Category Archives: 1930s

2015

Everyone should read Banalata Sen, whether in the original Bengali or translated. As I mentioned the sari history posts were very time and energy consuming this year.  I might revisit some of the earlier decades as the information on them … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, Bengal, Early 20th Century, Indian Literature, Literature, Personal, Poetry, Vintage, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Red Sari

Then when the lamps were lit, I should put on my red dress and it would be thin as a veil, and would wind about my body, and billow out as I came into the room, pirouetting. It would make … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, Fashion Quote, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Paintings, Sari, Sari Blouse, sari history, vintage art, vintage fashion, vintage sari | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Pallu Drape Post

Though in our times the fashion is to leave the pallu (the loose end of the sari) largely unsecured,  historically there were several ways of securing or draping the pallu of a nivi sari. In the 1930s-1940s when the nivi … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, paper dolls, sari drape, Vintage Blouse, vintage sari | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Birthday

My grandmother died not too long back, she would have been 88 today.  The studio pic is of her as a wee thing in about 1930-she was the eldest child so this must have been a special trip. She looks … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, Girls, India, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Personal, Photography, Tamil Nadu, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Recreating Vintage/Historical Art

Like him or hate him, Raja Ravi Varma remains influential more than a 100 years after his death. Recreating his work seems to be a bit of a thing ranging from the recent Rang Rasiya to Makaramanju to Pushpamala’s photo … Continue reading

Posted in 16th Century, 1900s, 1930s, Art, art recreation, Asia, Bengal, Documentary, ghaghra, historical art, historical costume, indian art, Indian Women, Malayalam Cinema, miniature paintings, Paintings, Sari, Vintage, vintage costume | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Maharashtra Post

Zee Talkies got a bunch of actors to recreate iconic roles in Marathi cinema for its 2013 calendar. The ones in this post are: Pic 1-Urmila Kanitkar as Shanta Apte in Kunku. Pic 2-Amruta Khanvilkar as Durga Khote in possibly … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, 1950s, 1970s, 20th century, Actor, Cinema, Costume, Culture, Dance, Dancer, Early 20th Century, fashion, Film Costuming, Indian Cinema, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Maharashtra, Movies, Sari, Sari Blouse, sari history, Vintage, vintage fashion, vintage sari | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The SE Asia/East Asia Post

South-East Asia/East Asia 1. Thailand (1905) 2. Cambodia (1928) 3. Laos (1930) 4. Bali (1935) 5. Malaysia (Peranakan) 1930s 6. Indonesia (1940) 7. Vietnam (1930) 8. China (1930s) 9. Korea 10. Japan (1930s). I have spent a fair bit of … Continue reading

Posted in 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, Asia, China, Colonial, Costume, Culture, Dress Reform, Early 19th century, East Asia, fashion, Girls, historical costume, History, Photography, Postcards, South East Asia, Studio Portraits, Vintage Blouse, Vintage Dress, vintage fashion, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The 1930s post

The Sari: 1931-1940 Almost every decade has a signature sari. In the 1920s it was the chiffon with a zari border (pics 1 and 2 are from 1924 and 1931). The borders were generally small and stitched onto French chiffons. … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, British Raj, Colonial, Culture, Early 20th Century, fashion, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian History, Indian Women, Royalty, Sari, Sari Blouse, Sets, Studio Portraits, Tumblr, Vintage Blouse, Vintage Dress, vintage fashion, vintage sari, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Kanan Devi

My tumblr avatar is usually that of the actress Kanan Devi, a star of the 1930s and 1940s. Though the silents had a number of famous actresses, it is with the talkies and the 1930s that you find stars and … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, Actor, Bengal, Cinema, Colonial, Culture, Early 20th Century, fashion, Indian Cinema, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Singers, Indian Women, Music, Sari, Sari Blouse, vintage fashion, vintage sari, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The evolution of the modern sari

It’s been difficult for me to update this blog along with tumblr as I am a little hard pressed for time. The only significant thing that I need to update here are a series of posts I am doing on … Continue reading

Posted in 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 19th century, 20th century, Bengal, British Raj, Colonial, Early 20th Century, Flapper, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian History, Indian Women, Sari, Sari Blouse, Vintage, Vintage Blouse, vintage fashion, vintage sari | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment