The whole nine yards on the Sari

Follow the magical evolution of the sari - from a humble daily wear 'strip of cloth' to one of the most sought-after fashion statements in the world of high-couture.

I just got back from a 'Big Fat Indian Wedding'. And there is really nothing like it. The décor, the clothes, the jewellery, the food - it is all about celebrating the good things in life. But what I enjoyed most was spending three days wearing my favourite drape - the sari. No other garment has more poise, grace and sensuality. The only problem is, and this is something I am not proud to admit, I am no expert draper. It is something I am working on rectifying. Luckily, thanks to the stitched sari, or as fashion calls it, the concept or sartorial sari, I am able to "cheat wear" this drape.
The word, sari, is derived from the Sanskrit word "sati" which means a strip of cloth. It is over 1,000 years old and there are over a 100 ways of wearing it. Interestingly, most social historians acknowledge that the sari started as a garment that covered just the lower part of the body and another piece of fabric covered the upper part. Today, there is no garment as versatile or steeped in as much history, as these nine yards of fabric.
It is interesting to note that during the early seasons of India Fashion Week, most designers neglected the sari. There is no question that India has a long, rich and deep culture of textiles and clothing, but not of fashion. At the first Indian Fashion Week (in 2000), Indian designers looked to the West for inspiration. Sadly the sari was forgotten, despite it being India's most enduring style statement.
Luckily, Indian designers soon realised that ignoring the sari was actually a bit of a fashion faux pas. Lately, this simple piece of cloth seems to have caught the industry's eye, and today the humble sari can be seen in just about every collection - be it that of a fashion label such as the edgy 11.11 by CellDESGN or in Bollywood's favourite designer, the very mainstream Manish Malhotra.

By taking these nine yards of fabric and adding a tailored touch - they have transformed a strip of cloth into a constructed garment. The sari that you see on the ramp, on the red carpet and in advertising campaigns today is rarely unstitched. While the sari is fast losing its place as a daily wear garment in urban India (being replaced by trendy high street fashion for young women), it will continue to be a priority for occasion wear. And as a result, international brands will continue to fight for a place in an Indian woman's occasion wear wardrobe, where a sari is almost always preferred.
For some, this means the essence of the sari has been stripped away and for others, this is called progress. Rahul Mishra, a designer known for his contemporary take on Indian fashion once told me, "To call a garment a sari, it has be unstitched! Once you add a stitch to you, you can no longer call it a sari. It is merely sari-inspired. It is like adding a collar to a t-shirt and still calling it a t-shirt."
To Rahul Mishra and designers such as Raw Mango's Sanjay Garg and Anavila, adding that stitch is pure sacrilege. The pure or unstitched sari is having its own revival thanks to the efforts of this band of designers. The question is, is this revival happening due to arrival of the stitched sari?
Gaurav Gupta's sari gowns are a regular feature in any fashion magazine and his store in Delhi's luxury mall, Emporio, has one of the highest dollar per square foot's yield of any Indian designer. He started designing saris from his second collection and soon realised that they were going to be amongst his most popular pieces. "A lot of women tell me that they started wearing the sari thanks to me. It is about ease today, so we are just adapting the sari to fit our times. That is how fashion works."
A sari is one of the most versatile outfits out there and even the length of the sari varies from state to state - something Gupta mentions to illustrate his point "If you think that all designer saris are not pure, then the embellished sari itself is not traditional. Designer outfits are about fashion and fashion is something that is constantly evolving."
Tarun Tahiliani, who is one of India's most respected fashion designers, was the first one to coin the term "concept sari". The timing of Tahiliani's interest in the sari is also very telling. When Tahiliani first started his label about 20 years ago, many of his clients where non-resident Indians (NRIs). Then, as spending power moved into the hands of the local buyer, international fashion began to look into the Indian market. Indian designers realised that they needed to reinvent themselves, since aping the West when the West was already in India was no longer a profitable idea.
Most international luxury brands today have entered India for one reason; the big fat Indian wedding. With the wedding market in India estimated to be worth over Rs. 100,000 crore, with Rs. 10,000 crore of that being spent on apparel, it is no wonder all brands want to be part of the wedding party. For many designers, 80 per cent of their turnover comes from the wedding, and the sari is, of course, a large part of that. Among the first designers who made the lehenga-sari a must-wear for brides is Pallavi Jaikishan. This garment has been part of her collections for decades. Not surprisingly, its fashion debut was at Bridal Asia. The idea was to marry the traditional wedding sari with a younger and more youthful silhouette. The lehenga can be seem leading the way for bridal designer saris.
It seems the stitched sari needs the unstitched and the unstitched sari needs the stitched. They have become two sides of the same coin. The construction given by the fashion industry keeps the sari au courant and contemporary while the unstitched sari keeps the mystery and intrigue alive and inspires fashion designers. Together, this combination ensures that the sari will always be among the world's best-known garments - and will be around for generations to come.
sujata@khaleejtimes.com

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