Nine Yards of Tradition and Culture

                                                        The Nine Yards of Tradition and Culture             



‘A girl should be two things:

  Classy and fabulous’

                                    - Coco Chanel

  This is exactly what our seniors looked like as they walked out of the school gates, elegantly draped in the nine yards of designer cloth, to enter a new world. The sari indicates their growing up into responsible adults

  For centuries, this masterpiece of female attire has defined Indian women and of course India itself. The sari adds to the diversity for which India is famous.  The red bordered white saris stands for West Bengal, Orissa & even Bihar, while Gujarat can easily be identified by its back to front sari over the right shoulder. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I say that our 28 states can be identified by their respective saris.

  We all go through the usual dilemma of finding the right kind of attire. You can’t wear the fishtail gown because you don’t have a figure to flaunt it. The body hugging LBD you were dying to wear becomes an absolute reject because your abs are busy playing hide & seek within the layers of fat. In short, western style clothing has a lot of requirements to be met. The sari on the other hand doesn’t flaunt your flaws but instead camouflages them .You are never too short, too fat, too thick waisted or bird legged to carry off a sari.

  Most of our international celebrities whom we (‘we’ includes our Bollywood actors) look up to, have an athletic figure. The gowns, we long for with desire, were made for such a body type. The figure of most Indian women is curvaceous. Hence, for them, the gown is a complete fashion disaster. This is where the sari comes to the rescue.

    Despite all these benefits, why is that youngsters today are hesitant to wear the sari? Disclose to your friend that you’re wearing a sari for some event, their eyeballs are sure to pop out right off their eye sockets! This would have been an encouraging reaction but not when it is followed by, ‘Are you nuts?’ Wearing a sari is seen by most peer groups either as the ultimate form of lunacy or a dangerous stunt or they just think that you belong to the earlier era. If this continues then our tradition and culture in its materialistic form will slowly disappear.

    I’m sure that all of you reading this are ready with comments such as ‘It is a hassle to wear the sari’ or ‘What if I trip & fall down?’ or ‘It is not comfortable’. And my reply to all of these is- your mothers as well as your teachers wear them. Ever seen them complaining? More importantly, you do not mind squeezing yourself in size 8 skinny jeans when in reality you’re a size 10. You don’t mind wearing the corset tops which causes respiratory problems nor do you mind short skirts which restrict movement.



‘I consider the sari deeply elegant-it is one of the most

grounding elements of what haute couture is all about.’

                                                                                    -Valentino Garavani



  Indeed, the sari by far is the most elegant attire ever. Meant for women of all shapes, sizes and age, it truly captures the image of India. So people go out and wear it because it is the only attire which gives you the freedom of flaunting your tradition & culture fashionably!

                                                                                                                                      -Zaisha