across six languages with 140-plus films.

From movies and music to the beaded and embroidered fashion on the catwalks, Indian culture is capturing North American attention the way it did in the 1970s, when the Beatles introduced the world to Ravi Shankar and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. And faster than you can grab your Lululemon yoga mat, this new holistic lifestyle can be purchased at a store near you.

The hottest top of the summer is the light cotton tunic, which has taken over the racks everywhere from Gap to the new Mossimo line at Zellers. It comes in solid candy colours, with or without embroidery — with a white version favoured by men.

Indian-inspired accessories range from tooled leather sandals at Pegabo and flip-flops at Aldo, silk scarves at Banana Republic to totes with Hindu deities imprinted on them at accessories shop Stoneridge.

This summer, Michael Kors did haute Indian-look accessories at Celine. In caramel-toned leathers, he offered studded and tooled leather bags: consider it haute fusion fashion for urban fashionistas. To carry into next year, we have this week’s round of men’s wear designers nodding to the trend in Paris and Milan. Gaspard Yurkievich created what Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune called “a homo-erotic Kama Sutra with his four models as an art fest at the Centre Pompidou.”

And chandelier earrings, hot at this year’s Oscars, are perfect for glamming up a summer outfit. Of course, nose rings, toe rings and belly jewels remain plentiful, but ankle bracelets with bells means you can make music wherever you go.

Other Indian-inspired garments include shirts with religious symbols used as motifs. Ryan Seacrest, American Idol host turned celebrity, recently appeared on an episode of American Juniors outfitted in a shirt printed with Om written in Hindi. Look for them in Indian import shops such as Om Mantra on Toronto’s Queen Street West.

But be careful what you are wearing: Earlier this year, American Eagle had to withdraw a line of flip-flops from its stores that featured images of the Hindu elephant-headed deity Ganesh. In the Hindu tradition, shoes are taken off when going to the temple, and the use of the image was the subject of complaints by the group American Hindus Against Defamation.

For his part, Chatwal thinks the Indian culture has become part of a global culture.

“Yoga, Bollywood, spirituality, films like Bend it Like Beckham and Monsoon Wedding, they’ve become a way of life out here,” he says. “It’s great. It’s great that people here are exploring the depth and spiritualism of Indian culture.”