If you are like me you love sarees.
If you are like me and I think a lot of people are like me, you probably hate to wear whatever everyone else wears.
If you are like me you do not like to wear the same clothes over and over again. Say what!! After all that money!!!
If you are like me you also hate to spend too much money on designer clothes.
So how do you circumvent this designer, do not repeat clothing dilemma?
So how do you circumvent this designer, do not repeat clothing dilemma?
This helps your right brain and also helps you have gratitude for all that you own.
This was a fun blog to do because I rarely get an opportunity to wear anything I own. Then I had to hire my whole family to be my photographers.
The fun part is when your adult kids roll their eyes at your silliness and of course, my son said why are you taking so many pictures of the same look?!!!
Talk about a party popper!!
Well, this photo shoot is of a simple saree that can be worn 10 different ways for 10 different days for 10 different looks.
So let us begin.
What you need is a lot of pins, some fun accessories, clothes western or Indian you can repurpose and mix and match.
Of course, you need to have a wild imagination and the love to dress up and simply have fun.
Wearing the sari dhoti style: Look 1
Dhoti sarees are a fun way to wear a saree. Buying one can be expensive.
I found salwar pants and similar color saree blouse and wore the saree in a dhoti fashion. This gave it a different and fun look.
There are many YouTube videos on how to tie a regular saree like a dhoti saree. The one I used is here
Took me 3 attempts and I still failed. But was enough to get into a picture and walk without tripping.
Let’s go onto look number 2.
The simple way: the classic black and white: Look 2
When wearing a simple white saree it goes with any color blouse and jewelry.
Black is famously known to go well with white and so I took a similarly designed blouse (polka dots) and paired it with the same white saree. I realized I had more than one black blouse. So I tried it on with another that had a lot of work and made it look like I had bangles on.
Of course, you can add a red bag or red bangles to give it a different look; I chose to keep it simple.
The Lehenga style: Look 3
In this I wanted to create a completely different look.
So I took a colorful blouse and added colorful beaded jewelry.
I took a colorful dupatta of mine and pinned it to the saree where the pleats come. These days’ dupattas are as broad as the saree so makes this easy and simple.
I then pleated it in the front and made it look like a lehenga style saree simply due to the colors and how it was pleated.
By now I was already tired of changing my blouses, hairstyles and jewelry so simply sat down on the toilet seat and got this shot. The powder room has red light makes you look younger so loved this shot. And I had to go on. Only 30% of the way done- It was 10 days 10 ways to wear a saree after all.
Remember the great thing about a simple white saree is that it goes with anything.
So I chose another multi-colored blouse that would go with a big bindi and heavy gold jewelry. I thought the effect looked like an old heroine in a Bengali movie.
The Red and White: Look 4
White saree can be simple. It can also be made grand by the jewelry you can wear with it.
So my next attempt at a different look but same saree was to add some heavy jewelry but simple blouse so the focus is more on the jewelry.
I think the saree looks simple but can be made grand by the company it keeps.
I wanted to use not bright colored but heavy jewelry.
So the look is overall grand but elegant.
Accessories are another huge weakness of mine, but I do try and put it to good use.
Sometimes it takes years to accumulate these pieces and then pair them with unrelated pieces and still pull it off.
Hope you dig my next one.
The simple saree with exotic accessories: Look 5
Ok, now I am getting really tired but had to dig in and see what else could I pair with this saree?
I remember this saree has both gold and silver polka dots.
So why not pair it with both those metallic colors?
So the next was to pair it with a blouse that I made out of my kurta. It was a gaudy looking kurta which I would never wear, but the work on it was fun. So I decided I would use the yoke in a blouse and made my kurta into a saree blouse. The saree is off white and the blouse I had was pure white so I paired it with a silver belt to tie it all together.
The Silver white Combo: Look 6
You can never go wrong with white and gold so that was my next attempt to pair it with a gold blouse and some loud gold jewelry:
Gold and white really go well and can look grand and beautiful based on the lighting.
At night in yellow light, the gold looks the best.
So knowing when and where you might be going, adding the gold can enhance the simple saree.
The white and gold: Look 7
The jacket blouse: look 8
When regular blouses are simply blah, it is fun to find something that is different and unique.
I have seen these jacket blouses, sometimes you can pull it off or other times they just don’t make the cut. I loved this one and tried it with the saree. Not sure it does anything else other than making me look like I am off to do social service or start a political party.
Then my next look I needed to put in some thought. Again when you think of re-purposing everything you got how about getting more use out of the kurta that you have?
I love to pair a kurta and saree instead of the traditional kurta and salwar or churidar.
So this combination looks not so grand but different.
Kurta Saree: Look 9
Dress to Saree: Look 10
And my final look. I was at Nordstrom Rack a few years ago and bought this mini dress, which I used to wear with leggings. Got tired of it so I chopped off the skirt and it had an elastic waist and repurposed it to be a blouse that was different and fun. What ideas do you have for the dresses you hate to wear but hate to let go?
Hope I have given you some really fun ways to wear a simple saree. This is why the saree is probably the world’s most elegant dress and can never be boring to wear. Simple or grand it can be made to rise up or tone down for a given occasion.
So simply enjoy your sarees or simply your saree and use it ten times over and don’t ever” repeat” them.
