STYLE OF INDIA

Fabulous Fashion Designer Geeta Khanna has produced this beautifully magnificent illustrated book that walks us through the journey of history of the evolution of fashion and clothing in India.The book has a Beautiful and splendid front page that gives a very pleasant feeling.The intelligent author takes her readers back into thousand of years and then gradually brings the reader into the present using illustrations in the increasing order very systematically.Inside you get a succinct history with illustrations of Indian styling of both genders from prehistory continuing to the present. This masterpiece inform about the history of style in India, ancient India, Rig Veda, Harappa Era, the Vedic Age, The Mauryan Age, The Gupta Age, Dancers, Costumes and Style, The Apsara, The Devadasis of India, Court Dancers, Courtesans, Nautch Girls, Representations of Divine Attire like the Vishnu, Ram, Krishna, Goddess Shakti, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Sita & Draupadi.The author takes us through the age of Sultanate, The Mughals and then into the Parsi, French & British Influence and walks us through the Regimental Uniforms with Beautiful illustrations in the Princely States like Jaipur, kangra, Baroda that gives a vivid description of Princess and Rajmata in India including the Narration, Art and Costume Design inIndia.The accompanying text is easy to read and digest and makes this a great book to buy from amazon - open it at a page and just enjoy.There are plenty of beautiful and attractive illustrations showing in detail the designs and styles within a certain historical period till the present.The author has written the book in a well organized way which I really enjoyed reading. Within its pages, you can hear her voice in the typed words. It's very much her aesthetic which reflects her attitude toward fashion designing in India that would walk you through from the medieval period in India till the present.Beautiful and colorful pictures left an impeccable impression in my mind.This book would be a great addition for any bookshelf. Anyone who loves fashion will enjoy this book and actually you don't have to be a great fashionista to appreciate it. As a treat for yourself this is a wonderful book and as a gift for family and friends again you can't go wrong. I could see anyone from the age of 10 and up to enjoy this masterpiece, which is stylish, helpful, and is full of inspiration about fashion.I would strongly recommend this book even for those who are not into fashion designing as it explores and digs our Indian culture beautifully from past into the present very systematically and gives valuable information about the history of fashion designing sailing through the present.Every word and illustration in this Masterpiece is a gem.Highly recommended.

The book is missing an important style icon, Ritu Kumar. She is mentioned in the bibliography right after, introducing Asha Sarabhai, so she was meant to be in the book! This is a glaring omission by the printer/publisher. It is a very expensive book, so felt cheated, hence the two stars.