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Bangle Bytes
Glass bangles are a rage this season
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Bong babe Rani Mukherjee adorned her wrists in dozens of colourful glass bangles at a recent social function. Nelly Furtado wore them during her recent New Year performance in Mumbai. Internationally the bold and famous have spangled with the bangle which has of late become a perennial on the international ramp adorning arms of super-models Naomi Campbell, and hitting the stage on pop stars Shakira and Nelly Furtado.
The ephemeral bangle...timeless in it's Indian history and heritage has made a splash on the international and India's urban elite.
Circles of gold dripping from displays in jewellery shops everywhere in the Indian sub-continent and in the Middle-East is a common site and not considered out of the ordinary. Indian / Middle-Eastern women have traditionally bejewelled themselves and decorated their being with "gold", and especially the gold bangle.
In its simplicity it is just a large gold ring made usually made of 21-22 carat gold (the highest purity used in making ornaments). Although in some places in the Middle-East such as Oman you can find 23-24 carat gold. The tone of the metal varies and as the purity increase the colour deepens in ochre and lustre, while the metal itself is very pliable and soft.
The word bangle traces its roots to the Hindi bangri or bangali (Sanskrit meaning arm band).
These days bangles especially the glass variety are available in countless and numerous shapes, sizes, colours and tones from shiny to opaque. Yet stereotypically, one associates them with the typical Indian woman wearing a bun, garlands in her hair, saree, etc... especially as they are the indigenous pre-requisite in most secular Hindu communities from the Bengalis, Punjabis, Marwari, Gujaratis looking south to Kerala where they are the mandatory gift given to a bride of any socio-economic background stretching the strata across different classes and norms.
Actress / Model Jesse Lambada concurs with this observation and is a glass bangle afficiando, "I love the colours and especially the sound of the glass bangles when they tinkle," says the tall willowy super-model. "Not only are they pretty to look at, I feel wearing the glass bangles keeps us rooted to our Indian culture," she avers. "They also keep me connected with my Indian tradition whether I am wearing an Indian outfit or a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. They blend and accessorise with the east and west nicely. They are modern and fabulous," she enthuses.
India's maverick designer Lascelles Symons cautions, "In India they really wouldn't go with many of the current trends especially if the clothes are not traditional in construction and form. As a fashion designer and stylist I do recommend glass bangles but not the traditional reshmi types historically seen. I try and find ones that are thicker, perhaps studded with crystal. The idea would be a departure from tradition in favour of art-deco. That would be the look I would try and create. One of the styling problems with the thicker bangles," says Lascelles, "is they tend to be more fragile and break easily. What works is they are cost effective unless you're looking at the pricier morano type swazorvski finish. At that point I would advise the wearer to go for something a little more substantial," laughs Lascelles. According to Lascelles the woman wearing glass today is definitely a fashion diva making a statement. "With my clothes glass would work, but since my 2007 is Grecian romantic in concept the bangles would have be dull gold, matte gold to give a cuff appeal and co-ordinate with the clothes without distracting the attention away from them."
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