Saree on the Nari: Watch Its Decade-Wise History

Here’s a giveaway: Sonam Kapoor is not the first to wear an ankle length saree with Oxfords.

Every decade in fashion is distinctive. (Photo: iStock)

Every decade in fashion is distinctive: every decade leaves a mark in creating some new vocabulary in the design language. And I thought it would be nice to see how much our sarees have changed with each decade.

Before watching this: here’s a disclaimer. Sarees are an indigenous wear for us. So we didn’t begin wearing them in the 1920s when the timeline starts. Also, India is not a monolith, so the way I have documented the sarees may not reflect the nuances of regions, castes, cultures, etc. But I have tried to account for the more Bollywoodised (“mainstream”) history. So go through the timeline, and tell me how it was.

PS: My deepest gratitude to Vintage Indian Clothing, a blog by Anu that has been diligently documenting Indian clothing that dates back to the early 1900s.