The Skirt is haute property

Moral police please take note,more people are standing up for “free choice — skirt or shorts — depending upon the player’s liking” than those spiking the issue with patriarchal undertones. “It’s ultimately the choice of the woman what she wants to wear — whether it is skirts or shorts that make her feel comfortable,” say designers Shantanu and Nikhil Mehra who design sports fashion apparel for Adidas and have designed the costumes for the Mumbai Indians cheerleaders for IPL Season 4.

Whereas Mumbai-based basketball player Manisha Dange asks why should there be a dress code. “What is important is the comfort of the players. They should be allowed to wear what they want,” she says.

Lest we forget,all sports have uniforms,most even mandate the colour of what players wear on court or field. While beach volleyball makes bikinis for female players a must,women’s tennis is sometimes as glamorous (and sometimes more) as seasonal fashion pret,thanks to the stylish sisters Venus and Serena Williams and Russian tennis pro Maria Sharapova. No Wimbledon reportage is complete without articles on what they wore — with their skirts or under them.

Should badminton be any different? Especially as the girls are free to wear bicycle shorts under the pretty skirts. It is easy to flog it as an issue of the male gaze by listening to those like Gaurav Kapur,the host of IPL Extraaa Innings on television,who says skirts are “intended to accentuate a woman’s beauty and there is nothing wrong in it.” Or,accept that the dependence on the female garment for glamour is a commercial reality—both on the court and off it. Much rides on skirts this season and cheerleaders at IPL are only one more instance.

Ask Deepika Padukone,a former national badminton player and now a Bollywood star,whose little (very little) skirt that she has worn for Dum Maaro Dum’s item song,has been put up for auction by producer Rohan Sippy on the film’s website with proceeds to go for charitable causes,and the lithe star takes the safe route out. “It doesn’t matter what you wear as long as you go out there and win. And make your country proud,” she states.