The festive season has begun, but there’s time still for the major days when we all love to deck up in our best finery. Bring out the silks, be it a kanjeevaram tussar, muga, eri, baluchari, paithani or bhagalpuri, banarsi and so many others. Bring out the bling be it ornately embellished jooties or sequined potlis and clutches, embroidered cloth bags, and those faux or real jewellery in gemstones, silver, burnished gold, crystal, oxidised metals, beads and so much, much more.
Do you know anything crafted by hand is ‘quiet’ luxury. No big logos that scream a name but a sense of the classic that can never go out of fashion. Each handmade product has nimble fingers at work, taking days and at times months, painstakingly giving shape to each motif, weaving in zari, diverse coloured yarns, hammering out rolls of metal, needling a thin wire or sequins… the works.
But, getting back to the festivities in the air, what do you plan to wear this October and November? Why buy when you can dig out the old and give it an all new twist? The sari as a straight skirt or a lehenga!? The dupatta and pyjama or palazzo of one set and kurta of another? A saree on a pair of jeans, or a narrow stole wrapped around a straight skirt?
Working the straight skirt is fairly simple. Design it different with a couple of small pleats on either or just one side, securing it stylishly with a broad or narrow waistband, depending on the size of your waist. Pair it with a short anarkali kurta in matching or contrasting colour, or even a long shirt or kurti, could be tone-on-tone. Let the ankles show and with thick ringlets sport a stiletto, platform or jutti. The choice is yours.
Remember to not be a slave to fashion or trends but work it to your advantage – be it height, skin tone, hair or weight. All of this can shriek loud when they do not complement the overall look. Imagine a short dress in thunder thighs, skinny in skinny jeans, the cold shoulder sticking out from bulbous arms, a belted waistband on an unending midriff. Not body-shaming, just a gentle point-out on what not to do. But, having said that, and in spite of it all, if you have the chutzpah and the elegance to make it all your own in stylised dignity, go for it.
How about the sari-lehenga on a flared silk skirt? Here again contrast the two and with broad pleats, a dash longer than the width of your open palm — spreading out from the little finger to the thumb, tuck it either from below the navel, a few short pleats once you take it around and then draped with broad pleats from over the left arm, across at the back and falling gracefully on your right arm. High heels will work better here with a minutiae clutch that could hold just about your cell phone. A long or short straight kurta with a wide ‘chaak’ or slits will work wonderful.
If you are slim and tall, take two contrasting sarees or in colours that complement each other, wrap one with a whole lot of pleats and the other as the body and pallu — for a rich festive look. You could also create some drama with a silk dupatta pinned on the other side of a saree with the pallu flowing a la huzoor is tarah yun na itra k chaliye. The dupatta should be pinned in broad pleats on the other shoulder. An elaborate, long necklace or chandelier earrings, and ta da you are ready to rock the party.
Here's to some merry festivities. Look forward to hearing from you with your pictures as you rock these styles.
