THE SAREE IS THE NEW LBD

The Little Black Dress: Every woman’s dream, every man’s fantasy. Who would have thought that one day, the saree would attain the same level of acceptance world over! But it has, yard by exquisite yard…

 

What is it that gives the saree the edge over the kurti, salwar-kameez, sherwani, dhoti pants, Jodhpurs… After all, these are also India’s contribution to world fashion, and once in a while, you will see some firang mover and shaker wearing them. Designer Ritu Kumar argues, “The saree is one of the most elegant outfits in the world. It is unstructured, unlike other stitched garments. This gives every single wearer the liberty to be able to mould it to suit their personality, and the occasion. I was looking at this picture of the Pussycat Dolls in saree the other day, and I was thinking that the saree has now become a substitute for the Little Black Dress – it is perceived by the West as a lovely, flowing, clingy garment. There’s none of the traditional/religious overtones that the garment has in India. And this gives them the freedom to experiment.”

“I consider the saree deeply elegant – it is one of the most grounding elements of what haute couture is all about,” said Valentino, when he was once asked about why he was so fond of the saree. “The fascination for the saree has always been there in the West, but now, on a more visible scale. The image of India is now that of Shilpa Shetty and Bollywood,” says Ritu, who also tries to experiment with the ways a saree can be draped. “I try to modify the drape to suit the young wearers. Since
the younger generation is not used to draping the whole six yards, I sometimes stitch the pleats and the first drape of the saree onto the petticoat, which can be zipped up at the waist. That leaves the pallu to be draped on in any style that is current,” she says.

Rocky, who designed the Pussycat Dolls’ sarees, says that he was approached by an Indian portal based in New York, and asked if he’d like to dress up the very sexy rock group. “Why would I have said no?” says Rocky. “It sounded very challenging because I had no time – just two days. I thought, I’m an Indian designer and my designs have to reflect that. So I made sarees for them. They asked me to come along and so I went
with them to the concert. This concert is basically a celebration of the relationship between fashion and music. It was fabulous,” a very excited Rocky had told us at that time. Designer Suneet Varma finds “the saree the most versatile garment in the world. It can, with a sweep of the head, be conservative or with a flash of the navel, trendy,” he says. “Worn a little low to show off the navel, teamed up with a backless choli, or show a bit of cleavage, and a saree can make you the most elegant woman at a cocktail party,” he says.

Many international designers – John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Armani, and others have shown the saree as a part of their collection on the international runway. While this too has gone on to up its style quotient, at the end of the day, it is the only garment in the world to have, as Suneet puts it, “a 1001 ways of wearing it”.

 

 

(Source- The Times of India)