Indian Saree Tradition

Sarees are known to be an integral part of Indian tradition when it comes to women’s wear. Though the cloth used for wearing sarees differ according to the region where it is woven, they can be generally discriminated into three types – silk, cotton, and linen. Each region in India has developed its own unique style in designing sarees. According to the regions where it is manufactured, sarees can be divided into five. They are – the central style, the eastern style, the western style, the southern style, and the northern style. Out of these, the southern style is the most famous and includes different styles like half sarees, Kanchipuram sarees, Aranipattu, Chinnalapattu, Kerala Balaramapuram sarees, Mysore silk sarees, and so on.

The tradition of sarees goes back to the early Indus valley civilization. Let it be a designer saree, a silk saree, a cotton saree, or any other one, the best place to look out for them is in Kerala. Kerala sarees are known to be the most famous and preferred ones by all. There are a lot of small scale handloom saree weaving industries in Kerala like Thrissur, Palakkad, and so on, where more than a thousand sarees are produced each day. The cloth includes finely woven natural muslin colour fields with bold geometric pallus. Women love to wear smoothly edged sarees which are blended with smoothly authentic designs that are handcrafted.

Silk sarees are meant to be worn by women in auspicious occasions like marriages and parties, and their prices range according to the floral or figurative, or brocades created on the saree, as a part of the fabric. Some women choose to wear silk sarees with various embroidery designs using gold and silver threads, including precious stones as well.

When it comes to fashion, designer sarees have taken a sweet spot in women’s wardrobe. There has been a huge traditional change in the way women wear their sarees due to a migration of Indian women to other western countries. The changing global fashion trends has motivated fashion designers to design them with new materials like chiffons, printed nylon, and polyester where the saree seems to be semi-transparent in nature. The way they are draped and the pallu designs have been changed drastically to give it a modern look. Many movie stars have made saree an international brand by wearing them for international events, thus representing the Indian culture. This has compelled many foreign actors and renowned people to appear in a crowd by wearing this traditional attire. Though the dress is considered to be one of the most impractical one to be ever worn, the fragility and feminity the dress rays on the wearer has indulged women to wear it frequently.