Women’s Attire in India

Indian women have a variety of dressing styles and outfits which make them unique and stand out from a crowd. It is easy to spot an Indian woman from among a huge crowd, when she has been dressed in the typical Indian attire. The major forms of attires that most Indians wear are : sarees, chudidhars, salwar kameez, ghagra choli, latcha, patialas. Women in India righ from the teens can be seen Pchudidhars or salwar kameez. It is the bottom which creates the difference in chudidhars and patialas. In chudidhars, the bottom is stitched such that it fits tightly to the leg. It gives the appearance of a crushed cloth tightly fitting the feet. Now a days, the bottom is stitched in a loose fashion which has become a trend called loose pants.  

Patialas are typical traditional pants of the north. Now a days, there is also an increasing craze among women to possess patialas. Different shades are mixed, matched and worn. For example, a red top is matched with its contrast of green. Or a light and dark shade are chosen, maroon with white. Exact contrasts like black and white are also used. however, the bottom and shawl are of the same color.

  Sarees are woven in different materials like cotton, silk, polyester and nylon. When the saree is hadspun, they are called handloom sarees. Handloom sarees are preferred by women especially during the summer when it is too hot in the months of  March to May. Popular designs on sarees are chikun work, batik, hand embroidery and machine prints. Silk sarees are of  great demand in India. 

  Among Silk sarees there are two categories : pure silk where the whole material of the saree is of silk and where no other components other than silk are used. Other versions may be a mixture of silk and several artificial fabrics, woven along with silk. Pure silk sarees are of greater value owing to the strenous work empoyed in the rearing of solk worms and extraction of silk (sericulture). 

   Similarly, cotton sarees in their purest form are of great demand during the summer. However, pure cotton sarees are difficult to maintain because they tend to wrinkle and have to be stiffened frequently using  starch. Hence, owing to such maintenenance problems, synthetic sarees are preffered by some.  Ghagra, choli and latcha are worn for special occassions.