Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal champions 'Kurtas' to highlight the cool of Indian vogue among youth

Speaking to ANI, Bhavish talks about the elegance of sartorial wear and the need to communicate the essence of a polished but relaxed approach to clothing.

Aggarwal elucidates the grace and comfort of wearing a kurta as a fashion statement that stands true to Indian roots and remains fit for Indian CEOs to wear on formal occasions.

"I actually normally these days for public events wear a kurta. And I think that I'm also trying to communicate a certain image about how Indian CEOs, I think, can be. We can be more comfortable in our skin, quite literally, right? And our skin is our clothing--the kind of fashion sense that is true in India. And a kurta is a very elegant dress, in my view. So, I feel all Indian CEOs, especially the younger tech ones, should wear a kurta," said Bhavish.

Bhavish also highlights how bigwigs like former CEO of Apple Steve Jobs and President of NVIDIA Jensen Huang made the attire statement by simply wearing what was best in their interests, adding that the idea was what made him indulge in the trend.

"Over the years, especially in the Bay Area, they have made the attire statement. And it started, I think, with Steve Jobs. He had his turtleneck. And then now you have Jensen Huang, who's the new iconic hero on the block. He wears a leather jacket, if you've noticed. The NVIDIA. Yes, the NVIDIA guy. He wears a leather jacket at every event," he said.

"Same leather jacket, black jeans, black shirt, and black leather jacket. So a lot of, you know, in India, in our startup ecosystem, we end up looking up too much to the West. And so, sometimes people try to do the same thing. So, I said, let's try our Indian sartorial things. So, we used to wear a kurta and a kurta is so cool. It's a good cloth for summer. And I think it looks cool too," added Bhavish.

In a freewheeling conversation, Bhavish also mentioned the way he mix-matches to create Indo-western fits to fit in the loop of the young generation.

When asked what the entrepreneur wears to the huge tech meetups in India and abroad, Bhavish said, "I mix it up a little bit. I sometimes wear a 'bandi' or an Indian-style jacket with jeans. So, it shouldn't look old. You know, the way 70-year-old guys come."

The CEO also spoke on how the youngsters in India may not be finding Indian things cool and why it was a responsibility to bring back the cool Indian fashion and connect the youth to the country.

Talking about 'bringing back the cool' in Indian wear amongst the youth of India, Bhavish said, "I feel in India, the younger crowd is not finding maybe Indian things as cool right now, so it's our responsibility to bring back the cool in Indian food, fashion, and tourism like our Prime Minister Narendra Modi did that with Lakshadweep, right? So, I think the younger generation needs to be connected back to how cool India is."

A kurta is a loose collarless shirt or tunic worn in many regions of South Asia, and now also worn around the world.

The kurta has evolved stylistically over the centuries, especially in South Asia, as a garment for everyday wear as well as for formal occasions. (ANI)