Global Courant 2023-05-19 14:00:56
The sari is essentially a cloth six to nine meters wide draped freely around the body.
But the garment, often worn with a blouse and petticoat, comes in many forms, from mass-produced polyester versions to silk sarees woven on handlooms. Many South Asian designers have left their mark on the saree and it has influenced the work of Cristóbal Balenciaga, Gianni Versace and French couturier Madame Grès.
In April, Zendaya wore a sparkly deep blue saree by Rahul Mishra on a red carpet in Mumbai, India. At the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, Indian actress Deepika Padukone wore a shimmering gold-and-black saree by Sabyasachi Mukherjee that Vogue France called “the star piece” of the festival. And at last year’s Met Gala, Natasha Poonawalla, the executive director of an Indian biotechnology company, wore a shimmering gold saree from Mr. Mukherjee under a sculptural metal corset by Schiaparelli.
Ms. Poonawalla’s Met Gala saree is one of the pieces featured in a new exhibition,”The Unusual Sari”, opens on Friday at the Design Museum in London. The show, which runs through September, explores how the sari is being redefined, said Priya Khanchandani, the museum’s chief curator.
The exhibit features saris made with conventional materials, but many of the pieces are more unusual. Among them are a sari embellished with sequins made from discarded hospital X-rays by the label Abraham & Thakore, a sculptural sari made with fine steel threads by the brand Rimzim Dadu and a cocoon-shaped nylon sari with a quilted pallu (the end piece of a sari that can be worn over the shoulder) from the Huemn brand.
An Akaaro saree showcases the brand’s work with zari, a fabric made from silk or cotton threads wrapped in thin layers of silver or gold. A ruffled sari by Amit Aggarwal in the exhibit uses boning made from industrial waste. The body of his sari, said Mr. Aggarwal, looks like a coral reef underwater.
Certain garments show how the construction and styling of the saree have evolved. They include an Anamika Khanna half saree, which is paired with tailored trousers and a cape, and Tarun Tahiliani’s silver jersey saree dress with crystal-studded chains, which was worn by Lady Gaga. The sari dress, a hybrid style widely credited to Mr. Tahiliani, is known for its fixed drape and elements such as zippers.
Sari gowns appeared in the 1990s, and some purists have argued that their solid construction conflicts with the way saris are traditionally wrapped around the body by hand. There are over 100 regional styles of handdraping across India, some of which feature “The Offbeat Sari” in videos showing different ways a sari can be worn.
The most common style of drapery, Nivi, originated in India in the mid-19th century. It involves wrapping a sari around the waist and over the torso, with the pallu over the left shoulder. Sarees worn in this way are often paired with a choli or short blouse.
Sumathi Ramaswamy, a history professor at Duke University who specializes in South Asian culture, described the Nivi style as “a product of Victorian ideas of modesty and decency when the country was under British rule”. She added that elements such as blouses and petticoats were used to hide a woman’s shape.
Although sarees are often worn for special occasions, they are an everyday wardrobe staple for many people across India, including members of Gulabi Gang, a women’s rights group known for wearing bright pink sarees. (“Gulabi” means pink in Hindi.) Ms. Khanchandani included a saree of the group’s founder, Sampat Pal, in the exhibit to highlight the garment’s role “as a symbol of female activism and resistance “, she said.
Ms. Khanchandani said that while India has modernized, the culture has remained patriarchal. And regardless of the occasion or style, she said in an email, the sari “appears to represent an emerging counter-movement and an important vehicle for female expression.”
