Designers who do saris best

I don’t know if you can insult them by calling them designers, but…

● Neeru Kumar

● Meera Basu

● Anuradha Vakil

Five most potent sari images

● Red and white sindoor khela sari

● Maharashtrian sari worn by the fisherwomen or bais

● Kerala school assembly

● Royal Rajasthani weddings. Heads covered with leheriya, bandhni and gota saris

●Clashing, contrasting and colourful street saris made popular by naukar chakar

Favourite saris

● Kanjeevaram

● Dhakai in coarse cotton

● Patan Patola

● Absolutely dramatic Kerala cotton

● Paithani

● Telia

 

Worst sari image

Shilpa Shetty. I don’t like her peek-a-boob saris!

 

Designers who don’t do saris well

All the members of my brethren who have cut, pleated, zipped, draped and raped the sari! You might call them creative, I call it nouveau riche.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Few favourites on a sari

● Great pair of earrings, however clichéd they sound

● Clutch that has a mind of its own

● A scattering of proud flowers on the hair

●A watch with a personality

●Kolhapuri chappal or well-worn mojris

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Few quirky ways to wear a sari

● Sheer sari with a printed petticoat

● Organic sari with a well washed pure leather blouse

● Sari worn with a man’s shirt tucked into a petticoat

● Sari worn with a blazer, pallu wrapped scarf style around the neck

● Chotu Sabya Sari (in picture above) with Chanel leather boots

 

 

Best jewellery pieces for a sari

● Chand balis in gold or polki

● Maharastrian nath

● Tagdi

● Mota sheesha bangles from Benaras

● Toe-ring — it’s incredibly sexy!

 

Five best blouses

● Prim Chinese collar blouse. Think Brahmo Samaj. The historically challenged can think matronly.

● Front-tied. Think Dimple in Jhooth bole from Bobby

● Three-quarter sleeve backless blouse. Modest from the front but a different story altogether from the back!

● Katori cut Rajasthani choli.

● Good old rubia blouse worn with a chiffon and bespoke pearls.

 

 

 

 

Five elements of a Sabya sari

● Good textile

● Multiple borders that are lovingly known in the market as patti-patti! It’s a task for my sales team to sell a sari without these!

● A three-quarter sleeve blouse or churi sleeve blouse

● Contrast — I can’t get rid of the Frankenstein I created!

● Handmade tassels for the blouses.

 

 

 

A few sari destinations in Calcutta

● Dakshinapan. Where Raavan’s Ragini was born

● Vashdev Tolaram & Bhojram for traditional silks

● Meera Basu for sophisticated cottons

● Ananda for block prints

● Kanishka, also for block prints

● The Bengali institutions called Tantuja and Basak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Least favourites on a sari

● Jersey blouse (includes its brethren, noodle straps, boob tubes et al)

● Side slit petticoat

● Peroxide hair

● Swarovski jewellery — if you ain’t got the real stuff, don’t wear it at all!