Category Archives: Contemporary

Midweek Post-1

First up, Jayalalitha looking quite magnificent as Cleopatra [X] Not as magnificent but Ranveer Singh nicely fills out Arjun Saluja’s designs in a photofeature for Platoform Magazine.

Posted in 1960s, 2013, Contemporary, Costume, fashion, India, Indian Cinema, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Movies, Tamil Cinema, Women | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Ayah Post-2

Ayahs on film: Nandita Das in Earth. Ayahs on Stage: Anneika Rose in The Empress.

Posted in 20th century, Actor, British Raj, Colonial, Contemporary, India, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Movies, Period Drama, Sari, Sari Blouse, Vintage, Vintage Blouse, Vintage Dress, vintage fashion, Women, Working Women | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kumbakonam

My grandparents came from the villages around Kumbakonam but lived most of their adult lives in Maharashtra and Bihar.  My great grandparents had a house in Tiruvidaimarudur, they moved here in the 1950s from Mumbai. Given their long lives, we … Continue reading

Posted in 20th century, Contemporary, Culture, fashion, Flowers, Girls, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Salwar Kameez, Sari, Sari Blouse, Tamil, Village, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

On the Street, India

Hair Ornaments, Tie String blouses and saris worn “seedha pallu”; sequinned saris; fluorescent colours; kurtas with lace borders; skinny jeans worn with kameez and dupatta; handloom singlets; the enduring popularity of chikankari; gold and yellow thread. One of the nice … Continue reading

Posted in Contemporary, fashion, India, Indian Dress, Indian Women, Jewellery, Sari, Sari Blouse, Sets | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Families Post

A look at families from the late 19th century till about the 1980s.  Its impossible for me to do justice to the many photographs documenting families across region, religion and caste so this is just a sample. First up, North … Continue reading

Posted in 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 19th century, 20th century, Asia, Bengal, Colonial, Contemporary, Costume, Culture, Diaspora, Early 20th Century, Edwardian, Family, fashion, History, Immigration, Indian Dress, Indian History, Indian men, Indian Women, Islamic Dress, Late 19th century, Photography, Royalty, Sari, Sari Blouse, Sets, South India, Vintage Blouse, Vintage Dress, vintage fashion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Corset Sari

  The corset is †a mutilation, undergone for the purpose of lowering the subject’s vitality and rendering her permanently and obviously unfit for work. British India at times seems like a marriage of opposites, the often uncomfortable melding of extreme corsetry … Continue reading

Posted in Colonial, Contemporary, Costume, Victorian, Vintage Dress | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment