Globe Corner Blogs

Sari, Mehndi, & Bangles! -- photo by Nicole

In India, everything is beautiful. Well, okay. Not everything.  But the women are gorgeous. Stunning. In fact, I noticed this even before I got to the subcontinent. While sitting on the plane and waiting to take off, anxiously anticipating the twenty-something hour flight from San Francisco to Bangalore, it was hard not to notice that the airline attendants — all women — could pass for models. It was also hard not to notice my dirty, holey cargo pants and extra baggy, don’t-harass-me shirt in comparison to their sleek pencil skirts and perfectly coiffed hair.

It was a theme that would be repeated during my stay in India. I even heard local women in Bangalore complain about the appearance of backpackers one day. “They come from all these rich countries and they are always dressing the same. They look so dirty and smelly…” Well, I could only assume they weren’t talking about me. But I decided then that I was going to ditch my unisex travel uniform of khaki pants and boring black top. I was going to dress like the beautiful Indian women I saw everyday: like the South Indian housewives who pinned jasmine flowers in their hair and dripped with gold and jewels for only a trip to the neighborhood market; like the professionals who floated through offices in silk salwar kameez; like the college students who sauntered through the high-end shops on MG Road in designer jeans.  In short, I decided to look like a lady instead of another “dirty” backpacker.  I decided to buy a sari.

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Hanoi Fashion -- photo by Nicole

Paris, London, Milan… Hanoi?  Vietnam is known for many things, but high fashion usually isn’t one of them.  I’d been in Southeast Asia for two months by the time I reached Vietnam, and I wasn’t really thinking about what the locals would be wearing.  The crowds in Asia had so far been a mix of t-shirts, jeans, saris, silk sarongs, and brightly colored traditional scarves and jackets.  These were my favorite, the black or navy wraps that tie at the sides with intricate, neon embroidery  along the borders; bells, coins, and seashells are sewn on for good measure.  The Traditional Arts & Ethnology Museum in Luang Prabang identified the design as Hmong, an ethnic tribe found in the mountains of north Vietnam and Laos.  The museum, and its very chic cafe, exhibited local textiles, explaining the designs and customs unique to each region and ethnicity.  Small children, I’d noticed, often wore square caps with pink and green fabric sewn onto the crown and dainty neon pom-poms and bells adorning four corners.  Besides being especially cute, it turns out that parents from animist tribes make these to disguise their children as dandelions, hoping to prevent evil forest spirits from stealing away with their adorable souls. Continue Reading »