Saree Shopping

We have our big holiday party this upcoming Friday (actually it's a 'Welcome to 2010' party) -- dress code is formal Indian wear -- which means a saree (aka sari) for me. So on Saturday, I went saree shopping with Parma (co-worker) --- quite the experience!

We went to 2 shops -- and after 3 hours of looking at sarees --- was able to decide on which one to buy for the party (was the most expensive one of course!). I will post a picture of me in a saree next week.

So the process is rather interesting. As shown in the photo, the sales people sit on a mattress in front of shelves holding hundreds of sarees (we were in the party saree section of the shop). You tell the salespeople generally what you are looking for -- and they start pulling out different sarees (which are really just 6+ yards of gorgeous material -- often with embroidery / beadwork) --- you tell them which ones you like and they put them in the short-list pile. After short-listing several sarees -- you take off your shoes and get up on the mattress so that they can see how you look in the various sarees. Although there were guys pulling the sarees, it was always women who would put the saree on you --- and it's quite the process -- they pleat up the fabric and twirl it around you, put an elastic around your waist to hold the saree up, and then voila! --- you are wearing a proper saree.

After I bought the saree, then had to go to a tailor to have them stitch up the blouse that you wear under the saree (called a choli) --- the material for the blouse comes with the saree. Also had have a petticoat / underskirt made -- that's what you tuck everything into to keep the saree in place (or so they say).

There are numerous sights on the web that show you how to put on a saree -- but I have this fear that it would just fall off of me in the middle of the party -- so I'm going to have one of the women from the office come over to my apartment and help me get dressed for the party. It's interesting to find out that actually a lot of the women in the office don't know how to put on a saree -- especially the younger women from cities like Bangalore where many women wear "western" clothes on a daily basis.