Bangladesh in Italy: Sari

A sari or saree or shari is a female garment in the Indian Subcontinent.

A sari is a strip of unstitched cloth, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder baring the midriff.

The sari is usually worn over a petticoat (pavada/pavadai in the south, and shaya in eastern India), with a blouse known as a choli or ravika forming the upper garment.

The choli has short sleeves and a low neck and is usually cropped, and as such is particularly well-suited for wear in the sultry South Asian summers. Cholis may be "backless" or of a halter neck style.

These are usually more dressy with a lot of embellishments such as mirrors or embroidery and may be worn on special occasions. Women in the armed forces, when wearing a sari uniform, don a half-sleeve shirt tucked in at the waist.

The saree was born in both South and North India and is now a symbol for all of India.

In Bangladesh
The Sari is worn by women throughout Bangladesh.

There are many regional variations of Saris in both silk and cotton.

But the Jamdani Tanta/Taant Cotton, Dhakai Benarosi, Rajshahi silk, Tangail Tanter Sari– and Katan Sari as the most popular in Bangladesh. Popular actresses Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit wore the Dhakaiya Benaroshi Sari in the song"Dola re Dola" of the film "Devdas".

Saris are woven with one plain end (the end that is concealed inside the wrap), two long decorative borders running the length of the sari, and a one to three foot section at the other end which continues and elaborates the length-wise decoration. This end is called the pallu; it is the part thrown over the shoulder in the Nivi style of draping.

In past times, saris were woven of silk or cotton. The rich could afford finely-woven, diaphanous silk saris that, according to folklore, could be passed through a finger ring. The poor wore coarsely woven cotton saris. All saris were handwoven and represented a considerable investment of time or money.

Simple hand-woven villagers' saris are often decorated with checks or stripes woven into the cloth. Inexpensive saris were also decorated with block printing using carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, or tie-dyeing, known in India as bhandani work.

More expensive saris had elaborate geometric, floral, or figurative ornaments or brocades created on the loom, as part of the fabric.

Sometimes warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and then woven, creating ikat patterns.

Sometimes threads of different colors were woven into the base fabric in patterns; an ornamented border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small repeated accents in the cloth itself. These accents are called buttis or bhutties (spellings vary).

For fancy saris, these patterns could be woven with gold or silver thread, which is called zari work.

Sometimes the saris were further decorated, after weaving, with various sorts of embroidery. Resham work is embroidery done with colored silk thread. Zardozi embroidery uses gold and silver thread and sometimes pearls and precious stones. Cheap modern versions of zardozi use synthetic metallic thread and imitation stones, such as fake pearls and Swarovski crystals.
In modern times, saris are increasingly woven on mechanical looms and made of artificial fibers, such as polyester, nylon, or rayon, which do not require starching or ironing. They are printed by machine, or woven in simple patterns made with floats across the back of the sari. This can create an elaborate appearance on the front, while looking ugly on the back. The punchra work is imitated with inexpensive machine-made tassel trim.

Hand-woven, hand-decorated saris are naturally much more expensive than the machine imitations. While the over-all market for handweaving has plummeted (leading to much distress among Indian handweavers), hand-woven saris are still popular for weddings and other grand social occasions.

A prominent weaver who designs brocades, Paithani and other types of saris is Meera Mehta.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

How to wear a Sari?

The success of the Sari is attributed to its total simplicity, practical comfort, and sense of luxury a woman experiences when she wears one.

A Saree properly draped transforms a woman to become graceful, stylish, elegant and sensuous. So we just make a note on some basic steps about how to drape a Sari.
A sari is an outfit which reveals as much as it hides. Wearing a sari is an art which require practice. A perfectly draped sari makes personality but a clumsily draped sari can equally bring down the look of the Sari and spoils the whole appearance of the woman. So just make a note on some basic steps about how to drape a sari in different styles.

Sari is worn on different occasions and thus there are number of sari drapping styles available. If you are going to an office its advisable to pin up your sari, this looks smart and is manageable too.

For parties, just pin up the tip of the sari and let the rest fall on your hand. This gives a very graceful look.

We understand how important it is to know how to wear sari in proper style thus we learn you how to wear a sari in different styles with illustrated demonstrations in different steps.

Different ways of wearing a Sari :

Nivi style of Sari drapping :
This style of sari draping is common to the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is also the most popular style of sari draping. In this style of sari draping, one end of the sari is neatly tucked into the band of the petticoat on the waist. After wrapping the sari cloth around the waist once more, the sari is neatly folded into pleats, which are then tucked into the waistband of the petticoat just below the navel. Then after wrapping it around the body one more time, the other decorative end of the sari also called the “pallu” comes diagonally in front of the torso and draped over the left shoulder.
STEP 1
1. A waist - to - floor length petticoat tied tightly at the waist by a drawstring.
2. A tight fitting blouse that ends just below the bust.
STEP 2
After step one you take the sari and tuck the plain end of the sari into the petticoat for one complete turn from right to left. Make sure that the lower end of the sari touches the floor.
STEP 3
Beginning from the tucked-in end start making pleats in the sari, about 5 inches deep.
STEP 4
Make about 7 to 10 pleats and hold them up together so that they fall straight and even.
STEP 5
Tuck the pleats into the waist slightly to the left of the navel, and make sure that they are turned towards the left.
After this you take the sari and tuck the plain end of the sari into the petticoat for one complete turn from right to left. Make sure that the lower end of the sari touches the floor.
STEP 6
The end portion thus draped is the pallu, and can be prevented from slipping off by fixing it at the shoulder to the blouse with a small safety pin.
You are now draped in a saree . Now stand before the mirror and get enchanted by the grace you exude.

Gujrati / North Indian Style :
This style of sari draping is very similar to the nivi style with the only difference being that in this style, the “pallu” or the decorative end of the sari is draped over the right shoulder rather than the left shoulder. Also, in this style the pallu is draped from back to front and not like the nivi in which the pallu is draped front to back.

Maharashtrian Style :
This style of sari draping is very similar to the way the Maharashtrian dhoti is worn. This style of sari draping is common among the Brahmin women especially in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This sari is draped in a way that the center of the sari is neatly placed at the back of the waist and the ends of the sari are tied securely in the front, and then the two ends are wrapped around the legs. The decorative ends are then draped over the shoulder and the upper body or torso.

Dravidian Style :
This sari draping style is common in the state of Tamil Nadu. The archetypical Dravidian sari is the “veshti-mundanai”, which is draped in two parts: The veshti covers the lower body, while the mundanai, or mundu, is an add-on to the veshti. The draping of the veshti is fairly simple as it draped like a towel around the waist and is usually 4 yards in length. This is then folded in half lengthwise. The mundunai is usually one yard in width and two yards in length. Some of these saris are distinctly characterized by a pleated rosette also called pinkosu at the waist.

Madisaara Style :
This sari draping style is common among the Brahmin ladies of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This style of sari is worn on festive occasions or ceremonies and since the style of draping this sari is different as compared to other styles; nine-yard sari is required to wear this style. The Madisar sari is draped in the following way: The sari is neatly wrapped around the waist, with the one end of sari on the right side, while the rest of the saree on the left. A knot is tied at the left waist firmly. The rest of the sari is gathered near the waist. Then a bit of the sari is neatly tucked into the right side of the waist. The end of the sari is then pleated into folds and tucked into the waist. The rest of the saris then folded into 4 to 5 fold, with each fold measuring approximately three fourth of the hand. The pleated sari is then brought at the back with the folded saree between the legs. After neatly gathering the folds, they neatly tucked at the back side of waist. The sari is then gathered to the right side in front and draped over the left shoulder. The end or pallu of the sari is then gathered around the waist and neatly tucked into the left side of the waist.

Kodagu Style :
This sari draping style is typical to ladies from the Kodagu district of Karnataka. This sari draping differs from other styles because in this the folded pleats of the sari are formed at the back instead of the usual front side. The pallu or decorative end of the sari is carefully draped from the back to front over the right shoulder. This is secured by a pin to the sari to keep it in place.

Gond Style :
This sari draping style is common in central parts of India. In this style, before arranging to drape the sari over the body, the sari is first draped over the left shoulder.

Mundum Neryathum Style :
This sari draping style is common in the state of Kerala. This is essentially two-piece sari attire, in which the mundu forms the lower garment while the neriyathu forms the upper garment. This sari can be draped either in the customary style in which the neriyathu is tucked inside the blouse or the more modern style in which the neriyathu comes over the left shoulder.