Welcome to Friday! A very silly post this week, to balance the romantic post last week. But I am also going to try for gender parity, so that should be an interesting challenge.
I was writing about Guide this week, and in the course of that I stumbled across this incredibly attractive photo of Dev Anand being all cool and artistic in a scarf:
Which made me think about how incredibly hard a scarf is as an accessory. I myself can never quite pull it off. I’m not talking Dupatta type scarves, that drape and are part of the outfit, but the casual accent scarfs. Very tricky to make them look casual and elegant instead of stupid and awkward.
Akshay Kumar here, for instance, creates more an impression of someone who forgot his shirt and hasn’t realized it yet, then a cool fashion-forward innovator:
He remembered his shirt this time but, frankly, it’s not much better. Plaid and strips? Really?
This time he seems to have forgotten the scarf, and had to borrow one from his mother-in-law instead. Doesn’t it have that distinctive sort of “ladies who lunch” vibe? Instead of a more manly “Hey! Sometimes my neck gets cold!” flavor?
At least those scarves seemed possibly vaguely functional. Hrithik, on the other hand, likes to go for the purely accent scarves. Like that skinny scarf that was suddenly everywhere when Dhoom 2 came out.
For Kites promotions, he went with a more sort of cosmopolitan rich man look, all patterned and silk and elegant. Which Barbara Mori is clearly trying not to laugh at in this picture.
And finally, the Full Ascot!!!! For one of his J. Hampstead ads. I don’t know, I don’t think he is really pulling it off. Kind of looks like his head is no longer connected to his body if I stare at it too long.
Now Salman, this man knows how to wear a scarf! Action hero in Ek Tha Tiger, all rough and rugged and just part of his outfit:
A little pop of color on an otherwise informal look:
Or a classic and classy style, which he is pulling off much much better than Hrithik’s fumbling:
Now, I promised some ladies this week, didn’t I? Let’s start at the top, with Dimple Kapadia. Look how awesomely she is working the scarf! It is such a perfect burst of color against her plain outfit. And something I could never pull off myself, at least not without looking like a bumblebee.
Now, Madhuri uses the scarf as a multi-purpose instrument! When being a tourist with her family, it is a handy disguise (her boys are SO CUTE!!! Do you think one of them might be a good pair with one of Sridevi’s daughters? I know there is an age difference, but think of the dancing ability their kids would inherit! Oh, and Dr. Nene is kind of cute as well)
She doesn’t wear accent scarves much in her “official” appearances, or western-type clothes in general. Maybe that is part of her disguise for her personal life? We won’t recognize her if she isn’t in a full sari because we never see her any other way? But she looks great in western wear with her only decoration a casual scarf, as we can see from Aaja Nachle, and I wish she would wear it more in public appearances.
Deepika, on the other hand, I think might have gone a bit too far to the Western side. At least in this one shot. The scarf may be less of an “accent” and more of a “oh my gosh my bra shows, quick, how do I cover it”. (this may be a scarf/cardigan/chunky necklace type emergency that I myself have experienced)
But you know what woman can really wear a scarf? Kangana!!! Headband look, perfect:
70s-80s style suite look, Mary Tyler Moore-worthy:
With sunglasses:
With different sunglasses:
With a sports car and pants way too tight for me to ever pull off:
And with just plain attitude:
And just to end on a high note, my favorite of all the photos, which somehow makes me both laugh hysterically, and also kind of attracted. What’s WRONG with me????
dontcallitbollywood 
Not a fan of scarves at all but even I have to admit that Salman looks really sharp in that plain red scarf with the sports jacket. If I ever lost my mind and decided to attempt a scarf look, that would be the one I would go for. I would totally end up looking like Akshay though- out of place, uncomfortable and ridiculous. He is NOT a scarf guy no matter how hard he tries!
Also, I loved that Madhuri look in Aaja Nachle- super hot soccer mom! And I have to say that Deepika’s look is working for me too. Kangana’s headband, though, has my vote for the sexiest use of a scarf!
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I love the headband look too, but whenever I try it for myself, it just ends up slipping all over the place, and causing a huge knot at the nape of my neck. I did have a fake headscarf once, actually a headband with a scarf wrapped around it, that worked! But it kind of felt like cheating.
On Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 4:32 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I own about six scarves – most of which I bought when I lived in New York where they had real winter temps and scarves were worn as supplemental winter wear, and definitely not for a look. But since 2007, I’ve lived in Sarasota FL, and now Port Wentworth, GA, so the scarves are used only on those very infrequent days when the temps dip into the high 30’s. Which means 2 to 3 days a year.
That said – I enjoyed reading the post. While you generally proved your point, I think you might have researched a bit more to show some scarves that would actually look good.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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I wear scarves a lot in winter – not great woolly ones but lovely Indian silk ones, mainly bought from this place – https://www.easternsilk.com.au/
They are not bulky, keep you warm and help keep the inside of the collar of jackets clean 🙂 I can’t wear pashminas elegantly though 😦
I hope Akshay has better scarves now… (We know what we can buy him for Christmas, lol)
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When I wear scarves in winter, it is part of an elaborate unattractive cold weather protection system. Wrapped around the head, then a hat on top of that, then a hood on top of that. So the scarf itself ends up not really being seen.
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I love Kangana’s headband.She can rock the period look.Sharmila Tagore looked wonderful while wearing a red scarf over her head in a conventional way in the Akele song in ‘An evening in Paris.’ Wear a woollen scarf in India, and you will get many people asking solicitously whether you are sick 🙂 Although Prithviraj did bring it to fashion for a little while with London Bridge and Anwar.I remember tying a scarf to my ponytail when I attended a party with a 70s theme.I borrowed my mom’s old clothes from the 70s for the party.My mom was adamant that the look wouldn’t be complete without a scarf.
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you just made me remember Vijayantimala in Sangam! She wore a scarf western-style over her head for warmth in the European segment, and looked much better than I ever do:
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That is a wacky scarf, lol. It looks good on her but would look crazy on me.
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That isn’t a scarf — it’s the pallu part of her sari wrapped around her head — a look that was quite a craze in the 60’s and early 70’s.
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I think it’s imitating that look, but it is a scarf. Here’s the other image that I rejected as less interesting:
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You should find the full length photo of this scene/song. This “polka dot sari” is quite famous/infamous on the net. And you’ll see that it’s clearly a sari.
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Wacky in the sense that “Oh God, we forgot to pack Vyjayantimala’s scarf with polka dots.Nevermind, we’ll just paste some cotton on a red dupatta.No-one will be able to tell the difference.”
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You should be a costume designer! That is brilliant.
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I think even that last pic of Kangana, with white blouse and a red “scarf”, is really a sari pallu wrapped around her neck.
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If it is (which I can see, now that you say it), that is the oddest way to wear a sari! With a tied t-shirt and the tail all twisted around.
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No doubt they were trying to “modernize” it. 🙂
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