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Linen has a holiday reputation. With the right fabric, colour and cut, it works well at a desk in Chennai.
What to wear to a Margazhi kutcheri
December music season in Mylapore means warm halls, cool mornings and long concerts. Here is what to wear.
From mid-December to mid-January, the sabhas around Mylapore and Alwarpet fill with music lovers, and many of our customers go to two or three concerts a day. The weather is the mildest of the Chennai year, but the halls are another matter.
Morning concerts start at 8 or 9 am, when it can be a pleasant 22 degrees outside. By the time the main piece begins, a full hall with fans and lights is warm. A mulmul kurta is the most comfortable choice: it breathes, it does not cling when you sit for three hours on a folding chair, and it looks right with a veshti or with straight trousers.
For evening concerts, many men add a layer. Our grey Nehru jacket in linen-wool sits over a kurta without adding much heat, and you can take it off once the hall warms up. Avoid stiff silk kurtas for long concerts; they crease badly at the waist and you will feel them by the second hour.
A few practical notes from regulars. Choose a kurta with side pockets for your phone and the concert programme. Pick ivory, white or pale colours, as the season is also full of temple visits and nobody wants a dark kurta in a sunlit queue at Kapaleeshwarar. And if you plan to stop at the canteens between concerts, a darker veshti border hides the odd drop of sambar better than plain white.
