Going The Way of All Summer

Summer and the attendant rise in temperature has one inevitable effect: wardrobe makeover. One packs the woollies with mothballs, and the need for new summer clothes and the best places to go shopping arises.

This summer has several designs and colours on offer for Nepali girls. Neon colours have been in the market since spring and are omnipresent, They sure are here to stay for sometime.

The most crowed hubs in town for summer shopping are New road, Thamel and undoubtly Durbar Marg.Thamel is mostly known for the hippie patchwork or a cool chic micro mini. It is without doubt the best place to buy skirts. “Though it tilts more towards the hippie era, Thamel is the best place for summer shopping as fabrics used are mostly cotton and linen and the clothes are always bright and colourful,” said Jyoti. Sherchan, owner of Vives Boutique. Although you can’t expect the clothes you buy here to last more than a season, the prices are usually so cheap that it doesn’t really matter.

Second on the list is New Road, with the maximum amount of choices in this zone. “Items like leggings, which are a huge part of winter apparels, can also be ideal for milder days in summer,” said Bharati Upadhya of Gossip. The colours and styles seem to be influenced by the psychedelic hippie era, the retro style as well as the sleek and streamlined lines of today

“Even if synthetic materi- als are more in vogue because of the way they fit the contours of your body, cotton fabrics are also available and are best suited for summer,” said Lekhnath Adhikari of IN TOTO Enterprises

The clothes are reasonably priced and of course bargaining is always an option. “Party wear is another speciality of this zone and all sorts of clothes from ones with spangles and glitter to simple styles can be found,” said Nripesh Shresth, owner of UFO. A few shopping complexes in Putalisadak offer similar fashion options. The third one in the row is Durbar Marg which is Nepal’s upmarket fashion district. With ‘Labels’ and ‘United Colors of Benetton’ camped here, it is a fashion haven for people who look for branded clothes . The summer fashion trend also seems to be a bit more subdued with clothes in solid colours and pastels rather than kaleidoscopic designs of Thamel. The hippie style is discarded for more sleek lines and streamlined cuts and prices are nearly twice or thrice as those in Thamel and New Road. However, the clothes seem more durable.

Meanwhile, winter clothes are edging out of the market and that too in a Pepe way as a sale. “Winter clothes are on sale and one can buy them at lowest possible price with 30 to 40 per cent discount,” said Sagun Maharjan, sales person at Tamrakar House.