That sexy blouse

At the recently held Filmfare Awards South, Shruti Haasan masterfully proved that it wasn’t just a sari state of affairs.

The actor’s conceptual net bodice blouse, worn over a hand-embroidered skirt shimmering with gold sequins, was eye-catching. The bodacious blouse created by Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla had a racy twist. “The emphasis was on the construction of a ‘concept’ blouse that was slightly longer and bolder than usual,” says Khosla, who thinks this is a stand-out piece that does not necessarily have to be paired with, or hidden under, a sari.

The changing shape of the sari blouse is slowly gaining momentum. It’s about smart and unusual pairings: Think of the blouse as a crop top or vice-versa. “There is a need to make the blouse versatile,” says Khosla. It is necessary in these times, in which a new tribe of instafashionistas suavely combine modern-day alternatives from high street and fast fashion brands to funk up a sari.

“Sometimes our ideas are based on international trends that lend a decidedly contemporary element to the ensemble,” says designer Urvashi Kaur, who has created tops that are complete in themselves. She often uses zipper details, batik, tie-dye and whimsical ruching to add textural elements to peplum tops, waistcoats and jackets that serve a dual purpose, as blouses for saris and as quirky twists to otherwise sedate outfits.

The sari and the blouse are no longer a predictable pair.

When Sanjay Garg of Raw Mango launched his collection at the Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2014 last year, his aversion to the ornate decorative tassels often stitched on to blouses at the back led him to adopt minimalistic yet modern detailing in the form of interesting stripes and zips. Slightly boxy in shape, his blouses (made of satin silk, kadwa brocade,mashru and gold tulle) come with inbuilt padding and are inspired by the nomadic spirit of Rajasthan’s Gadia Lohar tribe. “To me, a perfect fit is when the blouses are comfortable, not too fussy, and can also be worn as crop tops over a mini skirt,” he says. For his Shaher collection, the blouses are supple pea coats and vests.

Manish Arora played with this idea too when he made neon-hued stretch blouses that looked like mini tees, while Manish Malhotra’s Blue Runway at the Lakmé Summer/Resort 2015 showcased a relaxed silhouettes of crop tops worn over heavily embroidered, voluminous lehngas.

“It’s all about a new sensibility of style. With each passing day, the concept of dressing up is changing into something comfortable and casual,” says Pranav Mishra, one half of Huemn, the avant-garde label he set up with Shyma Shetty. The duo, known for simple and sophisticated sports-inspired clothing, created a “varsity sari” (Spring/Summer 2014) with the figure 8 drawn in sequins on the pallu,teamed with an easy-to-slip-on sleeveless, colour-blocked crêpe blouse.

Abu-Sandeep are currently concentrating more on the structure and style of the blouse than the opulent embroidery they are known for. Haasan’s blouse—a sharply contoured bralette—was one such example. Style icon and Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor got the duo a lot of good attention with the risqué organza blouse, with white hearts appliquéd on it, that she wore at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Just in case you didn’t notice, she wore it with a chiffon-layered frill sari edged with a chamois appliqué border, with the pallu draped seductively on her arms. “We wanted to explore sexuality in a different way,” says Khosla. Well, the blouse did reveal a lot more than it concealed. “In complete contrast to the dramatic front, it was buttoned (with pearls, no less) high up at the back,” adds Khosla.

Over the years, the sari blouse has evolved organically to suit the mood of the moment. The 1930s saw puff-sleeve blouses, while the 1940s had square-neck versions. Through the 1950s, the arm-length, closed-neck blouses were longer than the usual choli. The swinging Sixties saw sleeveless blouses with V-necks and ribbon-knots at the back, the kind actor Vyjayanthimala wore in Sangam.

The 1970s started simplistically—scoop-, boat- and round-neck, colour-matched blouses. Things got steamy from the early 1980s, largely owing to actor Rekha’s sartorial choices in Silsila, which included plain silk saris in pastel colours worn with a mix of halter-neck and cap-sleeved blouses. The 1990s era of sexy blouses owes a lot to Madhuri Dixit-Nene, who shimmied her way into our collective consciousness (in Dhak Dhak Karne Laga) with her over-the-top backless blouse in Beta; skimpy Rajasthani choli in Khal Nayak; and the famous purple satin sari with a matching three-quarter-sleeve blouse in the blockbuster hit Hum Aapke Hain Koun...!.

Some of us may shudder at the memory now, but those blouses had a mass following. Between then and now, a dizzying variety of designs—noodle strap, corset, off the shoulder, one shoulder, key-hole, bikini—has made blouses a malleable and multifaceted accessory that effortlessly gives the sari a new lease of life. It is certainly a far cry from what our mothers used to wear.

“Fashion does not always drive what we wear. It’s comfort,” says Anavila Misra, the current favourite of India’s beau monde. “The idea behind the changing shape of blouses is to make the sari more wearable every day,” she says. So she made breezy blouses—resembling short kurtis and collared shirts—by employing extra-weft weaving and Ajrak printing techniques on handwoven linen, cotton and silk for her Autumn/Winter 2014Mohenjo-Darocollection. “They were anti-fit, unstructured, with little or no pattern cutting involved,” says Misra. But for her Spring/Summer 2015 collection, the blouses were slightly tapered, with shorter sleeves, and played with geometric designs on floral motifs, using embroidery techniques such as hand batik, khatwa and sujani.

There are plenty of other examples. Like Abraham & Thakore, who paired their earthy sandblasted palette of saris with graceful cap- and quarter-sleeved blouses and collared shirts—many were tucked in or concealed the waist to make them appear to be one long cohesive garment. New designer Rashmi Varma often pairs her intricately embroidered black sleeveless Kedia vest with a sari. Jackets as sari blouses are also becoming a part of power dressing. Shweta Kapur of fashion label 431-88 paired a cropped blazer with padded shoulder and sleeves that ended just above the elbow with a pre-draped sari.

The only way to know what will work for you is to try something tassel-free in a shape that you are not used to, in new fabrics that you thought belonged to dresses or shirts. Fashion is about moving into exciting untried territory, but style will ask for a thoughtful process of rejection and selection.Read more at:marieprom