Importance of Saree

Saree is one of the most well planned and graceful costume of unstitched length of fabric draped round the body of Indian women. For this graceful decoration of female form, Indian Women, very often, consider a good looking saree more precious than even a piece of jewellery. A good looking and appropriate dress means a right kind of fabric with proper outfit where saree of various colours and quantity drapes round the body as per style and shape of the body. Length of a saree varies from 5 to 8 m, while width varies from 1 to 1.5 m.

Tradition of wearing saree goes back thousands of years in our country. The word “Saree” is anglicized from “Sadi”, which existed in Prakrit language as “Sadia” and originated from Sanskrit “Sati”, meaning a strip of cloth. Quality of fabric and style of wearing Saree vary with our social position, occasion and thereby changes from time to time, place to place and region to region. In an usual wearing style. One end is passed twice round the waist, the upper border tied in a strong knot and allowed to fall in graceful folds to ankle, thus, forming a sort of petticoat or skirt. “Pallav” the hanging part of the saree after draping the lower limbs and torso, as a customery, draw over the head as required. In some regions in Northern India, covering torso and the head is done with a second piece of cloth, commonly known as “Odhani”. Overall, an Indian woman's marital status, area of origin and specific circumstances, if any, could be easily understood by the traditional community in which she lives from the saree she wore.

In major parts of the country, Saree is only an alternative as a decorative Bridal wear even for the poor. With a great cultural diversity corresponding to the region, even many of the Indian Christian brides dress modestly in a white saree with a long sleeve white blouse instead of their traditional Christian Wedding Gown. The covering of the head is done either by the end of the saree or a scarf, generally of the same saree material. South Indian Christian bride generally wears coloured, usually red or green or yellow. Popular silk wedding sarees are from Benaras, and Bangalore (Mysore Silk). Similarly, popular cotton Handloom Sarees are from Calcutta (Valkalam) and South (crepe). Swiss cotton/ spun sarees are another area well accepted in the market. Notable Art Silk Sarees, from Surat in particular, as wedding Sarees are called Poonam, Micro Madhushree, Chiffon and Georgette.

Sarees reflect our various regional cultures influenced by Aryans, Dravidians , Moghuls and Britishers and saree is therefore the most popular dress in different manner, different festivals too. Because of various Cultural festivals, the peak seasons for saree are during Diwali, Pongal, Onam, Ugadi (in Karnataka), Durga Puja and marriage season from January to May. Style, design and colours of saree again are greatly influenced by various customs and dress habits. For a region like Tamil Nadu, even a half saree i.e. Odhanis are worn. As per their custom, maidens wear Odhanis and only after marriage, full sarees are worn. A tribal woman of Tripura wears a cloth around her waist called “Pachra” and another narrow width piece of cloth wrapped around her bust called “Risa” or even “Riha”. Similarly, weaving design in the hills is almost of an angular geometrical type with a zigzag pattern. India has a rich heritage and is well known for the work of great artisans and human skills. Dhaka Muslin saree of undivided Bengal could be considered the finest fabric in the world. Over the years, saree has gone for various changes in colour, design, material with the changing fashion and modern textile technology i.e. from fibre to finish through improved line of production. Today, fine and expensive sarees of either cotton or silk is hand woven. It may be with Block Print, Hand Printed, Batik, Tie and dye, Embroidery, Patchwork, combination work, etc. Less expensive sarees are normally machine-made i.e. on power loom and subsequently hand printed in large process houses, mostly in cotton and synthetic filament yarn and are cut from long pieces. There are other sarees which are produced from mill or power loom and subsequently hand printed or dyed with a specific effect of design and colour. In the changing fashion scenario, traditional style of wearing saree of the region becomes a fashion for other region in the country, mainly because women's fashion is to bring about a change in the way they demand, the prevailing style or mode in dress. Penetration of Western life- style in our modern society too, has moved us from traditional and changed lifestyle and mode of dressing. Even then, for Indian women, saree is the only dress which has never gone out of fashion or needs, even with the fast changing taste and social development and there is a constant presence of sarees in the life of Indian women. A piece of Kameez liked for today, goes out of fashion even in the next season, whereas one single beautiful saree for a middle class lady can be subsequently worn by her sisters or even can be passed on to her daughter or to friends as well. Therefore, many of them are discarding Salwar Kameez by now or have kept only a few for special occasions only. Indian women, almost in all segments, are habituated to carry off a saree well than any other dress. One of the major reasons for choosing saree as the main dress for Indian women would be because of their simplicity in life style. It is purely a draped costume suitable to warm and humid climate like ours. Saree covers-up many flaws of the body and can very well match with traditional or modern jewellery for an ethnic or a modern look. As a result one can easily feel more confident and good whilst wearing a saree. In other words, the concept of changing into something more comfortable and beautiful in a simple way has made Indian women more and more aligned to wearing a saree. Another interesting point of recent times is that a traditional design chosen from popular Indian “Paithani Saree” is painted on the tails of British Airways Aircraft which fly to over 175 destinations of 85 countries in the world. Therefore, to inspire novel fashion changes to this unstitched dress, designers need to very well consider all this. Even the growing influence of modern 'jean look' or Salwar Kameez, could not deviate a saree from its path of elegant, delicate and sophisticated look based on various cultures, customs and habits of Indian Society. When, saree is the essence of our life style and sentiment for the Indian Women, inside the saree industry, in specific, for decentratised Handloom and Power loom sector is full of shadows and sorrows. On the other hand, craftsmen/ weavers with their indigenous and traditional Art and skill, just struggle for their existence or starved by lack of interest and proper patronage. But, even with this unwanted situation, this sector moves on with its existence unceasingly as long as saree continues its position in our life style, even with changing fashion and mode of life.