Winter comes, the environment changes as we stop sweating all the time. The pleasant feel is always not without its downsides either because as the temperature drops gradually, dust becomes a nuisance.
Half the people of the city develop some sort of dust-related ailment, from bronchitis to cold to blocked nose.
Despite the temporary inconvenience, winter is welcomed because Bangladesh, which used to be a country of six seasons, can now be categorized in three basic terms: Hot, wet hot, and less hot.
This year, winter has come early, coinciding with the warning of the met office that after a hiatus of several years, this year, the “less hot” will actually be a proper winter.
Say Ameen to that!
Winter is also a time for reflection and during the soft cool dusk moments, one can often become wistful about the winters long gone.
For some, the past is better forgotten. For others, like myself, it’s a faded page chronicling the evolution of the society we live in.
That’s why, sipping tea and immersing in twilight in 2025, one slips back to winter, 1985.
The essential trip to the ‘Nixon’ market
I bet most of you reading this piece haven’t heard of Nixon market.
In the years immediately after liberation, the US government, led by Richard Nixon, which, during the whole of 1971, had opposed the War of Liberation, realized that since Bangladesh was now an independent country, it was the moral duty of the Americans to help the embattled people of a war-ravaged nation.
In that line, large bundles of clothes, mostly hand-me-downs, were sent to Bangladesh.
While these were meant to be given free of cost, they ended up with small shop owners near Gulistan, which swiftly derived the name “Nixon Market,” after the name of the president.
In a county without any significant textile industry manufacturing winter clothes, the sole supplier of winter-time garment was the Nixon market, later called Carter and Reagan market with the change of the presidents of the USA.
In post-independence Bangladesh, denim clothes could only be found here and Dhaka residents’ first introduction to jeans was through the large piles of Edwin and Lee jeans.
While most of the clothes on sale were second hand, a good portion came from renowned brands like C&A or Ralph Lauren which were clothes with minor faults or from the collection of previous years.
If one wanted to buy leather jackets, this was the only place because in the late 70s and well into the mid 80s, Bangladeshi manufacturers had not developed the skill of producing proper leather attire.
The most fascinating thing about buying clothes from these markets was that often, one found dollar notes inside the pockets of a pair of jeans or the inside pocket of a blazer.
Pearson’s, our first local brand with flair
At the end of 1983, Pearson’s, the now defunct local clothing brand, came and created a storm.
By 1985 the brand was selling all kinds of clothes, although their winter collection was still limited. Pearson’s was the brand which appeared, buoyed by the new age concept of adverts with a zing.
Using the logo of a horse, the brand had the craze of the time, actor Afzal Hossain, as its fashion adviser/model.
Although politically, the 80s was volatile, the country was slowly coming out of the austerity and privation-dominated first decade of post independence.
Elephant Road became the hot spot during winter months with shops selling imported clothes from Thailand.
The names Bugzo, Hara, Pan still evoke memories. Following Pearson’s, Cat’s Eye soon came to the scene.
“I still recall the Export Fair of 1985 when Cat’s Eye had a huge stall selling 80s funky clothes,” recalls Imtiaz Alam Beg, a photographer.
The fashion industry was slow to catch up with global trends in the 70s but that changed as Dhaka residents got access to the latest musical hits of the West, thanks to recording studios like Rainbow, Soor Bichitra, and Rhythm, observes Imtiaz.
Duran Duran hit us like a rock in 1984-85 and most Dhaka youngsters were eager to follow the style of the band members as shown on the album covers. Simon Le Bon was an icon, John Taylor the crush of millions.
Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA triggered the denim craze while Michael Jackson made leather jackets the most coveted item. So much was Jackson’s influence that the shoes which he wore in the music video for Billy Jean were copied by local shoe-makers and launched in the market as “Jackson shoes.”
The breakdance mania hit Bangladesh like a storm in late 1984! If one could do the moonwalk, he was a hero, if you could do the spider walk, you were sensational, but those who managed the head-spin were deemed superhuman.
When a friend hurt his head attempting a head-spin, it took some time to explain to his perplexed parents as to what he was trying to do. After hearing the explanation, his dad said in a perplexed tone: But why should he try to do such a thing?!
In December 1985, the open space in front of the parliament building became the break dance showcasing spot where the young appeared to impress. And the number that eclipsed all the others -- Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes.
The young from upper middle-class families rode bicycles getting approving looks from the opposite sex while very few could afford a bike or a car. When a dear friend, now deceased, Sadat Ali Khanpanni, came to school driving a powder blue VW Beetle, wearing a green beret, playing Self Control on the car stereo, he looked cooler than Michael Knight.
Elephant Road was the gathering spot for most Dhaka youngsters because the music recording shops provided a space for a chinwag followed by a taste of milk coffee at the Coffee House, Dhaka’s first proper fast-food joint.
Forty years ago, at around the same time, we were carrying the walk-man and listening to Say you Say me by Lionel Ritchie while Back to the Future starring Michael J Fox was the film hit.
As one sits by the window and savours the twilight of 2025, symphonies of 1985 rush back. Let’s put Dio’s Hungry for Heaven” on the phone and slide back in time.
Towheed Feroze is a former journalist.
