If there were two main reactions in India to the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony, they were “did they really do that” and “what are they wearing!”
While the former was for the surreal opening ceremony that had everything from drag queens to a heavy metal band – Bollywood heroine-turned-MP Kangana Ranaut reportedly called it ‘hyper-sexualised, blasphemous’ and accused leftists of hijacking the event – the latter was for the uniform that Indian athletes wore.
Designed by the great designer Tarun Tahiliani, our sports women were draped in sarees, while the male athletes wore a kurta-bundi set flaunting the Tricolour showcasing deep love for their mother nation. So far so good.
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However, Tahiliani's attempt at patriotic fashion sank in the Seine, or rather, the Parisian rain.
One user on X (formerly Twitter) said she had seen better sarees sold on Mumbai streets for Rs 200. Another user declared: “Mediocre fabric. Ill-fitting. Basic colours. Standard issue design. Not representing the rich cultural diversity that is #India. Kind of attire I would wear when I slept through my morning alarms! The only thing this uniform seems representative of is our “adjust karlo” approach!”
It was not just users on X. The disaster was evident. The fabric choices screamed "last-minute scramble" rather than "world-class design”. It seemed like whatever was lying around was used instead of something that enhances both look and feel.
The sarees, with their green and orange border, paired with an orange high-collar blouse and brown shoes, not only looked disastrous but were distinctly not befitting elite athletes. And those brown shoes? They looked like something pulled from the back of a closet.
“Tarun has been associated with highly intricate bridal and ceremonial and ornate ensembles and therefore, I guess we expected clothes to echo those design elements. However, we have to remember that this line of uniforms for this event is not from the Tarun Tahiliani couture line,” said Sayon Mitra, a Kolkata-based designer.
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Then we have the men's kurta-bundi set. A plain white kurta with the barest hint of a border – minimalism taken to an extreme. It lacked any real flair or excitement, which is exactly what one wants when representing a vibrant, diverse nation like India.
Even the jacket, with its subtle pockets and orange and green border detailing, fell flat. What was supposed to be elegant came across as dull. Precision in tailoring? Attention to detail? Not here.
“It seems that this piece had a hard time finding the middle ground, resulting in something that looked interesting but lacked practical considerations necessary for real-life wearing,” said Pooja Choudhary, who has an apparel brand called Lavanya The Label.
Another designer, New Delhi based Jattinn Kochhar, told The Telegraph Online: “Choice of fabric was definitely a massive let down, using India-centric motifs along with subtle Indian hand embroidery would have certainly made a stellar result.”
