Indian Style Clothing

Clothing in India depends on geography, ethnicity, local cultural traditions and climate. It can vary from region to region.

Traditionally, Indian people clothing roots back to plain Langotis and loincloths (one-piece garment kept in place by a belt). They were mostly worn on a daily basis or on such festive occasions as dance performances and various rituals.

Today western clothing is commonly worn by Indian people of all social strata. India is well-known for its gorgeous diversity of fibers, weaves, materials and colors of traditional clothing. Moreover, clothing color codes followed by some people are based on the ritual and religion concerns. For example, Hindu women typically wear white-color clothes to indicate mourning.

Woman’s clothing

As we already mentioned, Indian woman’s clothing varies greatly depending on the religion, local culture and climate. Indian sarees and lehenga cholis (or Gagra cholis) are considered traditional clothing for women in the east and north, south women typically wear sarees and their children wear pattu langas.

Sarees made out of silk material are considered the most elegant. Being the capital city of Maharashtra state, Bombay, also known as Mumbai, is one of India’s fashion capitals. Women prefer wearing a saree, a long piece of colorful patterned cloth, draped over a plain blouse. Such forehead decoration as Bindi is considered a part of women’s traditional make-up. Indo-western clothing presents the fascinating mix of Subcontinental and Western fashion. This mix gives birth to Khara Dupatta, dupatta, huridar, gamchha, mundum neriyathum, kurta, sherwani and so on.

Traditional Saree Magic

Being a female garment in the Indian subcontinent, a traditional saree is an unstitched cloth, 4-9 meters in length, that drapes over the body in a great variety of styles. Do you already know which style works better for you? Sambalpuri saree from East? Or you prefer mysore silk of Karnataka from South? Maybe your best choice would be paithani from West? Or Banarasi saree from North?

As a rule, the saree is worn over a petticoat, with a backless or halter neck style blouse. Sarees are generally known with different names in different places. For example, In Kerala white sarees with golden borders, called kavanis, are worn on special occasions. Plain white sarees worn everyday are known as mundus. In Tamil Nadu sarees are called pudavai, but in Karnataka, they are called seere.

According to Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra, whatever be the mode of expression of the designer, each garment should have a sense of purpose and only then it can meet the expectations of the buyer.
Today there are a variety of online stores that offer a rich repertoire of unique Indian clothing designs. There you may find various Indian ethnic wears, including designer sarees, salwar kameez, anarkali suits, bridal lehenga cholis, salwar suits, bollywood anarkalis, pakistani anarkali suits and many other traditional Indian costumes for any taste and budget.