Opinion Don’t laugh at Balenciaga’s $925 towel skirt
On a rapidly warming planet, the person who wears one can stay cool and breezy, besides using it to mop up sweat as heat waves get longer and more frequent
It’s easy to be derisive about some of the more outrageous creations of haute couture houses, but with the towel skirt, is it possible that the Muse of Fashion has led Balenciaga — and other labels like Prada, which have also been inspired to create towel clothing — in the right direction? It is a fashion truism that the more impractical and uncomfortable a garment or accessory, the higher the status and greater the wealth of the wearer. Consider the massive crinoline skirts of Victorian ladies, the suffocating ruffs worn by the nobility in Tudor England and the dangerously high-heeled chopines worn by aristocratic ladies in Venice during the Renaissance — all these, so popular in their times, telegraphed not only the eminent social position of their wearers, but also the fact that they were rich enough to afford the help required to hobble about in these often excruciating fashions.
So what exactly would one be communicating by wearing Balenciaga’s towel skirt, unveiled this week on the luxury label’s website? Being undeniably comfortable (it’s made of terry cloth) yet priced at a whopping $925 (about Rs 77,000), would one be sending out a mixed message by wearing this “skirt”? As per the internet, though, which has been in collective hysteria over the garment, anyone who chooses to wear one of these would only be sending out a message about their extreme gullibility.
It’s easy to be derisive about some of the more outrageous creations of haute couture houses, but with the towel skirt, is it possible that the Muse of Fashion has led Balenciaga — and other labels like Prada, which have also been inspired to create towel clothing — in the right direction? After all, wearing a towel as a garment makes great practical sense on a rapidly warming planet. Not only would it be airy and cool, it would be useful in mopping up sweat as heat waves grow longer and more frequent. Indians recognised this multipurpose aspect of the towel centuries ago — from the torthu of Kerala to the gamcha of eastern India, this humble bit of fabric can be a kerchief, head covering or loincloth. Its gentrification by luxury labels notwithstanding, a towel may just be the ultra-casual clothing of choice in the era of climate change. Why would anyone wear heavier fabrics and more restrictive clothes, when they can be cool, casual and breezy in a towel?
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