The half-sari (pavadai davani in Tamil) is a “training” sari worn by adolescent girls in South India to ease the transition to the six yard sari worn by adult women. The three part ensemble (skirt, blouse, drape aka antariya, choli, uttariya) is not dissimilar to other 3 part outfits in India bar the fact that it mimics the “full sari” look.
Normally the lower part is a gathered skirt (like a ghaghra or pavadai worn by young girls) as in pics 2 and 3 but pic 1 (of the actress Savitri) is a little intriguing because the lower part has pleats like a sari but it is still a “half-sari”. I don’t think this is an earlier version of the dress (the photograph dates from the 50s), just a version worn in a movie.
The outfit wasn’t much worn in the recent past (the Northern salwar/chudidar ensembles are more common in South India of late) but it appears to be having a bit of a resurgence (for all ages, often with new materials and some hybridisation with the lehenga of the north) and as party/wedding wear.
Posts tagged Indian Fashion
· Full dress kurta, 1st Duke of York’s Own Lancers (Skinner’s Horse), 1902-1914.
The distinctive full-dress kurta (long coat) was worn by both British and Indian officers of Skinner’s Horse. The garment is faced with black velvet and the decoration is of gold lace and russia braid, some of which is on red cloth. The adoption of distinctive yellow kurtas on the regiment’s formation in 1803 prompted the nickname ‘the yellow boys’. The son of a Scottish father and a Rajput mother, Skinner is believed to have chosen this colour after an ancient Rajput custom. The tradition held that warriors riding into battle would vow to win or die in the attempt. They would then anoint their faces with saffron and put on ‘Clothes of the Dead’, yellow robes tied over their armour with yellow sashes.
National Army Museum, London
76945-costume-research—and-more:
15th- early 16th century Talismanic Cotton. Plain Weave Shirt from India
Textile: L. 25 in. (63.5 cm) W. 38 3/4 in. (98.4 cm) Mount: L. 25 in. (63.5 cm) W. 38 3/4 in. (98.4 cm)
This shirt, made of cotton, has a rectangular profile, wide sleeves and a circular neck. Its surface has painted squares, medallions, and lappet-shaped areas in which the entire Qur’an has been written. These areas are separated by lines and circles outlined in gold, blue and orange, and are bordered by a wide band with the ninety-nine names of God written in gold against an orange background pattern. The text is written in black naskh script with the surah headings in orange. Medallions on either side of the chest have a blue background, an orange circle in the center and the shahada (“There is no God but God, Muhammad is his Prophet”) written in gold. The tops sleeves of the sleeves are decorated with several gold, orange and blue medallions; some are filled with checkerboard patterns and others bear the word ‘God’. A panel at the center of the back contains a proclamation in gold script stating “God is the merciful, the Compassionate”.
76945-costume-research—and-more:
Man’s court sash (patka)
Indian, Mughal dynasty, 17th or early 18th century India
Dimensions 330 x 52.1 cm (129 15/16 x 20 1/2 in.)Medium or Technique Silk twill with supplementary silk and metal-wrapped patterning weftsA dark blue sash of silk brocade is decorated on both ends with a series of ivory-colored chevron-patterned bands. The narrow edges and wide ends of the sash consist of multi-colored embroidered flowers on a gold brocade ground. In the pallaka (end) panels, four tall flowering plants, perhaps poppies, serve as perches for blue and green birds. Gold fringe falls from both ends.
An important element of male courtly attire in sixteenth-, seventeenth-, and eighteenth-century India, the patka or girdle played a symbolic and decorative role comparable to the necktie today. Often the most lavishly decorated component of a man’s formal dress, the patka tied at the waist with the ends hanging toward the knees. The length of the ends and the position of the knot changed according to the fashions of the times. The ends of the patka, known as the pallakas, tend to be more elaborately and sumptuously ornamented than the central area, with lavish embroidery and metal thread. Because rulers often granted patkas as token of esteem, the sashes became symbols of political status as well as emblems of wealth and good taste.
MFA Museum
(Source: 76945-costume-research-and-more)
fahad hussayan
EVERYTHING about the velvet sherwani (the one on the right) is perfect.
I want it all.
The hat. I’m dying. It needs to be on my head.
(Source: pakistani-munday)
Garland of berries
India, late 19th-early 20th centuryThis garland features double rudraksha seeds from the utrasam tree (Eleocarpus ganitrus), sacred to the Hindu god Shiva, alternating with gold spacer beads. Its elaborate clasp contains a tiny figure of the goddess Parvati and the strands terminate in a gold image of the bull Nandi, Shiva’s vehicle. A large pendant gold casket, empty today, most likely contained a small portable linga (an abstract symbol of the god Shiva), perhaps of crystal or gold, as well as sacred ashes. (via Freer|Sackler Smithsonian Museums of Asian Art)
Fascinated by Indian Civilization, the good the bad and the ugly
