Rooted in tradition, the laal-paar-shada sari has always been a festive must in the Bengali culture. The Telegraph explores the quintessential laal-paar-shada combination in various styles — from the traditional sari to breaking away from the norm with contemporary silhouettes — ahead of the festive days. Sauraseni Maitra is our muse. An adda with Sauraseni, post-shoot.
What does laal-shada mean to you? How do you connect with it?
Laal-shada plays an integral part in pujo. It is the ultimate pujo colour combination and brings along with it the fun and unity that the festival stands for. It unites people of different culture, caste, even religions. I have always loved the way all the elderly women in my dida’s house used to dress up in laal-shada sari during any kind of pujo. This combination is the ultimate mixture of power, strength and simplicity. Red stands for the power and strength and white for simplicity. It celebrates womanhood.
What are your Puja plans this year?
Sadly, I’ll be missing Puja in Calcutta this year as I’ll be out of the city for work. So the FOMO is going to be massive.
What do you look forward to most during the Pujas?
Seeing old friends! Friends who are now out of Calcutta for work, they try to come down to Calcutta during Puja. The best part is to catch up with them for a nice adda session.
What is that one thing you miss the most from your childhood Puja days?
Spending time with my cousins during Puja vacation. I miss holding my dadu’s hand to see the para’s idol’s face. We had to be the first one to see Maa Durga. I miss dadu and miss that ‘puja is coming’ vibe the most.
How do you usually like to dress up for the five festive days. Take us through your Puja fashion lookbook.
For Puja, it has to be all ethnic. I love wearing saris. So I try to choose different shades for the five festive days. I don’t always buy saris as I have an enviable collection which belonged to my dida. Those are my favourites. And my mother’s saris are also there from which I can take a pick. Recycling is definitely the new cool.
Made from a Jamdani blouse fabric piece, this dress is created in a way to minimise the fabric waste during construction. Even though a sari is the most versatile and sustainable garment, I wanted to create an equally sustainable, easy-to-wear, contemporary and chic dress to appeal to a wider demographic and also reinterpret the traditional laal-paar-shada
Kavya Singh Kundu, creative director and founder
Sauraseni channels an effortless Shasthi look in this laal-shada shift dress from SHE Kantha designed with kantha embroidery on crepe. A perfect blend of the traditional and the contemporary, the inverted use of laal-paar-shada and kantha is designed in a contemporary style with an optical illusion design on the fabric. Fresh and nude face, hair worn straight and accessorised with a necklace used as a headband, chunky bangles, a bracelet used as an anklet and comfy sneakers, complete the look.
“The laal-shada, like the kantha embroidery is steeped in age-old Bengali culture. This piece is our attempt to bring tradition to our younger audience in a new avatar,” says Malika Dudeja Varma (inset), director, SHE Kantha.
The gorgeous Ashtami traditional look is presented with a twist in this Neelay Sengupta outfit made of laal-paar-shada garod sari. The Anarkali-style red-and-gold bordered jacket with asymmetrical cuts is paired with laal-paar booti dhoti creating a classic-fusion look. The beach waves and simple liner look along with statement jewellery pieces add to the glam.
“Garod is a kind of sari that every woman desires to wear at least once during the festive days. This mixed classic pattern outfit has been designed keeping in mind the tradition and trying to create a fashionable and trendy look, especially for the young generation. For people who find it difficult to manage a sari, the charm of the traditional festive sari colour palette of laal-paar-shada has been given a comfortable Indian fusion look,” says Neelay Sengupta, director of the brand.
Sauraseni’s subtle-glam Navami look is a mix of contemporary trends and tradition. The red khadi zardozi and threadwork embroidered choli is teamed with a laal-paar-shada dip-dyed flounce sleeve khadi cotton textured peplum jacket with booti embroidery. The lehnga is a layered asymmetric one made with antique brocade and trendy ombre-dyed asymmetric georgette layer, trimmed with red Benarasi pleated hem and a handwoven border. This ensemble is from Abhishek Ray. The make-up is all about soft curls, semi-nude shades and eyeliner. The look is accessorised with a chunky neckpiece-earring set.
“Laal-paar-shada is a quintessential Bengali combination which is a must in all religious and spiritual occasions for Bengalis. Keeping the essence intact, I gave it a modern twist and created this ensemble for the woman of today who is confident of trying out latest trends yet not veering away from tradition,” says Abhishek Ray, proprietor, Abhishek Ray.
Keep your Dashami look comfortable and traditional for the boron and sindoor khela rituals in this hand-embroidered Apu Durga yellow blouse and thakur gawra (goddess in the making) Shantipuri sari from Parama. A neat plait hairstyle with fresh flowers and bindi on the forehead add to the elegance and traditional appeal of the look.
“Laal-shada for me has always been synonymous with pujo. The Apu Durga blouse is our tribute to Satyajit Ray as this is the centenary year. The sankha-padma paar Shantipuri is typically handwoven. This is a 100-year-old weave which has been revived. This is a traditional sari hand-embroidered with thakur gawra motif. I always feel that more than the puja, the three months of leading up to the puja is what excites us the most. The making of the goddess, the whole Kumartuli fever, that whole essence is captured in the thakur gawra motif,” says Parama Ghosh, designer, Parama.
Neha Gandhi Binjrajka
Stylist notes...
During the Puja, everyone brings out their best laal-paar-shada sari but the idea of doing this with a modern take was something that was very intriguing to me. Everyone is looking for comfort wear right now, so the looks were made effortless. I wanted to give a mix of everything like dresses, saris, Indo-western outfits and little heavier outfits with the laal-shada concept in it. Using statement jewellery to style them was really important to uplift the looks. The right jewellery immediately changes the way you look at the outfit. Every piece of jewellery was also used innovatively to amp up the style game. The idea was to make the traditional Puja fashion into an innovative, comfortwear Puja trend for this year. This is to give inspiration to all the young girls that they could explore the traditional by styling in a very modern way — Neha Gandhi Binjrajka, stylist
Laal-shada styling tips:
1) Do not restrict yourself to a sari though a sari is something you cannot go wrong with. It is very traditional and beautiful garment. Go ahead and use the same colours in a comfortable dress.
2) Accessorise with a different jewellery piece. Like we used the bracelet as an anklet and a necklace as a headpiece.
3) Wear comfortable shoes during the Puja, style it with sneakers or flats.
4) Keep the look subtle, fresh and clean. It is not in fashion to overdo the look.
Abhijit Paul
Hair and make-up notes...
The traditional laal-shada look is quite difficult to break with make-up. So, we experimented with the hair. Nude shades are in trend. The laal-shada look can be experimented with nude shades too — Abhijit Paul, hair and make-up pro
Pictures: Rashbehari Das
Jewellery: Chicvi by Poonam Bhuwalka; Styling: Neha Gandhi Binjrajka; Hair and make-up: Abhijit Paul; Location: The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat
