'Saris should not decline like Kimonos'

The disappearance of saris from daily wear in India is a sign of losing our cultural identity, a designer said at an exhibition here.

To ensure that the legacy of the six-yard wonder doesn't decline like the Japanese traditional attire, Kimono, Delhi-based designer Rema Kumar came up with the concept of an annual exhibition, The Love of Sari, where she displays the best of handwoven saris: malmals, soft cottons from Andhra Pradesh, bafta tussar-cotton blends from Chhattisgarh, Silks from Kota and maheshwaris and chanderis from Madhya Pradesh.

The exhibition is being held at Add Ons in Shahpurjat here till May 12.

Kumar feels the "wearability" factor has to be highlighted among youngsters.

"The need of to draw attention to the fact that our saris should not die the way Kimono did. Fewer women wear this traditional Japanese attire because of the influence of western garments and believe that they are easy to wear and carry," Rema Kumar told IANS on Thursday.

"The same decline has been observed in the case of saris too. In the past few years, women are making excuses for not wearing it because of the inconvenience factor, not knowing how to drape it or they restrict its wearing only to parties and marriages," she added.

Rema Kumar works with the weavers from across India and blends various weaves with clever positioning of embroidery and techniques like kalamkari, kantha, pattiwork, brocades, handblocks, shibori, bandini and batik, balancing traditional and contemporary flavours of saris.

"There was a time when we grew up seeing our mothers looking so beautiful and graceful in their saris - be it handloom, chiffon or nylon. And now there is this young generation who do not even see their grandmothers draped in them," she said.

"This exhibition is about celebrating sari and informing people that sari should no more be associated with dressing up, and should be incorporated into everyday lifestyle," she added.