A Fashion Statement in Bangladesh
Fashion in Bangladesh has a rich and varied tradition—for women; Saris, Salwar Kameez, Bindis, Ornas, and more are available in any style. The tradition, though, seems to fall quite short for the men in the population. Luckily, my friend and I have ventured into the unforgiving realm of the lungi and the gamcha and carved out a niche.
Although in form, the lungi and the gamcha may be mere plaid skirts and checkered scarves, in function they represent everything a man can be. By walking outside in a lungi—perhaps somewhat akin to American basketball shorts in prestige, one may make the statement “hey, I wore pajamas to work today!” Most of the laborers and rickshaw pedal-ers wear these skirts daily, but many locals in my (wealthy) area look down on the practice. My wearing a lungi in public brings out gawks and laughs and shouts from the people whom I walk by. Stephen, my co-adventurer and co-model featured here, and I normally rock out in the skirts sans underwear, whenever possible, although the rules forbid us from wearing them in our Bangla school (which is valuable insight into their general image).
Even though a skirt may seem universally useful, nothing compares to the gamcha in its overall swiss-army-knife level of utility. To an outsider, wearing a scarf in the sweltering heat and muggy humidity of Dhaka in the summer can seem like (and sometimes feel like) donning a winter coat in a hot shower. For the men of Bangladesh, though, it is the perfect accessory to compliment a sweaty face and a ragged button-down. It can be wrapped around the head in, at last count, at least four-thousand culturally distinct ways. It may be worn tight at the waist like a belt, or slung low on the hips as a sash. I’ve even seen it double as both a towel and a blanket, and when folded properly, makes a perfect substitute for a pillow and/or mattress: a complete bed-spread set!
As a taller, lighter, redder-haired, white man, sometimes tying a gamcha onto various body parts, and proudly strolling in a lungi, elicits more laughs and cheers than anything else. But I am pretty sure they are laughing with, not at, me. Especially when I tie it around my head like a pirate or toss it around my shoulders like I am skiing in aspen. They dig that sort of thing here.
