As far as I can remember, my mother always wore a sari, whether she was at home doing household chores or going out no matter what the occasion was. First in the morning, even before preparing breakfast, she would change from her night dress into a sari.
Those were the times when sari was the preferred dress for most married women, and girls too would often wear it, especially for functions, etc.
I am told that in the pre-Partition India, sari was mostly worn by Hindu women and Muslim women usually wore gharara or chooridar pyjama, while Sikh women wore shalwar kameez. But gradually the distinction disappeared and women began to wear whatever they wanted, irrespective of religion. Sari and shalwar pushed the gharara aside to an extent that it seemed to have been reserved for the elderly or for occasions like weddings, when even young ones would be dressed in a gharara and look like dolls.
However, with the passage of time, somehow in Pakistan, the sight of sari-clad women began to diminish, or in other words the sari fell out of favour. While in the 70s women used to wear sari even in informal settings and in day to day life, and one could even see sari-clad women walk on the streets and even at the work place, but now fewer women wear it.
Aiza Hussain, CEO of The Saari Girl, seems to have taken upon herself to bring back sari in style. She refutes the thought that it belongs to some particular community, pointing out that the history of sari in the subcontinent goes as far back as the Indus Valley Civilisation. She mentions the sari draped figurines of the Indus Valley, which shows the historical value of this dress.
“The sari has been here for centuries and is common to many communities,” Hussain says. “But while growing up I did not see the sari to be as popular as I was told during my research; not at least in the circles and spheres that I come across. My mother has never worn a sari, though both my grandmothers loved wearing sari. I feel that an entire generation has really skipped out on sari and that somehow propels me towards this dress.”
Hussain, a socio cultural anthropologist by training, received her education from LUMS and University of Chicago where she was a Fulbright scholar. She is also a researcher and enjoys food, travel, and saris. Seeing her passion, one would have thought that she perhaps inherited it from her family but she says, “It is my personal passion.”
“The sari doesn’t care for our origin or our colour; it is us who have assigned these labels to the sari that exist around it today,” she says. “I have come across women who worry about their body type, colour, marital status, and so many things when it comes to donning this dress. I am trying to normalise this dress again and break all stereotypes around it, using regional ethnic prints, and trying to do that at a cost that a lot of people can bear. It is not supposed to cost you an arm and a leg. We should own proudly.”
The idea behind The Saari Girl is to make sari more accessible and affordable for the masses in Pakistan and generally to Pakistanis or the desi diaspora abroad. “I want to trace the cultural dynamics around this particular dress form and then to contribute towards ‘The Saari Girl,’ Hussain adds.
Why it fell out of style?
When we talk about sari falling out of style, usually Gen Zia and his Islamisation drive is blamed for this. It is true that “during Gen Zia’s era sari was not encouraged in a lot of places,” says Hussain. “In fact, in most places it was frowned upon. This was not exactly an active attack but definitely a way to discourage sari, while shalwar kameez was encouraged as the proper national dress. Though, in later years, sari did redeem in some places like in the military uniform and among medical professionals.”
Another factor is that because sari is more popular in India it is often considered a Hindu dress. Hussain calls this notion a falsehood, saying “it is not correct at all.” Sari is worn in other countries also such as Bangladesh; also in Pakistan, it is worn by different communities belonging to all religions like Parsis. Sari is also often passed on as heirloom from one generation to another.
“I believe that it depends on how things are portrayed,” says Hussain. A concept doesn’t come out of thin air, it’s bred over time, we are socialised into believing certain traditions and values attached to a dress form. I am a big proponent of how things are engineered over time.
The Saari Girl is not just dedicated to promoting affordable saris, but also battling notions about the sari. “In the twenty-first century, it is time that we show more progressive thinking and break past attaching religion to a dress,” advocates Hussain.
Discussing how sari has been politicised in the past few decades, such as during Gen Zia’s Islamisation drive which has had its impact on women’s dressing, especially the sari, Hussain says, “When you think of the national dress you think of the shalwar kameez; when you think of appropriate clothing for women you go back to shalwar kameez, the headscarf and abaya and all.”
She recalls Iqbal Bano’s performance at the Alhamra in 1986, when she sang Faiz ‘Hum dekhein ge’, wearing a black sari. [Faiz had been banned by Zia because of his close association with Bhutto, but Iqbal Bano continued to sing his poems as an act of defiance and resistance.] And because she was wearing a sari which was also considered improper and not deemed something that can be worn by the masses, the sari came to be labelled as revolutionary and rebellious.
“I am particularly striving against established norms,” she says. I am not trying to introduce something new, but only revive something that has always existed in society.”
Fabrics and styles
Talking about the fabrics and styles that are more popular Hussain says, “Banarsi and silk are the main fabrics that we work with.” They have all types of saris ― Indian banarsi, Pakistani banarsi, cotton silk, pure cotton, lawn, organza saris, tissue saris, sequence net saris. “Ajrak sari is very popular and I feel proud that we are promoting Sindhi artisans’ work through those,” says Hussain. “These hand block printed saris are very close to my heart. The handloom traditional khaddi banarsi is again very traditional and involves a lot of hard work and is also one of my favourites. Apart from these we have lace chiffon, georgette, chunri saris too.”
Hussain and her team encourage all kinds of drapes, from the standard and most popular drape that goes on the left shoulder, to Gujarati drape where the pallu comes in front, to the Marathi drape where the sari is draped separately on the two legs in a particular style. Customers are assisted about how they should wear a sari, how they should feel confident about themselves, what sort of look they need and what will complement them, what they have in mind for themselves, explains Hussain. “So it’s the whole process that we work on.”
Hand block-printed Ajrak sari that is made on pure cotton is gaining popularity. “I think it is because of the history attached to the organic, vegetable dye process that is completely handmade. There is zero machinery involved ― from blocks to drying to washing and final touch up, everything is done by hands. These are ancient techniques that that are followed for sari making. Each sari takes about two weeks to make, so a lot of hard work goes into this. Yet we try to price them at reasonable rates; starting from 5,000 onwards and goes up to Rs7,000 -8,000.”
Another popular variety is the silk saris which come in a variety of colours such as peacock green, maroon, plum and royal teal shades are really popular these days.
According to Hussain, ‘The Saari Girl’ is the country’s largest e-commerce platform for saris. “I was the first one to pioneer this movement, and pioneer the idea of an online sari store. Before this no online sari store has emerged from Pakistan.” Hussain was just 23 when she established ‘The Saari Girl’ and a year later established the website. Now at just 26, she leads an all women team, all of whom are younger than her and mostly students. “It’s like a girl power sort of initiative, where I am trying to empower women by making them believe in themselves, to feel more confident about themselves as well as entrusting them with responsibilities, taking their creative input, working together on ideas in a holistic, teamwork kind of environment. It’s a women-led and women-run enterprise.”
Revival
As far as popularising the sari is concerned, Hussain believes that there has been a change. “I think it is a journey where we have definitely made a monumental impact. I can say this because since we started off many brands have picked up.”
She says this can be measured by the fact that many popular brands are marketing saris now, which is evident from campaigns by premiere fashion clothing brands. Three or four years ago none of these brands was marketing the sari. She recalled that while at a shopping mall recently, she noticed one mannequin at premiere clothes outlet wearing a sari. “The fact that it is being mass produced by bigger brands shows that people are wearing sari more regularly.”
As a measure to revive the sari, “We have done campaigns that are very socially inclusive; for example, campaigns that were actively targeted towards minorities in Pakistan, such as campaigns on Diwali and Karwa Chauth.”
One can say that revival of the sari is happening as more and more people are wearing saris for Eids, for birthdays, etc. “There’s a movement that is in place, but, given the decades of pluralism against the sari that we have to fight, it will take time. It is something that we are actively working on and there is still a long way to go,” says Hussain.
Being dedicated to social responsibility, Aiza feels that in a country where majority of the population lives below the poverty line it is important to keep giving back to society in whatever way possible, monetarily or through more exclusive campaigns. “For this, we have done campaigns where we donate a percentage of 5-15 percent towards flood relief. I donated 50 percent of proceeds for a couple of months, and in August last year I donated 100 percent of my proceeds,” says Hussain.
To bring back the sari, just introducing new styles and mass marketing is not enough. As Aiza says with so many women suffering from colourism, from body image, etc. we have to be more mindful of that and should have more inclusive campaigns. And this, she says, is her mission.
Rizwana Naqvi is a freelance journalist and tweets @naqviriz; she can be reached at naqvi2012rizwana@hotmail.co.uk
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