When I wear a sari, I generally wear a tight, knee-length kaccha-style
wrap based on the instructions on the sarisafari website:
http://www.sarisafari.com/howkaccha.html
Here’s a picture of me fresh out of the kitchen, with a local
proto-Indian:
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h182/icbhod/Andi%20at%20Trimarian%20Fa
ll%20Coronation/100_3293.jpg
I don’t think this wrap is right, I think it should be more like the
Khandala wrap, seen here:
http://www.cbmphoto.co.uk/saris/phsariMH.html
I call this the “flower seller’s wrap” but I’ll be damned if I can
remember where I got that term. This wrap is the basis of my 12th
century Kalinga/Eastern Ganga Dynasty servant kit. The use of this
specific wrap is based on my interpretation of line drawings in Fashion
Styles of Ancient India: A study of Kalinga from Earliest Times to 16th
Cent. AD by Ramesh Mohapatra. I can only speak to this wrap though, as I
am no sari expert.
Madhavi
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My starting point with garment names for North India is always:
Indian Costumes; Historic Textiles of India at the Calico Museum.
Vol. V;Goswamy, B.N. & Krishna, Kalyan. Ahmedabah Calico Museum of Textiles 1993
Costumes and Textiles of Royal India; Kumar, Ritu: Christie’s, United Kingdom 1999
Those coats to not exactly look like the peshwaz in those books. Among other things they have the waist seam at the waist and not higher and the skirts do not appear to open in the front the way a classic (out of period) peshwaz does. But the coats are clearly not jama, which tie under the arm. My current working theory is the out of period peshwaz evolved from those coats. But the term peshwaz does appear in the Akbarnama (or the other book by the author who name I cannot remember the spelling of at the moment). Indian Costumes gives the cite to that reference.
Meenakshi
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For a start on the history of the nivi styles you can look at the paper I wrote awhile back
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/YFknTN0HD3pzSx9V8D7XtHd7f8WKgvgniqZGFKybw5X6GTlE-1yqb9HEaK-M3ckLXjbbDibKDcaPUvxEKr055wwNeeeI/sari%20paper%20final.pdf
If the link does not work, its in the files section of the group website under Meenakshi’s sari paper.
I need to update it, but all the basic information is correct.
Its not a bad place to start on what to look for in period saris either.
Sari wrapping changes a lot over time and place. The nivi style wraps appear to have developed in the mid to late 1500’s in the Deccan. I have seen no evidence of them before then. So for early period I would consider them pretty wrong. Of course, this is India and the next art book I open could prove me wrong.
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I bought that book that you had on sari draping by Chantal Boulanger.
> > It really is a lovely reference. You can tell she had a deep affinity for
> > her subject! I remember that you said that it was difficult to find the book
> > at a decent price, and since you teach a class and may be pointing folks in
> > the correct direction to find the book, I wanted to let you know that I
> > found it for $30 at Barjon’s here in Billings, MT. They’ve carried the book
> > for 12 years and are actually referenced on the publisher’s website.
> > http://www.devi.net/barjons.html
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Magazine issue devoted to Kathak dance (N. Indian classical dance form)