WITNESSING EVOLUTION
COUPLES THROUGH THE YEARS

Introduction
It is amazing how much we can mark the gradual yet significant changes in history just by putting a following a trail of pictures.
The focus of our history of design course was to follow this trail and note the changes that happened in the past few decades.
It started off by just putting up pictures of each of our family photographs and old advertisements from newspapers, magazines and the internet. Just by studying these pictures that have come from different decades and different parts of the country, we noticed how one picture is "different" from the other pictures, what all has changed, in terms of body language, the clothes, the hairstyles the background and what has remained the same all this while.
Photographic image
Our group started off by looking at the couples of 1930s and 40s. It was a portrait photograph of a couple sitting in a studio. At first glance we could’nt help but compare it to a Ravi Varma painting! This is because the photographs taken at that time were taken keeping a frame in mind, just like a painting. A lot of thought was put into the composition of the photograph and mostly all the pictures captured a full body image of the person .Another reason for it could be the fact that earlier paintings were the only means of capturing people on paper. For this people would pose for hours and hours in the same position. When photography came in people would have somehow been stuck between getting a portrait painted and the same being photographed! Also the time taken for the image to set on the film in old cameras used to take a longer time. A lot of time and attention was spent on getting the "perfect picture".
Now, with the coming of handy cameras which do not require professional photographers to operate
and new technology like digital cameras which capture even the tiniest of moments with utmost clarity, photography has become more of a casual word. It is seen in the photographs of the 80s and 90s where the couples are much more at ease with the camera. The consciousness that was evident in the pictures of 1930s-50s was no more there in the pictures of the 90s. What one notices from these pictures is that the life in India, for the upper middle class ,during the 30s seemed more relaxed and peaceful as compared to the life of the people now, which is very fast. . Also, the focus is now more on the face than on the whole body, the compostion of the photographs have changed accordingly.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle of the people could easily be seen in the photographs. One could guess from the way of dressing itself, the place they are from. The lifestyle could easily be differentiated between the urban and the rural dwellers ,though we found people from the city more common( probable because only they could have afforded the luxurious cameras and photo studios at that time).
Clothing
1970s brought in a wave of prints. The traditional plain woven or embroidered sarees turned into chiffon colorful printed sarees! Big and bold prints flooded the markets during this period. One of the prints that we found common in the photographs was the "Bobby print" (a print with dots, after the name of the character played by Dimple Kapadia in the famous bollywood movie "Bobby"). It shows the greatest influence to Indian population , then and even now- Bollywood. The younger population of the country has always been fascinated by the highly stylized and heroic lifestyle of bollywood. Garment styles like bell-bottom trousers, big sized collars worn by Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor, popular actors of the 60s and the 70s, brought in a major rage amongst the college going crowd of the time. Similarly hairstyles like the "Sadhna cut", were very famous during the 60s.The colors worn by people also became brighter. The colors worn were mostly primary, in the late 60s and 70s. It was a somehow indirect influence of then popular "Pop- Art". A lot many colours were added on later to the palette.
In the indigenous Indian tradition, stitched garments were not known or used at all. The art of sewing was unknown to the early Indians, and that it was an import from outside. Serious and early students of Indian costumes, like Forbes Watson, have stated, mostly on the authority of other scholars, that the art of sewing came to India only with the coming of the Muslims.’
The ‘timeless’ Indian dress of men, thus, consists of garments that use no stitching, garments in other words that, as Forbes Watson says, "leave the loom, ready
for wear". The Dhoti, the Scarf or Uttariya, and the Turban, which have never really disappeared from any part of India, belong to this category, and their marked visibility in India could have led one erroneously to conclude that the early Indians did not use any sewn garments.
Likewise, for women, the Dhoti or the Sari as the lower garments, combined with a Stanapatta or breast-band for covering the breasts, forms a basic ensemble, and once again consists of garments that do not have to be stitched, the breast-garment being simply fastened in a knot at the back. And the Dhoti or the Sari worn covering both legs at the same time or, in the alternative, with one end of it passed between the legs and tucked at the back in the fashion that is still prevalent in large area of India.
The Amirs and the Maliks and other officers at the Sultanate courts are described as wearing "gowns (tatailyat),jakalwat and Islamic qabas of Khawarizm tucked in the middle of the body" and short turbans which did not exceed five or six forearms. Of other Amirs we learn that they were as well dressed "as the soldiers except that they did not use
belts and at times they let down a piece of cloth in front of them after the manner of the sups.
The veil that women still use so extensively in India, something like the dupatta or odhani of modern times, has its early prototype in the Vedic period, and various words signifying the same article of apparel are used, with differences between one and the other that may not be easy to identify. Minor differences and modifications apart, this dress seems to remain as a standard ‘for women for an uncommon length of time, not only because women’s dresses tend to be more conservative but also because these garments together belong to the ‘timeless’ garments of India.
When it comes to head-gears, there are many names that one comes upon, including usbnisba, kirita, patta, veshtana, vesbtanapatta, sbirovesbtana. The manner of wearing the turban evidently varied as much in ancient India as it did in medieval. The range of turban-styles that we encounter is reminiscent of the many styles in the 19th century, each style having a specific name for it as recorded by Forbes-Watson." However, there are close-fitting caps that one finds soldiers and some foreigners wearing in Indian sculptures and paintings. Exceptionally every head was covered by a turban.
Relationship
India’s culture has been known as a conservative one. The pictures through time show how western culture has slowly and gradually seeped in ours. The couples that once were shy have now become more close to one another and more open about their relationship. This again changes from urban to rural India. The untouched part of India still follows rules where men and women, no matter what their relationship is, are supposed to have a formal behavior in public. Wherever new medium of communication and transportation was introduced, people became more aware of what is happening in the world and stepped out of the bounds of their community. This is clearly seen in the way people dressed, their house interiors and their lifestyle. Especially after the 60s, people felt free to express themselves. The relationship now between life partners is more of understanding than the old "men dominates woman" principle. Women now play equal part in decision making.
Along with the relation between the couples, the relation between the people and the camera also changed. The way people looked towards the camera also changed. The photographs before had people gazing into the camera lens. Photographs were given great importance a few decades back. The attention given to it is seen in the photographs where the whole family is looking towards the lens with a lot of concentration, as compared to now where people try the “being natural” and pose very casually, the gaze has changed too...