The puff sleeve blouse. Always popular in almost every decade of the 20th century, particularly for young women. Judging from photographs I have seen, the simpler version (unlike the exaggerated sleeves of previous decades) was kind of de rigeur in the 40s (MS Subbulakshmi loved them if the photographs are any indication).
In the pics: Postcard of a Prabhu woman; MS Subbulakshmi; Aishwarya Rai; Nayantara; Aarabi Veeraraghavan (Swarna Rethas); Konkona Sen Sharma
Vintage Indian Clothing 
Love the puffed sleeves!
Yes me too!
I remember my paavadai blouses when I was between 10 and 13…they were these delicate puff sleeves. The tailors were really good at making them. They added femininity to skinny arms, I remember that!
Those pavadai blouses were cute!
Maybe my chubby arms meant no puff sleeves for me:)
I love the puff sleeve and your lovely blog 🙂 Lakshmi x
Thank you! And you know I love yours too:)