Ankit Vengurlekar, Founder, School of Practical Skills | Image:Republic
Dressing up for work: From power dressing to showcase your best possible dapper look to sporting t-shirts printed with slogans, dressing up in corporate India and the startup ecosystem has come a long way.
The advent of startup culture, and young professionals embracing independent and freelancing roles, has helped India recreate its dress code for workplaces.
In an exclusive interview with Republic Business, Ankit Vengurlekar, Founder of School of Practical Skills, a professional training and coaching set-up, said generalising a specific dress code for workplaces is not the correct approach. How one can opt for a particular office dress code is based on a clutch of factors, which includes the sector, city, culture, size of the firm, and nature of work the individual is associated with. Following are the excerpts from the exclusive chat.
Image credit: Unsplash
Casuals with a message
Believe it or not, Vengurlekar, who has been at the forefront of some of the most exciting media and corporate ventures, during the last two decades, holds a professional degree in hotel management. Right from the days of his infancy in a television news network, where Vengurlekar became the face of technology-related news, dressing for this original inhabitant of Mumbai, remained basic yet purposeful.
“There is a guiding philosophy which is fundamental and guides me on building my visual personal brand. The most primary factor is your wardrobe amplifying who you are or diminishing who you are,” says Vengurlekar.
The fact that an on-camera role demanded Vengurlekar to be the best possible presentable, the period of 2006-10, when the retail boom in India was at its peak, and e-commerce was still a far-off cry, the round-neck tees and denim was the varying range of a dress code Vengurlekar donned with terrific comfort levels.
“With growing age, a certain sense of self-awareness begins increasing in an individual. There is a boost in confidence levels of a person, which defines the way one dress up,” Vengurlekar further added.
Indian ethnic touch in vogue
A point in case is the way Vengurlekar, originally from Maharashtra, widely traveled in his career of over two decades in communications and ensured to always ensured to maintain an ethnic dash in his attire. The Chinese collar (band galla) short kurtis in a vibrant set of colours to meet the occasion complimented by a badge or a slightly darker shade of trousers is a trademark dressing statement Ankit has sported of late. The sleeveless jacket also known as the ‘bandh gala Nehru jacket’, is an impactful second-layer attire that Vengurlekar discovered in the later half of his career.
“The Indianness or Bharatiyata on a global stage reflects loud and clear. Quite literally everyone, from an American to a Korean and people all over the world, everyone is learning Indian languages, trying to learn our regional languages and music,” says Vengurlekar, adding that the world is obsessed with India and for all the right reasons.
“No other civilization in the world is so rich. We often get this false prestige by aping the Western sense of dressing. This trend of a strict Western dressing persisted in India’s corporate culture for a long time and is changing rapidly now,” added Vengurlekar.
He says progress in life helps a person to make a pick in terms of dressing and believes that a clutch of factors including the sector in which a person is working and its culture, size of the firm, and nature of work are also among deciding factors to dress up.
However, the question of waiting and watching is in the dressing journey of young professionals, whether gradually giving up on a necktie is a conscious call or a dressing mantra with a larger message.
Wardrobe Range
The fact that Vengurlekar, apart from his studio presence was required to set off for travel now and then for outdoor shoots, saw him in a different avatar. Basic yet impactful has been Vengurlekar’s mantra for dressing.
Image Credit: Freepik
A professional who has worn several hats, ranging from hosting a show on FM radio to sharing his vast knowledge of gadgets and gizmos, and having held pivotal positions in LinkedIn and CoinSwitch, a level of fitness owing to cycling, yoga, and other physical activities has kept Vengurlekar agile and help him carry any sort of attire with ease.
“The older I am growing, the more comfortable and confident I am growing in my skin as a middle-class Marathi boy from Mumbai, who represents my city and community. I believe language skill and visual appearance are clear indicators and markers of a person,” added Vengurlekar.
From sporting linen jackets over round-neck tees coupled with different types of denim for day-to-day office wear to cargo pants and hoodies in the upper reaches of the Himalayas, Vengurlekar has been the curator of his wardrobe. Sample this: Ankit has been noticed sporting over half a dozen different types of spectacle frames in his appearance on various social media platforms.
Matching your spectacle frames’ colour with your attire could be an exciting dress-dabbling exercise one could indulge in. As much as a decade and a half ago Ankit sported an English hat to go with a semi-formal attire and has even today maintained the headgear in different shades. For his nature of work, Ankit has shown a great level of adaptability to dress as per one’s desire, yet live up to the occasion.
“There is a need for everyone in our country to dress not to impress but for a larger representation of who you are,” said the executive speaking coach Vengurlekar.
