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Shubhra Gupta

Here is a rough-and-ready reckoner of some good off-the-shelf buys this season, when the sun is merciless, and the humidity makes you want to curl up and collapse.

The one thing that stands out in the freshly out ready-to-wear segment is the preponderance of design: more than ever before, the styling is sleeker, the silhouettes are smarter, and the fabrication is finer.

Amongst the explosion of colour and cuts in nearly every brand that is currently touting its `spring-summer' collections, it is now getting easier to see the subtle but sure hands of designers: in cunning cut-away collars, in the variations of the sleeve length, or the structure of the garment. Here is a rough-and-ready reckoner of some cracking good off-the-shelf buys (chosen on the basis of both looks and comfort) this season, when the sun is merciless, and the humidity makes you want to curl up and collapse.

The T-shirt has gone formal. Van Heusen, the brand which is associated with shirts, has branched out to what it calls a `formal tee', meant to be worn to `strategic golf meets', or as a shirt substitute under a suit for weekend meetings. "The T-shirt has clean features, no frills, and is meant for a corporate customer who is looking for appropriate weekend wear to work," says Vasanth Kumar, Vice-President, Marketing, Madura Garments.

At the urging of the store person at New Delhi's Planet Fashion (which houses all Madura Garments brands), I feel the tee: the `enzyme wash' and the honey-comb knit makes it truly ultra-soft, especially when compared to other more expensive Allen Solly T-shirts ranged alongside.

The company claims that the T-shirt will not go out of shape despite repeated washing, because of the `mobilon' tapes that secure the strategic points. Priced at Rs 499, the Van Heusen tee is available in 21 colours: some, like a few lavender shades and deep reds make a statement from among the stack of the standard browns and blues.

Also worth checking out are the additions to women's wear from Allen Solly. A seer-sucker, short-sleeved shirt in pink (Rs 699) is attractive, so are the spaghetti-strap knit vests (Rs 399) to be worn under shirts. But what seems like a smart move is that the new range of trousers (Rs 999-Rs 1,099) comes in four fits, perfect for Indian women who have varying sizes of hip and waist. The standard practice for those who like their trousers to fit just so has been to get them tailored to size, because stores generally do not cater to customers who are out of the norm — uniformly slim on the waist and hip.

The trousers come not only in sober pastels, but also hot pinks, yellows and oranges: clearly women have it better when it comes to a work wear colour palette. Touches like slit bottoms dress down (or dress up, depending upon what you wear as an upper) the trousers, available in linens, stretch fabrics, and the ubiquitous polynosics which seem to have taken over the readymade segment. "The problem for women over 25 who have been more comfortable with ethnic wear, has always been one of the right fit, when it comes to trousers. Our `agile' trousers are meant to add to wardrobes of those women, and not act as substitutes," says Kumar.

The days of the one-shape-for-all shirt seem numbered. Last season, Oxemberg had come up with the slim shirt: this season, SF Shirts is out with its `boxy shirt', great for those who want to show off their trousers. There are three things that make the boxy shirt distinctive, says SF Brand Head, Sanjeev Mohanty. "It's a summery, casual look. It comes down just the right length around the crotch and thigh area. And it makes you look taller (if the shirt is too long, it makes the torso and bottom divide appear skewed)."

ITC Wills' summer look appropriates several shades of white in great cottons and linens, perfect for those who believe that those are the only fabrics worth donning when the temperatures are in the 38-plus range.

Guiding me around the flagship ITC Wills Lifestyle Store in South Extension, store person Gaurav Suri points out the new additions: a short-sleeved linen shirt in different shades green, blue and white (Rs 1,695), and a peasant-style ruffled blouse for women (Rs 795).

What is interesting about their stores, and uniform among all 48 stores across the country, is the way it is divided up: different sections for men and women, and within those, different sections for their three ranges: ITC Wills Sports, Classic and the most recently launched Clubwear, which covers garments for all occasions. "What we want to do is address all parts of your wardrobe — casuals, `relaxed formals', and formals," says Suri.

What is really eye-catching is the club wear for women, some of which looks as if a design team has coasted on good ideas: the shiny lurex tops in metallic weave look like a nice evening option for the youthfully-inclined, and a few slightly staider styles for those who prefer to be understated. Also good-looking are their cotton-lycra combos in shirts, and long dresses in printed linen (Rs 300-Rs 1,200).

It's in the detailing that some of these garments stand out — in the different lengths, and shapes of the neck and the sleeve.

In fact, more than in men's wear, it's in women's readymades that the market seems to have made bigger strides. Though, we are still very far from the problem-of-plenty, familiar to those who shop in the West, where the high streets spoil you rotten for choice. But we've advanced from the days of boring, stodgy fits, to a situation where both stores and brands are working hard at providing you with an option, in terms of style, fit, and budget.

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