Updated ,first published
The most unexpected trend of the season is the cummerbund, with wrapped waists appearing at Celine, Valentino and Ralph Lauren alongside a host of indie brands such as Kallmeyer, Conner Ives and Mithridate.
Here, the cummerbund sheds its stuffy, swashbuckling associations with rented formal tuxedos and ’80s pastel suits for a modern, genderless look.
The fashion item can be seen snatching in the waist of a slouchy sweater, adding structure to a slinky slip dress or adding heft to billowing pants. There are pleated cummerbunds, intricately beaded cummerbunds and jacquard cummerbunds – take your pick.
As with most trends, this isn’t the cummerbund’s first go-around in fashion.
They made frequent appearances in the work of Yves Saint Laurent – accessorising a Le Smoking suit or adding definition to a brocade, drop-waist dress in the 1977 “Les Chinoises” collection.
Jean Paul Gaultier, Helmut Lang and Anthony Vaccarello, among many others, all interpreted the accessory in their own ways.
The name itself is an anglicisation of kamarband, an Urdu word (derived from Persian) meaning waistband. Typically woven from cotton, silk or wool, its distinctive pleats served more than just an aesthetic purpose, but could handily hold tobacco pouches, currency or ceremonial daggers.
London-based researcher, archivist and founder of South Asia Archive Sanam Sindhi, says locating the style in one specific time and place is difficult.
“It’s an accoutrement that has long been in existence and exchange across many cultures in South, South West and Central Asia, each region with their own way of fashioning it,” she says.
In colonial India, the cummerbund became a staple in British military officer uniforms, earning the name “cholera belt” as the thick fabric provided warmth and protection against the region’s harsh climate.
“Though the British were eager to maintain strict sartorial boundaries between themselves and Indians during their occupation, the kamarband was one of the few items they did adopt into their own wardrobes due to its incredible practicality,” Sindhi explains.
“Taking it back with them to Britain in the 1800s, it eventually became the ‘cummerbund’, misappropriated as a signature of black-tie dressing.”
Jade Fox, a Sydney-based stylist and writer behind Substack Consider This, was inspired after seeing the style pop up at fashion month.
“The menswear Celine show was stunning. It was about blurring the lines between evening wear and casual wear,” she says.
“We went through this phase of seeing a lot of oversized items with not much shape. And with the cummerbund, the waist is back.”
Fox realised she had everything she needed to fashion her own cummerbund by raiding her arsenal of vintage silk scarves.
“I haven’t actually bought anything new, and that’s one of the things that I love about the trend,” she says.
“It’s adding texture, volume and changing the proportion of something just by adding something to the waist.”
Fabric remnants are another easy entry point.
“I was wearing a pair of Levi’s blue jeans, a tee and a jacket, and then I just wanted to add something, but I didn’t necessarily want the harshness of a belt,” Fox says.
“I have an offcut of an old Celine dress that I’ve tailored, and I just tied that around my waist. So it just took a relatively casual outfit and turned it into something a little bit more put together.”
For Byron Bay-based stylist Doria Marque, the trend epitomises her ethos of sustainability.
“One of the main things that I always tell my clients, is they don’t need to own a lot of clothes, or they don’t need to buy more clothes. I really like to focus on accessories,” she says.
For those looking to dip their toe in, Marque suggests visiting an op shop and looking at their scarf and fabric section (or getting creative with a tie).
“Buy a simple one before you commit, like a classic black that’s easy to wear.”
Though the cummerbund is rarely seen today in traditional Indian mens or womenswear, Sindhi says a new generation of South Asian designers are “reviving and revolutionising the way traditional dress is incorporated or adapted for modern, everyday style”.
As always, fashion is cyclical and Europe turning its gaze east for inspiration is nothing new.
In recent years, other forms of South Asian dress – like the lahenga and mirror work (shisha) – have been recontextualised by Western designers.
“What’s different now is that South Asians are more visible than ever before, have more of a presence in luxury spaces and creative industries, and more cultural authority that has empowered us to ask for accountability and acknowledgement,” Sindhi says.
“India is a very tempting market opportunity for many luxury brands, with its growing economic power and wealthy clientele, but what should come with that is a desire to have a dialogue that feels mutual and reciprocal.”
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