Alas, gone perhaps for good are those halcyon days in the 1970s and 1980s when bell-bottom trousers were the rage among men and women, young and old alike. Every one keen to keep up with the Joneses, sartorially, flaunted these trousers with flared and floppy bottoms with panache — a welcome change from the staid and tight-fitting “drainpipes” then in vogue.
Bell-bottoms (or ‘bells’ as these were often termed) were a hugely popular fashion statement — with Amitabh Bachchan and Zeenat Aman, then upcoming stars, sporting them flamboyantly. To say that the garment captivated us wouldn’t be an exaggeration. We youngsters strode around with a regal air, our bell-bottoms reassuringly and gracefully flapping around our ankles — and sometimes sweeping the floor to signify we were ultra-fashionable! None liked to be seen wearing anything else.
People then, as now, were quite fashion-conscious, often competitively so, reminding one of Oscar Wilde’s tongue-in-cheek jibe: “Fashion is what one wears oneself; what is unfashionable is what other people wear!”
True, bell-bottoms did require more cloth than conventional trousers, but none begrudged the extra cost as such was their wide-ranging appeal. In comparison, today’s unisex, skin-tight trousers that often end well above the ankles (and sometimes just below the knees) give an old fogey like me the impression that the wearer is either skimping on costs or the cloth shrank unexpectedly!
The durability of a sartorial fashion is perhaps an indicator of its popularity. By this criterion alone, bell-bottoms fashionably flapped their way through the 1970s and 1980s, popularised by no less iconic a group than the Beatles. Indeed, many ardent adherents (yours truly included) proudly sported these trousers well into the 1990s even after their popularity had waned. As a memento of those heady days, I still have a pair mothballed away in a trunk.
gnettomunnar@rediffmail.com
