Recently, more and more Indian women are trading the traditional Indian sari for contemporary, easier-to-wear Western styles like skirts, jeans, and tops. Though it held a prominent position in Indian fashion across a variety of environments – be it the home, the office, or formalwear – the sari is seen today as a complicated hassle that modern women don’t have time to put on. The garment is a long strip of cloth wrapped around the waist to form a skirt, with the other end draped over the shoulder to form a top, and can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to put on (considered impractical by today’s standards).

But it’s not over for the sari. The garment is expected to become reserved for formal wear, especially for weddings or evening wear. Some Indian women feel “too dressed up” when wearing a sari in informal situations, and one can cost anywhere from $110 to a whopping $4500. Many Indian women are adapting the salwar kameez and kurti, as well as Western styles like Nine West and Valentino which flooded India after the country relaxed its economic policies a decade ago.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 15th, 2005 at 9:40 am and is filed under Fashion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.