I Wear: Wedding Belle Or How To Spice Up The Saree
This is from a wedding in the family. Well actually, the wedding of the best friend’s kid sister, both the girls being as close to me as blood-tied family, anyway. The wedding extended over a weekend and passed in a flurry of sweets, dancing, guests and ceremonies. I wore my trademark kanjeevaram to the wedding ceremony. (See a previous occasion here). But for the evening’s reception, I decided to spice up the old saree style. After all, the saree is simply a length of cloth and it can be draped in many different ways.
The saree in question is a cream silk that I’ve co-opted from mum’s collection. It is hand-painted with circular motifs, a border of fading splashes and a palluv with a Radha-Krishna theme. This usually goes with a black silk blouse with a gold border.
Instead, I decided to wear the saree like a lehenga and switched the blouse for a short silk kurti. The kurti is from FabIndia and has a simple red-and-white border to complement the saree. I pleated the saree with about an inch distance between the top of each pleat (instead of lining them all together), to give it a box pleats look.
My plan was to drape the saree in the regular way and just let the pallu fall down my right shoulder, instead of bringing it across the front to drape over my left shoulder. But the gorgeous pallu design would be lost in that drape. Letting the pallu down over the arm only looked dowdy. So I improvised at the last minute and brought the remaining length of the saree, meant for pallu across my front.
The palluv is actually bordered too with the splashy design, making the Radha Krishna design sit within a rectangular frame. I centred the design right in front of the pleats and tucked it in at the waist, a bit higher than usual, so the box pleats would show below. The corners, I folded them along their painted ends and tucked them into the waistband too.
A last-minute addition to the look, was a silk dupatta, of the same material and colour scheme as the saree. I wore it over my left shoulder, something that confused a lot of the guests since they couldn’t figure out what I was wearing, or where it began or ended. 🙂
I didn’t want to carry a clutch or a heavy handbag, considering all the running around I’d have to do. So I strung a cloth mini-jhola across my torso. It blended right into my top in the front and nestled comfortably under the dupatta on my right. A peek-a-boo flash would only reveal an intriguing little pocket on the side of the outfit since it matched the colour scheme too.
What do you think?
Really love the way you’ve experimented with the drape.
I just loved this experimenting ! I thought the outfit looked grand ! More so even without the dupatta ….
That is 1 extremely gorgeous sari. I like your quirky take on it, but it is somewhat of a ‘half sari’ approach right?
I would have gone without the dupatta to ensure that the sari print stands out and maybe donned a heavier neckpiece 🙂
@EccentricSpeak: Sort of, I guess. In the South, a ‘half-saree’ is worn with one end tucked into the lehenga, wrapped around body and brought up in the front across the chest to hang at the back. Just carrying it on one shoulder would be too ‘bold’. My sensibilities are a little more Northern that way.
My original idea was to wear only the saree and have its palluv drape over the shoulder but the print wasn’t visible and it looked too much like the traditional Gujarati style. That the dupatta matched in design, colour and fabric was a happy coincidence. Too much?
Heavier jewellery makes me look weighed down like a mannequin. I think more slender jewellery suits my lean frame.
Been awhile since a style post and conversation. 🙂