Designer Tarana Masand says that saris are versatile and great cover-ups for any flaws in the body. While she’s all for the classic style of draping for older women (in their late 40s), she feels that younger women should experiment with unconventional drapes.

Masand has designed two-piece (six-yard) saris for young brides. The sari has a lower half that is in fact a flared mermaid skirt with pleats in front while the upper half has a dupatta which doubles up as a pallu (this may or may not be attached to the skirt). This sari looks stylish when worn with a corset or short blouse. Masand’s two-piece saris come with both crystal and thread embroidery on nets, georgettes and lace.

Rakesh Agarvwal’s saris are high on the glam quotient. His latest collection offers monochromatic saris in lightweight fabrics like chiffon and georgette. An Agarvwal favourite has a ruched corset blouse embellished with ostrich feathers and Swarovski crystals. The multi-coloured sari is nine metres long and has pleats on the side instead of the front and is teamed with a jewelled belt. The pallu is kept long — almost floor-sweeping — and is held by a brooch on the left shoulder.

You’ve only known it as six yards of elegance? Well, now the sari is the stuff to trot the red carpet in, or for floating in on the cocktail circuit. It’s tipping the fashion meter in its favour and adding to its sex appeal in just a few simple steps. For designers are busy re-inventing it by creating different drapes, playing with its length and even adding an extra pallu!

The most common style of draping the sari is the Nivi style — that’s pleated in front with the pallu draped demurely over the left shoulder. But it’s no longer the only way to wrap it around.

The Queen of Drapes, designer Shaina NC, has gone way beyond the conventional draping technique. And how. Shaina’s forte lies in innovative styles, which depend largely on adjusting the length and style of the pallu. “The pallu can be handled in different ways — draped over the left or right shoulders, kept long or short or wound around the neck like a scarf,” she says.

Experimenting with drapes seems to be fashion’s newest buzzword. “Sari draping encompasses everything from playing with the length of the pallus, re-jigging the pleats to the style of blouses,” says Shaina.

So you can either wear a pre-stitched sari with a mermaid skirt (tightly fitted at the waist with a wide flare at the hemline) or wear one with a tantalising slit to flash some leg.

Long, short or backless — the real drama lies in the blouse and designers are ensuring that the bitsy blouse does justice to the new-look sari. So while designer Tarana Masand has designed corset blouses, Agnimitra Paul has gone for embellished velvet blouses with net backs, flared or churi sleeves. There’s also Rakesh Agarvwal who feels halter-blouses with diamante chains are haute.

So go ahead and take your pick of the modern version of a very traditional garment.

Gaurav Gupta, who considers the classic method of wearing saris boring, has textured and pleated his own collection. Saris in his bridal collection come with smart detailing like ruched pallus that are held on the shoulder with a buckle. The buckle is sometimes replaced by metallic brooches while the blouses are in satin jersey that looks glamourous.

“Saris are supposed to be statement pieces so the construction must be visible,” he says.

Gupta has used placement embroidery (embroidery done on certain portions and not on the complete sari) to update the garment. And instead of going for all-over heavy embroidery he highlights the pleats and the pallus with digital embroidery (embroidery design done through built-in software) on lightweight fabrics like chiffon, jersey and silk.

Agnimitra Paul’s bridal collection is complete with innovative saris. Here, an A-line skirt has the sari pallu stitched on the left-hand side and paired with a backless blouse with churi sleeves. “Sari draping is an art and the way you drape is can make all the difference,” says Paul.

Besides this one, another style that Paul loves is a fitted, straight pencil skirt that is slit on the right-hand side (offering a flash of leg) while the pallu is stitched on the left-hand side of the skirt. Another variation from Paul is a double-pallu — in which the first pallu goes from the front to the left-shoulder and another, a three-and-a half piece pallu, is taken around from behind the right-shoulder and draped like a shawl.

Paul has used rich fabrics like velvet and net in her collection to cater to the bridal season while the embroidery technique is traditional zardozi inspired by the Indian floral motifs.

For designer Archana Kochchar, bridal saris have it all — nets, chiffons and velvets embellished with 3D embroidery and resham work. Kochchar has designed pre-stitched saris with skirts for the legwear in which regular pleats make way for side-slits to make the ensembles more skirt-like. The colour palette includes white, peach, purple, yellow, red and maroon.

Joytee Khaitan’s saris are the stuff of red-carpet glamour and her expertise lies in draping the sari lehenga style. Actor Prachi Desai dons a Joytee Khaitan sari (above) in which the sari is tucked around the waist using pleats only in the front to show-off a flare at the bottom.

Khaitan loves the feel of nets and chiffons in burnt orange, pink, wine tones, red, gold, black and white. “I have used traditional antique gold-work for wedding saris and for a party look the saris are made heavy with appliqué and resham thread embroidery teamed with beadwork,” she says.