Hindu Culture -Indian Traditional Costume & Makeup -2

Hindu Culture  -

Indian Traditional Costume & Makeup  

Traditional clothing

 

Sari

A saree or sari  is a female garment in the Indian subcontinent.  A sari is a strip of unstitched cloth, ranging from four to nine meters in length, that is draped over the body in various styles. There are various traditional styles of saree: Sambalpuri Saree from East, Kanchipuram from South, Paithani from West and Banarasi from North among others.  The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder baring the midriff. The sari is usually worn over a petticoat.  Blouse may be "backless" or of a halter neck style. These are usually more dressy with a lot of embellishments such as mirrors or embroidery and may be worn on special occasions. Women in the armed forces, when wearing a sari uniform, don a half-sleeve shirt tucked in at the waist. Teenage girls wear half-sarees, a three piece set consisting of a langa, a choli and a stole wrapped over it like a saree. Women usually wear full sarees.
Saris are usually known with different names in different places. In Kerala, white saris with golden border, are known as kavanis and are worn on special occasions. A simple white sari, worn as a daily wear, is called a mundu. Saris are called pudavai in Tamil Nadu. In Karnataka, saris are called kupsas.

A sari or saree  is a strip of unstitched cloth, worn by women, ranging from four to nine yards in length that is draped over the body in various styles which is native to the Indian Subcontinent. The word sari is derived from  which means 'strip of cloth' and   śāḍī or  sāḍī in Prakrit, and which was corrupted to sāṛī in Hindi. The word 'Sattika' is mentioned as describing women's attire in ancient India in Buddhist Jain literature called Jatakas.   This could be equivalent to modern day 'Sari'.  The term for female bodice, the choli is derived from another ruling clan from ancient Tamil nadu, the Cholas.^[9] Rajatarangini (meaning the 'river of kings'), a tenth-century literary work by Kalhana, states that the Choli from the Deccan was introduced under the royal order in Kashmir. The concept of Pallava, the end piece in the sari, originated during the Pallavas period and named after the Pallavas, another ruling clan of Ancient Tamilakam.
It is popular in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma, Malaysia, and Singapore. The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder, baring the midriff.
The sari is usually worn over a petticoat (called lahaṅgā or lehenga in the north; langa in Kannada, pavada, or pavadai in the south; chaniyo, parkar, ghaghra, or ghagaro in the west; and shaya in eastern India), with a blouse known as a choli or ravika forming the upper garment. The blouse has short sleeves and a low neck and is usually cropped at the midriff, and as such is particularly well-suited for wear in the sultry South Asian summers. Cholis may be backless or of a halter neck style. These are usually more dressy, with plenty of embellishments such as mirrors or embroidery, and may be worn on special occasions. Women in the armed forces, when wearing a sari uniform, don a short-sleeved shirt tucked in at the waist. The sari developed as a garment of its own in both South and North India at around the same time, and is in popular culture an epitome of Indian culture.  The sari signified the grace of Indian women adequately displaying the curves at the right places

The word sari is derived from   śāṭī which means 'strip of cloth' and   śāḍī or   sāḍī in Prakrit, and which was corrupted to sāṛī in Hindi.  The word 'Sattika' is mentioned as describing women's attire in ancient India in Buddhist Jain literature called Jatakas. This could be equivalent to modern day 'Sari'.
In the history of Indian clothing the sari is traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, which flourished during 2800–1800 BC around the western part of the Indian subcontinent.  The earliest known depiction of the sari in the Indian subcontinent is the statue of an Indus Valley priest wearing a drape.
Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram and the Sanskrit work, Kadambari by Banabhatta, describes women in exquisite drapery or sari.  The ancient stone inscription from Gangaikonda Cholapuram in old Tamil scripts has a reference to hand weaving. In ancient Indian tradition and the Natya Shastra (an ancient Indian treatise describing ancient dance and costumes), the navel of the Supreme Being is considered to be the source of life and creativity, hence the midriff is to be left bare by the sari.
Sculptures from the Gandhara, Mathura and Gupta schools (1st–6th century AD) show goddesses and dancers wearing what appears to be a dhoti wrap, in the "fishtail" version which covers the legs loosely and then flows into a long, decorative drape in front of the legs. No bodices are shown.
Other sources say that everyday costume consisted of a dhoti or lungi (sarong), combined with a breast band called 'Kurpasika' or 'Stanapatta' and occasionally a wrap called 'Uttariya' that could at times be used to cover the upper body or head. The two-piece Kerala mundum neryathum (mundu, a dhoti or sarong, neryath, a shawl, in Malayalam) is a survival of ancient Indian clothing styles. The one-piece sari is a modern innovation, created by combining the two pieces of the mundum neryathum.
It is generally accepted that wrapped sari-like garments for lower body and sometimes shawls or scarf like garment called 'uttariya' for upper body, have been worn by Indian women for a long time, and that they have been worn in their current form for hundreds of years. In ancient couture the lower garment was called 'nivi' or 'nivi bandha', while the upper body was mostly left bare. The works of Kalidasa mentions 'Kurpasika' a form of tight fitting breast band that simply covered the breasts. It was also sometimes referred to as 'Uttarasanga' or 'Stanapatta'.
The tightly fitted, short blouse worn under a sari is a choli. Choli evolved as a form of clothing in the 10th century AD, and the first cholis were only front covering; the back was always bare but covered with end of saris pallu. Bodices of this type are still common in the state of Rajasthan.
In South India and especially in Kerala, women from most communities wore only the sari and exposed the upper part of the body till the middle of the 20th century.  Poetic references from works like Silappadikaram indicate that during the Sangam period in ancient Tamil Nadu, a single piece of clothing served as both lower garment and head covering, leaving the midriff completely uncovered.  Similar styles of the sari are recorded paintings by Raja Ravi Varma in Kerala. By the mid 19th century, though, bare breasted styles of the sari faced social revaluation and led to the Upper cloth controversy in the princely state of Travancore (now part of the state of Kerala) and the styles declined rapidly within the next half a century.
In ancient India, although women wore saris that bared the midriff, the Dharmasastra writers stated that women should be dressed such that the navel would never become visible.  By which for some time the navel exposure became a taboo and the navel was concealed.

Styles of draping

There are more than 80 recorded ways to wear a sari.  Fashion designer Shaina NC declared,"I can drape a sari in 54 different styles".
The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with the loose end of the drape to be worn over the shoulder, baring the midriff.  However, the sari can be draped in several different styles, though some styles do require a sari of a particular length or form. The French cultural anthropologist and sari researcher Chantal Boulanger categorised sari drapes in the following families:

• Nivi – styles originally worn in Andhra Pradesh; besides the modern nivi, there is also the kaccha nivi, where the pleats are passed through the legs and tucked into the waist at the back. This allows free movement while covering the legs.
• Bengali and Oriya style.
• Gujarati/Rajasthani – after tucking in the pleats similar to the nivi style, the loose end is taken from the back, draped across the right shoulder, and pulled across to be secured in the back
• Maharashtrian/Konkani/Kashta; this drape is very similar to that of the male Maharashtrian dhoti. The center of the sari (held lengthwise) is placed at the center back, the ends are brought forward and tied securely, then the two ends are wrapped around the legs. When worn as a sari, an extra-long cloth of nine yards is used and the ends are then passed up over the shoulders and the upper body. They are primarily worn by Brahmin women of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
• Madisar – this drape is typical of Iyengar/Iyer Brahmin ladies from Tamil Nadu. Traditional Madisar is weared using 9 yards saree.
• Kodagu style – this drape is confined to ladies hailing from the Kodagu district of Karnataka. In this style, the pleats are created in the rear, instead of the front. The loose end of the sari is draped back-to-front over the right shoulder, and is pinned to the rest of the sari.
• Gobbe Seere – This style is worn by women in the Malnad or Sahyadri and central region of Karnataka. It is worn with 18 molas saree with three four rounds at the waist and a knot after crisscrossing over shoulders.
• Gond – sari styles found in many parts of Central India. The cloth is first draped over the left shoulder, then arranged to cover the body.
• Malayali style – the two-piece sari, or Mundum Neryathum, worn in Kerala. Usually made of unbleached cotton and decorated with gold or coloured stripes and/or borders. Also the Set-saree, a sort of mundum neryathum.
• Tribal styles – often secured by tying them firmly across the chest, covering the breasts.
• Kunbi style or denthli:Goan Gauda and Kunbis,and those of them who have migrated to other states use this way of draping Sari or Kappad,this form of draping is created by tying a knot in the fabric below the shoulder and a strip of cloth which crossed the left shoulder was fasten on the back.

Historic photographs and regional style

Nivi style

The nivi is today's most popular sari style.
nivi drape starts with one end of the sari tucked into the waistband of the petticoat, usually a plain skirt. The cloth is wrapped around the lower body once, then hand-gathered into even pleats below the navel. The pleats are tucked into the waistband of the petticoat.  They create a graceful, decorative effect which poets have likened to the petals of a flower.
After one more turn around the waist, the loose end is draped over the shoulder. The loose end is called the pallu, pallav, seragu, or paita depending on the language. It is draped diagonally in front of the torso. It is worn across the right hip to over the left shoulder, partly baring the midriff.  The navel can be revealed or concealed by the wearer by adjusting the pallu, depending on the social setting. The long end of the pallu hanging from the back of the shoulder is often intricately decorated. The pallu may be hanging freely, tucked in at the waist, used to cover the head, or used to cover the neck, by draping it across the right shoulder as well. Some nivi styles are worn with the pallu draped from the back towards the front, coming from the back over the right shoulder with one corner tucked by the left hip, covering the torso/waist. The nivi sari was popularised through the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma.  In one of his paintings, the Indian subcontinent was shown as a mother wearing a flowing nivi sari. Also, partly due to Bollywood actresses wearing it this way in 1920s and 1930s.
The ornaments generally accepted by the Hindu culture that can be worn in the midriff region are the waist chains. They are considered to be a part of bridal jewellery.

Modern style of draping

The increased interaction with the British saw most women from royal families come out of purdah in the 1900s. This necessitated a change of dress. Maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar popularised the chiffon sari. She was widowed early in life and followed the convention of abandoning her richly woven Baroda shalus in favour of the traditional unadorned white. Characteristically, she transformed her ‘mourning’ clothes into high fashion. She had saris woven in France to her personal specifications, in white chiffon, and introduced the silk chiffon sari to the royal fashion repertoire. The chiffon sari did what years of fashion interaction had not done in India. It homogenised fashion across this land. Its softness, lightness and beautiful, elegant, caressing drape was ideally suited to the Indian climate.

Different courts adopted their own styles of draping and indigenising the sari. In most of the courts the sari was embellished with stitching hand-woven borders in gold from Varanasi, delicate zardozi work, gota, makaish and tilla work that embellished the plain fabric, simultaneously satisfying both traditional demands and ingrained love for ornamentation. Some images of maharanis in the Deccan show the women wearing a sleeveless, richly embellished waistcoat over their blouses. The Begum of Savanur remembers how sumptuous the chiffon sari became at their gatherings. At some courts it was worn with jaali, or net kurtas and embossed silk waist length sadris or jackets. Some of them were so rich that the entire ground was embroidered over with pearls and zardozi.
Due to migration to Western countries like South Africa, many Indian women began to wear the normal sari below the waistline exposing the navel, known as low-rise sari or low hip sari. Thus, the space between the bottom of the sari blouse and the top of the petticoat began to expand to expose the navel or a healthy roll of fat instead of only a couple of inches of skin.   Also due to liberalisation and changing global fashion trends, saris are re-emerging as a dress which can expose as much as it conceals.  As a result, saris began to be designed in many innovative ways and materials. Transparent and semi-transparent saris made of sheer fabrics like chiffon are an example.  Heavily embroidered saris gave way to printed nylons and polyesters.
These saris are draped in different ways  such as petticoat being tied at about 4–6 inches below the navel  or where the blouse is small and ends just below the breasts and the pallu is thin, thereby exposing some part of the blouse and almost the entire midriff. Fashion designer Suneet Varma once commented,"The saree is the most versatile garment in the world. It can, with a sweep of the head, be conservative or with a flash of the navel, trendy. If you are going for a prayer meeting, all you need to do is to place the pallu over the shoulders or cover your head with it. The same saree, worn a little low to show off the navel, and teamed up with a backless choli, and show a bit of cleavage, can make you the most elegant woman at a cocktail party."
Designer Shaina NC once commented, "There’s no reason why saris must be worn over a petticoat – I’m wearing mine over trousers. There’s no set rules – take your pleats to the side or over the hip, wear the pallav like a dupatta or try a double or triple sari." Some even wear navel jewels or navel piercings to draw attention to the navel.
  The unique feature of the Sharara is the skirt which has less flow than lehenga. It is like a loose pant fitted till the knee, with a big flare from the knee onwards. Different types of fabrics are used for sharara like rich tissue materials such as Crape, Satin, Chiffon, Georgette and Silk. It later became so popular that till date this type of saris is known to be Mumtaz Saris.
Recently in 2009, actress Priyanka Chopra appeared in a similar type "Mumtaz Sari" and showed off her navel jewellery when she attended the premiere of her film What's Your Raashee at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Taking inspiration from their Bollywood counterparts, actors on the small screen are also concentrating on the glamour quotient of saris on their TV shows. Producer Hemal Thakkar commented,"Fashion sense on TV has surely changed.The actors raise the oomph factor by showing off their curves, yet not showing too much skin, to avoid upsetting families – their main audience. Their pallus (front panel of the sari) are narrower and show off a lot more cleavage now. Blouses have more daring cuts and ample waist display is common." TV Actress Nia Sharma seen in Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai commented, "The style of wearing saris in films has become sexier, and it has trickled down to TV too. Being covered yet sexy is working on TV. This is a nice change."
Above mentioned modern saris are mainly worn by rich and educated upper-class women. Wearing the sari below the navel does not always lead to exposing it, as the navel is covered with the pallu in a low-rise non-transparent sari. This style can be helpful for tall women for whom tying the sari above the navel might not be possible. The pallu helps in covering the navel. In Indian corporate culture, saris are required to be worn in an elegant manner avoiding navel exposure.
Anita Gupta, Senior Vice-President at JWT Chennai commented,"Formal wear for women definitely covers saris without plunging necklines or glimpses of the belly button."

Professional style of draping

Because of the harsh extremes in temperature on the Indian Subcontinent, the sari fills a practical role as well as a decorative one. It is not only warming in winter and cooling in summer, but its loose-fitting tailoring is preferred by women who must be free to move as their duties require. For this reason, it is the costume of choice of air hostesses on Air India.  This led to a professional style of draping a sari which is referred to Air-Hostess style sari. An air hostess style sari is tied in just the same way as a normal sari except that the pleats are held together quite nicely with the help of pins. A bordered sari will be just perfect for an Air-Hostess style drape where the pallu is heavily pleated and pinned on the shoulder. Even the vertical pleats that are tucked at the navel are severely pleated and pressed. Same goes for the pallu pleats that are pinned at the shoulder. To get the perfect ‘Air-hostess’ a complimentary U-shaped blouse that covers the upper body completely is worn which gives a very elegant and formal look. Mastering the ‘Air-hostess’ style drape helps to create the desired impact in a formal setting like an interview or a conference.
Saris are worn as uniforms by the female hotel staff of many five star luxury hotels in India as symbol of culture. Recently in a makeover design, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, decided the welcoming staff at the group's Luxury Hotels would be draped in the rich colours and designs of the Banarasi six yards. The new saris were unveiled at the Taj property in Mumbai. It will be subsequently replicated at all 10 Luxury Hotels of the group across the country for duty managers and front office staff. Taj had adopted three villages in Varanasi and employed 25 master weavers there for the project. The vision finally took shape after 14 months, once the weavers had a good work environment, understood the designs and fine-tuned the motifs.
Similarly, the female politicians of India wear the sari in a professional manner. 

Cloth

Saris are woven with one plain end (the end that is concealed inside the wrap), two long decorative borders running the length of the sari, and a one to three-foot section at the other end which continues and elaborates the length-wise decoration. This end is called the pallu; it is the part thrown over the shoulder in the nivi style of draping.
In past times, saris were woven of silk or cotton. The rich could afford finely woven, diaphanous silk saris that, according to folklore, could be passed through a finger ring. The poor wore coarsely woven cotton saris. All saris were handwoven and represented a considerable investment of time or money.
Simple hand-woven villagers' saris are often decorated with checks or stripes woven into the cloth. Inexpensive saris were also decorated with block printing using carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, or tie-dyeing, known in India as bhandani work.
More expensive saris had elaborate geometric, floral, or figurative ornaments or brocades created on the loom, as part of the fabric. Sometimes warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and then woven, creating ikat patterns. Sometimes threads of different colours were woven into the base fabric in patterns; an ornamented border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small repeated accents in the cloth itself. These accents are called buttis or bhuttis (spellings vary). For fancy saris, these patterns could be woven with gold or silver thread, which is called zari work.
Sometimes the saris were further decorated, after weaving, with various sorts of embroidery. Resham work is embroidery done with coloured silk thread. Zardozi embroidery uses gold and silver thread, and sometimes pearls and precious stones. Cheap modern versions of zardozi use synthetic metallic thread and imitation stones, such as fake pearls and Swarovski crystals.
In modern times, saris are increasingly woven on mechanical looms and made of artificial fibres, such as polyester, nylon, or rayon, which do not require starching or ironing. They are printed by machine, or woven in simple patterns made with floats across the back of the sari. This can create an elaborate appearance on the front, while looking ugly on the back. The punchra work is imitated with inexpensive machine-made tassel trim.
Hand-woven, hand-decorated saris are naturally much more expensive than the machine imitations. While the overall market for handweaving has plummeted (leading to much distress among Indian handweavers), hand-woven saris are still popular for weddings and other grand social occasions.

Types

While an international image of the modern style sari may have been popularised by airline stewardesses, each region in the Indian subcontinent has developed, over the centuries, its own unique sari style. Following are other well-known varieties, distinct on the basis of fabric, weaving style, or motif, in South Asia

Central styles

• Chanderi sari ^] – Madhya Pradesh
• Maheshwari – Madhya Pradesh
• Kosa silk – Chhattisgarh

Eastern styles

• Sambalpuri saree silk & cotton – Sambalpur, Orissa
• Ikkat silk & cotton – Bargarh, Orissa
• Tangail cotton – Bangladesh
• Jamdani – Bangladesh
• Muslin – Bangladesh
• Rajshahi silk – Bangladesh
• Tussar silk – Bihar
• Mooga silk – Assam
• Tant famous Bengali cotton – Shantipur, West Bengal
• Dhaniakhali cotton – West Bengal
• Murshidabad silk – West Bengal
• Baluchari silk – West Bengal
• Kantha silk & cotton saris – West Bengal
• Khandua silk & cotton –Nuapatna, Odisha Saree Store, Cuttack, Orissa
• Bomkai/Sonepuri sari silk & cotton – Subarnapur, Orissa

• Berhampuri silk – Bramhapur, Orissa
• Mattha or Tussar silk –Mayurbhanj, Orissa
• Bapta silk & cotton –Koraput, Orissa
• Tanta cotton –Balasore, Orissa
• Shantipur cotton – West Bengal
• Phulia cotton – West Bengal
• Tant saree – West Bengal

Western styles

• Paithani – Maharashtra

• Bandhani – Gujarat and Rajasthan
• Kota doria Rajasthan
• Lugade – Maharashtra
• Patola – Gujarat

Southern styles

• Mysore silk saree Karnataka
• Kanchipuram sari (locally called Kanjivaram pattu) – Tamil Nadu
• Kumbakonam – Tamil Nadu
• Mundum Neriyathum – Kerala
• Half saree of entire South India
• Thirubuvanam – Tamil Nadu
• Thanjavur – Tamil Nadu
• Madurai – Tamil Nadu
• Coimbatore cotton Tamil Nadu
• Arani pattu – Tamil Nadu
• Chinnalapattu Tamil Nadu
• Kandangi Seelai Tamil Nadu
• Sungudi Seelai Tamil Nadu
• Chettinadu cotton Tamil Nadu
• Pochampally Sari – Andhra Pradesh

  

Banarasi sari

• Venkatagiri Sari – Andhra Pradesh
• Gadwal sari – Andhra Pradesh
• Guntur – Andhra Pradesh
• Narayanpet – Andhra Pradesh
• Mangalagiri – Andhra Pradesh
• Balarampuram – Kerala
• Mysore silk – Karnataka
• Ilkal – Karnataka
• Molakalmuru silk saree – Karnataka
• Dharmavaram silk saree-Andhra pradesh
• Puttapaka Sari - Andhra Pradesh

Northern styles

• Banarasi – Uttar Pradesh
• Shalu – Uttar Pradesh
• Tanchoi – Uttar Pradesh

Disadvantages

George Polk Award winner columnist Rangaswamy Satakopan wrote the following as the problems of the sari in an article for Associated Press,

• In winter, it has no protection against cold.
• In the rains, it collects mud and filth at the hem.
• It is not suitable to wear during sports.

Bala Murukesan, vice-president, Nalli told, "The number of women wearing saris as regular wear is declining, especially in metros. The work culture has changed, both partners are working". Designer Ritu Kumar told, "Women have been wearing saris and working in the fields. But the young career-minded women are always up, about and moving. They find saris to be something which restricts their mobility." Menaka Rai, 21 commented, "Now saris are associated with sensuousness and grace." Neela Shinde, managing committee member of Paramparik Karigar, an organisation that works with Indian artisans, craftsmen and weavers, puts the time required to drape a sari an issue. She commented, "A woman needs to get used to wearing a sari and it needs to be draped in a certain way. There is a certain degree of time management to the garment as against slipping into a trouser or salwar kurta."

 

 

Ghagra Choli (lehenga choli

A Ghagra Choli or a Lehenga Choli is the traditional clothing of women in Rajasthan and Gujarat.  Punjabis also wear them and they are used in some of their folk dances. It is a combination of lehenga, a tight choli and an odhani. A lehenga is a form of long skirt which is pleated. It is usually embroidered or has a thick border at the bottom. A choli is a blouse shell garment, which is cut to fit to the body and has short sleeves and a low neck.
Different styles of ghagra cholis are worn by the women, ranging from a simple cotton lehenga choli as a daily wear, a traditional ghagra with mirrors embellished usually worn during navratri for the garba dance or a fully embroidered lehenga worn during marriage ceremonies by the bride.
Popular among unmarried women other than shalwar kameez are Gagra choli and Langa odhani

Salwar Kameez

Salwar is a generic description of the lower garment incorporating the Sindhi suthan, Dogri pajamma and the Kashmiri suthan.
The Salwar kameez is the traditional wear of women in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. The suthan, similar to the salwar is common in Sindh and Kashmir.  The salwar kameez has become the most popular dress for females. It consists of loose trousers (the salwar) narrow at the ankles, topped by a tunic top (the kameez).   It is named as "Punjabi suit" or simply "shalwar" in the north and "churidaar" in Southern India.  Women generally wear a dupatta or odani (Veil) with salwar kameez to cover their head and shoulders. It is always worn with a scarf called a dupatta, which is used to cover the head and drawn over the bosom. The material for the dupatta usually depends upon that of the suit, and is generally of cotton, georgette, silk, chiffon among othersThis dress is worn by almost every teenage girl in lieu of western clothes. The salwar kameez is most common in the northwestern part of India. Many actresses wear the salwar kameez in Bollywood movies

Churidaar Kurta

Churidaar is a version of salwar, which is loose up to knees and then fits the calf below. A salwar is a baggy pyjama with pleats which gets narrow at the ankles whereas churidaar fits below the knees with horizontal gathers near the ankles.  Usually a long kurta, which goes below the knees, is worn with the churidaar.

Pattu Pavadai/Reshme Langa

Pattu Pavadai or Langa davani is a traditional dress in south India and Rajasthan, usually worn by teenage and small girls. The pavada is a cone-shaped garment, usually of silk, that hangs down from the waist to the toes. It normally has a golden border at the bottom.

Girls in south India often wear pattu pavadai or Langa davani during traditional functions. Girls in Rajasthan wears this dress before marriage (and after marriage with sight modification in certain section of society

Mundum Neriyathum

Mundum Neriyathum is the oldest remnant of the ancient form of the saree which covered only the lower part of the body, a traditional dress of women in Kerala, South India.  The basic traditional piece is the mundu or lower garment which is the ancient form of the saree denoted in Malayalam as 'Thuni' (meaning cloth), while the neriyathu forms the upper garment the mundu.

Mekhela Sador

Mekhela Sador (Assamese: মেখেলা চাদৰ) is the traditional Assamese dress worn by women. It is worn by women of all ages.

There are three main pieces of cloth that are draped around the body.

The bottom portion, draped from the waist downwards is called the Mekhela (Assamese: মেখেলা). It is in the form of a sarong—very wide cylinder of cloth—that is folded into pleats to fit around the waist and tucked in. The folds are to the right, as opposed to the pleats in the Nivi style of the saree, which are folded to the left. Strings are never used to tie the mekhela around the waist, though an underskirt with a string is often used.

The top portion of the three-piece dress, called the Sador (Assamese: চাদৰ), is a long length of cloth that has one end tucked into the upper portion of the Mekhela and the rest draped over and around the rest of the body. The Sador is tucked in triangular folds. A fitted blouse is worn to cover the breasts.

The third piece is called a Riha, which is worn under the Sador. It is narrow in width. This traditional dress of the Assamese women are very famous for their exclusive patterns on the body and the border. Women wear them during important religious and ceremonious occasions of marriage. Riha is worn exactly like a Sador and is used as Orni.

Men's clothing

Traditional clothing

For men, traditional clothes are the Sherwani, Lungi, Kurta and Dhoti or Pajama. Also, most recently Pant and shirt have also been accepted as traditional Indian dress by the Government of India

Dhoti

A dhoti is from four to six feet long white or colour strip of cotton. This traditional attire is mainly worn by men in villages.  It is held in place by a style of wrapping and sometimes with the help of a belt, ornamental and embroidered or a flat and simple one, around the waist.
In south India men also wear long, white sarong like sheets of cloth known as Mundu. In north and central Indian languages like Hindi, Marathi and Oriya, these are called Mundu, while in Telugu they are called Pancha, in Tamil they are called veshti and in Kannada it is called Panche/Lungi. Over the dhoti, men wear shirts.

Panche or Lungi

A Lungi, also known as sarong, is a traditional garment of India. A Mundu is a lungi except that, it is always white.  It is either tucked in, over the waist, up to knee-length or is allowed to lay over and reach up to the ankle. It is usually tucked in when the person is working, in fields or workshops, and left open usually as a mark of respect, in worship places or when the person is around dignitaries.
Lungis, generally, are of two types: the open lungi and the stitched lungi. The open lungi is a plain sheet of cotton or silk, whereas, the stitched one has both of its open ends stitched together to form a tube like structure.
Though mostly worn by men, elderly women also prefer lungi to other garments owing to its good aeration.  It is mostly popular in south India, though people of Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Somalia also can be seen in lungis, because of the heat and humidity, which create an unpleasant climate for trousers, though trousers have now become common outside the house

Sherwani

A Sherwani is a long coat / jacket that usually sports exposed buttons through the length of the placket. The length is usually just below the knees and the jacket ends around high on the calf. The jacket has a Nehru collar,  which is a collar that stands up  The Sherwani is worn with tight fitting pants or trousers called churidars. Churidars are trousers that are loose around the hips and thighs, but are tight and gathered around the ankle.  Sherwani is usually worn during the wedding ceremonies by the groom and is usually cream, light ivory, or gold coloured . It may be embroidered with gold or silver. A scarf called a dupatta is sometimes added to the sherwani.

Headgear

The Indian turban or the pagri is worn in many regions in the country, incorporating various styles and designs depending on the place. Other types of headgear such as the Taqiyah and Gandhi cap are worn by different communities within the country to signify a common ideology or interest.

Dastar

The Dastar, also known as pagri, is a turban worn by the Sikh community of India. Is a symbol of faith representing values such as valour, honour and spirituality among others. It is worn to protect the Sikh's long, uncut hair, the Kesh which is one of the Five Ks of Sikhism.  Over the years, the dastar has evolved into different styles pertaining to the various sects of Sikhism such as the Nihang and the Namdhari.

Pheta

Pheta is the Marathi name for turbans worn in the state of Maharashtra. Its usually worn during traditional ceremonies and occasions. It was a mandatory part of clothing in the past and have evolved into various styles in different regions.  The main types are the Puneri Pagadi, Kolhapuri and Mawali pheta.

Mysore Peta

Originally worn by the kings of Mysore during formal meeting in durbar and in ceremonial processions during festivals, and meeting with foreign dignitaries, the Mysore peta has come to signify the cultural tradition of the Mysore and Kodagu district.  The Mysore University replaced the conventional mortarboard used in graduation ceremonies with the traditional peta

Rajasthani pagari

Turbans in Rajasthan are called pagari. They are distinctive in style and colour, and indicate the caste, social class and region of the wearer. In the hot and dry regions, turbans are large and loose. The paggar is traditional in Mewar while the safa is to Marwar.  The colour of the pagaris have special importance and so does the pagari itself. In the past, saffron stood for valour and chivalry. A white turban stood for mourning. The exchange of a turban meant undying friendship.

Gandhi cap

The Gandhi cap, a white coloured cap made of khadi was popularised by Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian independence movement. The practice of wearing a Gandhi cap was carried on even after independence and became a symbolic tradition for politicians and social activists. The cap has been worn throughout history in many states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and is still worn by many people without political significance.

Contemporary clothing

Western clothing made its foray into the Indian society during the times of the British Raj. Indian professionals opted to wear western clothing due to its relative comfort or due to regulations set then. By the turn of the 21st century, both western and Indian clothing had intermingled creating a unique style of clothing for the typical urban Indian population. Women started wearing more comfortable clothing and exposure to international fashion led to a fusion of western and Indian styles of clothing. Following the economic liberalisation, more jobs opened up, and created a demand for formal wear.
Women's clothing nowadays consist of both formal and casual wear such as gowns, pants, shirts and tops. Traditional Indian clothing such as the kurti have been combined with jeans to form part of casual attire. Fashion designers in India have blended several elements of Indian traditional designs into conventional western wear to create a unique style of contemporary Indian fashion. Both mini skirts and shorts are now worn by girls in bigger urban areas.

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

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