rediff.com
News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

Rediff.com  » Movies » Retro Fashion we DON'T want to see again
This article was first published 10 years ago

Retro Fashion we DON'T want to see again

Last updated on: November 28, 2013 18:32 IST

Image: Sridevi in Nakabandi
Nishi Tiwari in Mumbai

The Wikipedia entry of the term 'retro' explains its meaning by way of an example, 'clothing from the 1980s or 1990s could be retro.'

While we're on our way to 2014, all the 'retro' throwbacks we see onscreen are tributes to fashion trends of the 1960s and 70s.

So we decided to do a little 'Throwback Thursday' of our own and update the retro style files.

Unfortunately, most of what we dug up were trends everybody would rather stay away from (Boy! Are we glad that era passed!).

Here then, is a look at 11 NEW retro looks we wish NEVER come back!

Shady designs

As much as we'd like to talk about all of it, let's just focus on Sridevi's eyes in this still from her 1990 film Nakabandi.

We get it you have to be all sparkly and shiny to play a showgirl but must you try to become India's answer to Gwen Stefani's Harajuku girls?

Please click NEXT for more.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Image: Rekha and Kabir Bedi in Khoon Bhari Maang

We'd like to think we were too busy cheering for the wronged heroine to notice how comically misguided her revenge makeover was in Rakesh Roshan's hit 1988 drama Khoon Bhari Maang starring Rekha and Kabir Bedi.

Everybody suddenly woke up to the prospects of big hair and other outrageous ways to push the boundaries of hair styling.

It was such a huge deal, we wouldn't be surprised if someone told us scripts were being written around how the heroine's hair would be styled.   

Also, is it just us or Rekha's hairdo really is like Manny -- the grumpy elephant -- from the Ice Age animated series?

Oval-all impression

Image: Shilpa Shetty and Shah Rukh Khan in Baazigar

Much before Indians woke up to the hipster lifestyle, Bollywood actors were showing off their round spectacles and sunglasses on screen.

In Abbas Mustan's Baazigar, SRK woos Kajol in an army uniform and dark oval shades after he dumps his formerly geeky look which was established by -- you know it -- oval specs.

Causing colour blindness in hindsight

Image: Govinda and Amitabh Bachchan in Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan

Not sure if Amitabh Bachchan knew that when he signed on to costar with Govinda in a film, he'd get sucked down the downward spiral that was his stocky costar's wardrobe in his prime.

Really taken by the Big B's kurta because it's brighter than Govinda's.

Clothes that no one wears in real life

Image: Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Dil Toh Pagal Hai

It wasn't salwar kameez for sure. 

One of the mainstays of Dil Toh Pagal Hai was Madhuri Dixit prancing around in dresses that comprised of pants, sheer kurta-tops with a slit in the front and dupatta and in one case, this.

And we accuse Sanjay Leela Bhansali for making films that are removed from reality.

Being macho

Image: Salman Khan and Bhagyashree in Maine Pyar Kiya

This still -- from a film made by the guardians of Indian culture on screen -- makes Salman Khan's days of partial onscreen nudity distressing to watch.

All his contemporaries -- Akshay Kumar and suchlike -- were repeat offenders too.

Let's just say that Indians are a hairy bunch and they don't like to be reminded of that. 


Ill-equipped

Image: Kajol in Karan Arjun

Another common malaise that gripped Bollywood of yore were ill-fitted tops.

The body-hugging salwar kameezs of the 1960s popularised by the likes of Mumtaz, Asha Parekh among others gave way to badly designed cholis and tops in the 1990s.


Fashion waist-land

Image: Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor in Andaz Apna Apna

As we can see now, wearing your pants ridiculously high (in this manner) is not the most flattering look, especially on the big screen.

Which reminds us, remember Kajol in the Mere khawbon mein jo aaye number from DDLJ and in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and Pooja Bhatt in the Kabhi Na Kabhi title song?

Yeah, those high-waist pants needed to go.

Coloured contacts

Image: Manisha Koirala and Armaan Kohli in Jaani Dushman

Need a foreigner for a brief role in your film? Need an Indian for a villainous role in your film? Need to dress up a shape-shifting snake when it assumes a human form in your film? 

Roads to all these quests lead to... coloured contact lenses.

Correction, bad contact lenses that do unspeakable disservice to the wearers' faces and complexions.

Tags: 1

Stretching it too far

Image: Movie poster of Mr Bond

If the real Bond sees this, he'll recoil in horror.

Is this a Hindi remake of a Bond film? Is this a brochure for a local gym membership? We don't know.

Spandex was a necessary evil back then and was donned by actresses irrespective of the setting.

It was like the fabric was invading the silver screen.

Tags: Bond

Pig-tail signs

Image: Viju Khoti, Karisma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon in Andaz Apna Apna

How creepy are pigtails on grown girls?

Girls have no tangible reason whatsoever to tie their hair in a pigtail once they've crossed the age of 15.

Also, how disturbing was it to see Karisma Kapoor, in pigtails again, hitting on her teacher (played by Anil Kapoor) in David Dhawan's Andaz?