From a time when clothes had to be imported to being able to buy local designer wear, Nepali fashion industry has come a long way. Over the years, trends have come and gone, while some trends have made a resurgence time and again. The Week talked to a few insiders of the Nepali film industry to know their take on how fashion has changed over the years.
Sanchita Luitel
People are more conscious about the way they dress now. I notice many don’t even wear the same outfit more than once. If they have already uploaded a picture on a social media site wearing a certain outfit, they don’t want to be seen in another picture with the same outfit. I used to wear saris a lot because of the characters I used to portray in my films. Those days were also the days of bright colors and heavy makeup. Now, people prefer casual wear and off tone colors, and saris are for parties.
Nikhil Uprety
Fashion events in Asia
Fun fact: We didn’t have dress designers for movies. To portray ‘richness’, the character would simply wear a suit otherwise it was just regular clothes. We had no idea how dress and didn’t have any guidance as well. If people didn’t dress according to certain rules or trends, they would usually be criticized. But now fashion has become freer, and people dress according to their moods and whims. Grunge pant was popular then and I’m happy to see that it’s still a
trend now.
Mithila Sharma
It’s amazing how people have started to create trends now. But I like how people still wear short skirts, churidar kurtas, and cotton saris even now. Some things just don’t go out of trend, and that’s nice. One thing that has definitely changed over the years though is the color combination. It’s more subdued now. One thing I miss about the days gone by is bright red lipstick. Now people often wear darker shades.
Karishma Manandhar
When I started working in films, we had to import designer wears from Britain and Hong Kong. Now, branded stores and designer wears are so readily available in many places of Kathmandu. Thanks to that, people these days have become a lot more brand conscious than ever before.
Dilip Rayamajhi
For films, we dressed after consulting with the director. There was no dress designer. It was an alien concept. Nowadays, people are accustomed to designer clothes. Also, previously we had to follow a certain trend or certain fashion icon but now everyone has their own style and dressing sense.
Bhuwan KC
I never followed any trends and always looked to set new trends. This got me into trouble sometimes as I used to be criticized for my rebellious taste but now everyone is after creating a fashion statement. When I used to wear black shirt with a black suit people disapproved of it back in days, but now everybody seems to follow that trend.
Basundhara Bhusal
Earlier, Bollywood style was our inspiration but now people have started to follow western trends. Besides that, the yesteryears were about matching clothes. The color of your blouse had to match the color of your sari. Now it’s all about mix and match, and contrast.
