FASHION ‘ROCKS’
Evolution has clearly taken rock music from the charts to the catwalks ramps and shop racks. Band T-shirts are essential fashion accessories now and of course for teenagers it’s a must have just like an mp3 player or a cell phone and it doesn’t seem to matter if you know the band or not. You can see people sporting an ‘Iron Maiden’ or ‘The Beatles’ T-shirt or an Indian band, ‘Parikrama’ for that matter.
Not so long ago, band T-shirts were only available at professional music stores and exclusively worn by die-hard fans. Invariably you would see that they came in black and at men’s size XL.
Now however the band T-shirts have been reworked into tight little tees and tank tops that come in all colours: pink, yellow, white. What is interesting though is that bands on shirts are more likely to have been inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, than currently topping the charts. The Indian band called the ‘Parikrama’ has a different story however. They started playing in the bars of Delhi in the mid 1990s and soon became rock heroes but, they didn’t sell many records and never had much commercial success. Relegated to the fringes of rock music, the ‘Parikrama’ toured relentlessly and began persuading audiences with their form of music. It’s not their sound people are interested in it’s all about the image and attitude a band possesses. You love metal you sport an Iron maiden T-Shirt and if you love an Indian band you go on a sport a ‘Parikrama’ T-Shirt. It’s simple economics which our new age merchants have understood and made profit out of it. Other hard rock bands of the era including AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, are suddenly hot fashion properties too.
1992 total views, 1 today
