A few years ago, the British envoy in Bangladesh had invited me to their premises on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth. The UK missions across the world were celebrating this occasion.
I was so happy that I wanted to buy some new clothes for attending the Queen’s party. I bought a pair of blue jeans and a polo shirt which I’d wear at the celebrations.
My spouse was appalled to see my plans. She asked me not to wear those clothes at that party. I was quite adamant, so I wore the jeans and the polo to the dinner anyway. To my surprise, I saw almost all other invitees were staring at me.
I thought I was looking good; that’s why they were staring at me. However, a little later, I discovered that they were looking at me because I was the odd man out at the ceremony as far as my attire was concerned. All the men were in their formal suits of panjabi-pyjamas and the ladies were wearing saris.
Clothing speaks
That reminded me of an incident that happened to the famous Persian poet Sheikh Sadi many centuries ago. The poet was invited to an official dinner hosted by the emperor. He went there adorned in his everyday attire.
The host didn’t look at him, and didn’t even recognise the poet. By then, Sheikh Sadi was quite a venerable poet in society. He became very sad to realise that the king didn’t even look at him because of what he was wearing.
A few days later, he was again invited to the same place. This time, the poet wore something very costly and something that others would wear at a party hosted by the emperor. This time, the emperor greeted him invitingly, and personally served food on the poet’s platter.
Noticing the change in attitude, Sadi started pouring the food in his pocket in front of the host. The host was very surprised and asked him why he was doing so. The poet replied that he didn’t deserve the food, his attire did. It was because of his attire the emperor was treating him well.
Our smartness also depends on individual appearance or behaviour. I’ve seen many people, wearing casual attire, looking way better and smarter than many people wearing what we call ‘formal’ attire
In this case, the emperor apologised to Sadi, but not everybody does it, even when they realise that they were giving more importance to the attire than the person. If a person with a torn and shabby panjabi or shirt approaches a bank counter in Bangladesh, security won’t even allow the person to enter the bank, no matter how much money the person has in his account.
When we receive invitations to official dinners or wedding dinners, in many cases, the dress code is mentioned in the invitation cards. Some say formal, some say casual. These days, a new trend has evolved in Bangladesh -- they write smart casual.
Get smart
When someone says “smart casual,” we should consider that “casual” is never smart, but you can make it smart by taking it closer to “formal.” So, we must conclude that “formal” is “smart.”
Now, what is “smart” or, for that matter, smart attire? Is it that what looks nice is “smart,” or is it that what we call something “smart” is smart? Of course, dirty clothes cannot be smart, but there are many interpretations of smartness.
Our smartness also depends on individual appearance or behaviour. I’ve seen many people, wearing casual attire, looking way better and smarter than many people wearing what we call “formal” attire.
I remember a few years ago, a poet was prevented from entering a social club as he was wearing panjabi and lungi. This person is known to wear lungis in both his public and private life. We also have a political thinker who always wears funeral clothes in all seasons.
What would we call them? “Unsmart?” Yes, when we impose a dress code on the people, if they don’t follow that, we call them “unsmart.” But that doesn’t mean people are unsmart when they don’t follow the dress codes.
Club rules
All our social clubs like to follow a dress code. The members of these clubs or any guests aren’t allowed to enter the club premises without the attire that has been suggested for them. I agree -- the clubs may have their reason for fixing certain dress codes, but I couldn’t agree with how the authority of a Dhaka University female students’ hall of residence wanted a girl’s attire prohibited inside the hall.
Many girls of this hall of residence wear salwars with t-shirts. The authority termed this attire as “obscene,” and issued an order against it. Now, who decides what is obscene or what is not?
Secondly, these girls are adults and they live in an all-female environment inside their dorms. They are not coming out on the street where they could face harassment. If the hall authorities are comprised of men, then it’s the problem of the men, not the girls.
I was a student of a cadet college. We had to wear at least six articles of clothing every day. I do understand the point of view of a cadet college, or a school or a madrasa, but I don’t understand why the students of a university would be forced to wear or forced to ban an attire that they wear inside their residence. What would happen if the government bans lungis inside the men’s residences?
An attire serves two purposes: It makes us look good, and at the same time, it should be comfortable. I never understood why we Bangalis go closed-collar in this humid weather. I also don’t understand why we call full-sleeved shirts “smart.”
One has to be reasonable when one talks about attire.
Ekram Kabir is a fiction writer.
