It's cool but it's the hottest thing going. The Indian yuppie, who came into his own in the late '80s, is shedding some of the accoutrements he gathered and acquiring new ones as he zips along the prosperity path. After the craze for the branded trousers, it's the shorter version that has taken yuppiedom by storm.The globe-trotting professional in the metros is increasingly slipping into shorts-in formal white, khaki and navy blue colours. "Movies, market or informal social visits, I wear shorts now. It is the most comfortable quasi-formal outfit," says Nirvic Guha, a 33-year-old Mumbai marketing executive. "I also take late-evening flights wearing shorts. I nearly live in them."Like Guha, the urban Indian is now walking the malls of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore in his - not to mention her - savvy Allen Solly or Benetton, if not the American Gap shorts. He does not look like one skating on the edges of a mid-life crisis. This turn-of-the-millennium bravura is a quantum leap at a time when even jeans and casual cottons are a no-go in many starchy offices and sections of the society. It is giving a new spring to the yuppie's tired feet and a new exposure to his legs. What's more, as the '90s taper off, the yuppie firmly believes it's time to shed old skin, looking hip in the bargain. Never mind the occasional paunch and the cellulite and the varicose veins.This urge to don shorts has been visible among city-slickers for some time, but it was mostly hide and seek. A stroll in the dark and a quick return home or a peep into a friend's place with an apologetic "I didn't have time to change into something decent". But things are changing.The past two years have seen a lot of them become sartorially adventurous, wrapping themselves with a lot more chutzpah. Nirvic's wife, 30-year-old Priyadarshini Guha, has what it takes to show a leg. "I wear what I like and am comfortable in," she says. "When I wear shorts to informal dinners people raise eyebrows but I don't give a damn. The matter ends there.".preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}Or does it? For, sporting shorts has become the attitude thing. Are shorts a new fashion statement or are they just the comfort thing? Or are they the spicy new fashion statement, raising a collective ooh-aah many years after the jeans came clinging to long legs and curvy hips? Wearing shorts to an office party is a sure way of keeping ahead of the times. Wearing it to office, like creative cats at the Chaitra Leo-Burnett office in Delhi do, is a way of showing that when it comes to generating ideas they don't have to pull up their socks. From a lounge garment to the ultimate comfort-casual wear, shorts are in the process of effecting the '90s sartorial putsch in India.Comfort and style are the USP. "It's a comfortable wear," says former basketball player Nivedita Singh, 34. "We wear shorts even in winter. My husband Ranjit picks them up when he is abroad." Shushant Banerjee, 27, who works as a software engineer in Mumbai, also feels more relaxed in a pair of shorts. "Actually my day begins with sports shorts and ends with casual evening shorts," he says."But getting into a pair of trendy, branded shorts is not enough; a lot of thinking goes into it. Like what pair of shorts, which matching T-shirt, sandals or floaters would look better? I think it changes your personality." An increasing number of young mothers in the metros see shorts as a hassle-free outfit-though it means more care with shaping the knees and thighs.Sudha, mother of a six-month-old baby and till recently an engineer in a Bangalore firm, says that being used to trousers and jeans, switching to shorts was easy. Paritosh Tripathy, who works for the State Bank of India in Delhi, and his wife Sumati are hardcore converts to the cause of ease-wear. Sumati has 17 pairs of shorts some of which her in-laws brought from the US and cheaper ones which she picked up from Delhi's Sarojini Market. "They are affordable and comfortable for quick trips," she says. "Shorts also save me the trouble of putting on the petticoat and blouse before wrapping a sari, all of which I think is an elaborate ritual."The Americanisation of the upwardly mobile Indian has been a continuing process and the bermudas is just a short stop. Those who have made brief stopovers in New York and Los Angeles keep their memories alive by wearing shorts after returning home. Sandeep Kunte, 29, was in Columbia for six months and now wonders why he never thought of wearing shorts earlier.He prefers the all-American Gap, which comes at around $20 (Rs 850) a piece. He has his eye on the premium Banana Republic brand, nearly double that price, which he plans to acquire during his forthcoming trip to the US. Comfort is the clincher in favour of the bermudas. That is why Sunder Raj, a Bangalore-based bank officer, wears shorts to the market. "They are my substitute for jeans because you cannot wear a veshtior lungito the market. The best bet are the shorts. They are neither official nor casual." The eagle eye of the garment makers has, of course, not missed the trend. Allen Solly has been quick to capitalise on the growing shorts market. "Bermudas are one of our fastest growing products," says Kabir Seth, the company's brand manager. "In Mumbai alone in 25 outlets we sell about 500 pairs a month." It is estimated that Allen Solly sells about 25,000 pairs a month in the country. The cheaper Weekender, which sold 10 lakh pieces annually four years ago, now sells four times as many.DCM Benetton too is trying to capture a part of this small but growing segment. Ethno-western designer shorts from Benetton will hit the market soon. It will try to blend the Indian and western values and Styles. The ladies' shorts will be longer and will endeavour to reveal as little of the thigh as possible."An increasing number of people is moving away from formal wear," says Sundeep Malhotra, deputy general manager, marketing, DCM Benetton. "It's more a matter of making a statement. To be seen in a cool pair of shorts is the in thing in cities." Other players in the still narrow branded-shorts segment seem to agree. "We sell it as a cool, comfortable and anytime, anywhere wear," says G.M. Mirchandani, president, garment business, Arvind Mills.There is a downside to it, though. There is the danger of being sniggered at and called a slob. That hardly matters when the idea is to walk on the cutting edge of the fashion sweepstakes. In other words, that could be the long and shorts of it. - with Sheela Raval in Mumbai and Stephen David in BangalorePublished By: AtMigration Published On: Oct 5, 1998--- ENDS ---
