Retro Day was celebrated in style on campus, with prints, polka dots and flowers paying homage to the various trends of the silver screen.
Retro Day—prints, patterns and flowers transported one to a bygone era, largely doused in sepia tones.
The word ‘retro’ inspires a variety of images in one’s mind: a collage of emotions, fashion trends, films and personae often cloaked in the warm glow of comfort and nostalgia of a bygone era. Quite literally meaning anything belonging to the past, the word ‘retro’ espouses a certain flexibility, allowing each individual to reminisce time periods that are intimately linked to him/her for a variety of reasons.
On 5 July 2023, Retro Day was celebrated on campus, with several students paying homage to yesteryear actors and actresses and experimenting with retro fashion by adding touches of contemporaneity. Dresses with polka dots, known as “Bobby” print, inspired from Dimple Kapadia’s look in the film; headbands, patterned, spotted and colourful; and flowers, large and luscious, pepped up the campus that day.
Several students sported elaborate hairdos as well: side partitioned puffs with hair braided down the side; double braids wound up with ribbons; and flowers to embellish their hair. Richlin, II PBPB, said that the word ‘retro’ to her brought to mind images of childhood romantic pursuits and mentioned Madonna Sebastian’s look from Power Paandi as a possible source of inspiration for her look. Sporting two braids, she had tucked in a red hibiscus jauntily on the side of her head.
Nayonika, II PSY, on the other hand, had sported several red roses and said that she had drawn inspiration from Simran’s look in the film Vaaranam Aayiram, a cult favourite amongst the youth, with Krishnan’s declaration of love for Maalini being etched in everyone’s hearts quite firmly. Both the films mentioned thus far, and another personal favourite Vada Chennai, are films made in the new millennium but which situate themselves in the1980’s and 1990’s as well. Aishwarya Rajesh and Andrea Jeremiah in Vada Chennai are both seen wearing their hair in double braids. Interestingly, the students' looks were inspired from recent cinematic representations of a bygone era, unlike the reference points for retro fashion that middle-aged persons would hold.
The “kanakambaram” flowers - strings of orange and yellow as long as one’s forearm - and elbow length blouse sleeves are reminiscent of retro fashion for those who savoured rustic cinema of the likes of Bharathiraja. The image of a Sridevi rolling amongst flowers is still vividly recollected while listening to the song ‘Chendoora Poove’. For the fans of Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth, bell bottom pants or high-waisted wide-legged trousers are a staple in fashion even today.
Along with roses and hibiscuses, one could also see a wide range of gerberas dotting students’ braids in college on Retro Day: pink, yellow, magenta, orange and red. A host of beehive up-dos could be seen, bringing to mind the likes of Hema Malini and Sharmila Tagore who had aced the same up-do in a number of films. In the sea of gerberas, roses and hibiscuses, a certain student had perched a gulmohar flower, freshly picked on campus, to spruce up her look. Prithvinka, II PSY, mentioned drawing inspiration from the style and fashion of the actress Revathi and giving it her own personal twist by including purple December flowers in her hair, a flower that the actor holds close to her heart.
Referring to a certain nostalgic past, the word ‘retro’ often takes one back to a time of playfulness, details and intricacies, in both fashion and films, that one curates for oneself. It could be neck scarfs of the likes of Parveen Babi, or the colourful sarees and childlike innocence of Sridevi, or the waistcoats and wide-legged bottoms of the angry young men, or even the denim dungarees and headbands of the likes of Kajol in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. These myriad examples, however, remain linked by a common factor: a celebration of colour and extravagance in form and detail supported by a certain confidence, as recreated by WCCites on the day.