Author –  Srishti Chaudhary

Emma Tarlo, professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London wrote in her book that fashion in India is a “symbol of casteism or untouchability.” Exploring and understanding her statement and how Indians have dressed over centuries of casteism.

On a long afternoon, there is nothing better than scrolling Instagram and switching to reels over work. With the ban of TikTok, the dazzling culture of reels has undoubtedly attracted millions of users every day. But what remains unquestionable is the ability of reels to employ thousands of influencers and to provide a market for millions of big and small businesses. While it gives a platform to everyone to express themselves, it is not as ‘democratic’ as it sounds. The culture of reels speaks loudly about the privileged class and their idea of aesthetics as the ideal and superior form of presentation – whether it’s playing the guitar in the moonlight or struggles of general category because of reservations. Whereas the content made by oppressed communities is simply put into jokes proving that the platform itself is held by the privileged class. For people who might ask about the mention of the culture of reels here, it is the most favoured and opted face of modern casteism.

Some of the famous and popular brands and designers like the Bangalore-based Deepika Govind picked up the poor, marginalised as the aesthetical idea for her collection. Models from her brand were seen posing with poor farmers in the background to which she explained that it was encouraging Indian textiles and promoting the livelihood of the farmers. But the picture highlighted the gap between the two worlds. This hold of power and presentation in terms of fashion date back to decades ago, when Balais, an untouchable community in Central India was put into strict rules by Brahmins of how they should not wear dhotis or sarees with gold or colourful borders or ornaments of gold and silver.

Not much has changed even after all these years, Mahesh Rathod a 13-year-old Dalit boy in Gujrat was beaten by a group of men for wearing a gold chain, jeans and Mojaris(leather shoes traditionally seen as royal footwear and worn by upper-caste members in some parts of India). The dhoti could not be worn full length, the blouse had to be of a particular type, the turban a certain colour, usually black.

The father of the constitution and the Messiah of the Dalits in the country wore a white shirt, a blue blazer with a red tie symbolising the political resistance, an assertion of power, a means to break the caste barrier in a society that had rules for the clothing style of Dalits. And hence for the oppressed castes, Dr B.R Ambedkar started stating dissent by the sense of dressing and presenting oneself against the sartorial elegance supremacy of the upper caste. Clothes reflected the shift in social and economic appearance assigned to them: from oppressed to relatively free, from poverty-riddled to slightly empowered.

Learning from which, new Dalit fashion designers are rising up to break the stereotype of associating caste with clothes, Chandra Bhan Prasad — a Dalit ideologue, Indian journalist, writer, activist and political commentator started an e-commercial website for all the clothing manufacturers of the Dalit community called “bydalits.com”. While he was investigating a case of caste discrimination with the Dalit children of Balia, Uttar Pradesh the district magistrate ‘Bhawani Singh Khangarot’ dismissed his complaint and stated “travelled in expensive cars and wore expensive clothes, he should not be complaining of caste discrimination.”

In an interview, he stated his reason for the initiative only for Dalit manufacturers as “Manu Dharma restricts Dalits from wearing good clothes. This is precisely why Dalits should consciously dress very well to defy the Manu Smriti.” Even after widespread modern casteism takes a front seat in the modern era, activists like Prasad make a way for the oppressed classes in the face of fashion and clothing.