Khorshed said the dress code was Saree. For her daughter’s Navjot - a Parsi religious occasion celebrating her daughter’s initiation into the Zorarstrian faith. Everytime I visited India, I excitedly bought sarees which after my return to US sadly languished in my closet. Mainly, because, I preferred the quick conveneince of wearing salwar kameez over sarees.
Now draping the saree has been a cumbersome process….the pallu pleating left me floundered always. On most occasions, rescuing me from the pallu paheli was my patient sister, Sudha. And at times Lalitha, my brother-in-law’s wife. Helping with the pallu folds and neatly pinning the layers on my shoulder.
This time, I was determined to do it solo. I tried it and then decided to google it on the web. To my utmost surprise there were videos galore …step by step instructions on draping the saree in numerous ways. Every video I saw was professional or an amateur production. Audio quality…pretty bad.
But, the most interesting video was by a professional saree draper, Dolly Jain.Yes, a professional saree draper, her bio includes 125 ways of draping sarees for film stars , brides, etc. 125 ways ? No kidding !!! Hip-hop, tight fit, Mermaid, fish style half mumtaz and many more….Now I only know the classics, the basic South Indian, Gujarati and Bengali styles. But here is this lady unfurling the nine-yards into myriad new age fashion trends, hitherto unexplored.
Suffice to say, my research had opened up a Pandora’s box. Delighted as I was to find the reams of information on Saree and dismayed at my ignorance, I cannot for the life of me imagine myself tucking my saree in the tight-fit. A svelte figure is the requirement, no doubt. Though I am not opposed to experimenting !
After managing the simple folds for the pallu, I was ready to party…..forget the saree styles, the ravishing choli scene made me feel like a fashion faux pas. Oh, brother !
Here starts my research again !
Check the site below for some beautiful pics :
http://www.cbmphoto.co.uk/saris/index.html
