Category Archives: Indian Women

The Regional Cinema Post

For very many reasons Bollywood is Indian cinema.  Now and then regional cinema makes a splash – especially at the National Awards – but for the most part the audiences are local.  You could however argue that all the interesting … Continue reading

Posted in 21st century, Accessories, Actor, Cinema, Contemporary, contemporary fashion, Contemporary Style, Culture, fashion, Film Costuming, Flowers, Indian Cinema, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Jewellery, Manipur, Marathi cinema, North East, North East India, Period Drama, Punjab, regional styles, Sari, Sari Blouse, Sets, South Indian Cinema, Tamil Cinema, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The North-East Post

This doesn’t cover all the North Eastern states of India neither is it chronological or thematic. Rather it’s a North East sampler that includes a fair bit of dance forms in the North-East. The components of the Manipuri dance costume … Continue reading

Posted in 1900s, 1950s, 20th century, Accessories, Art, Asia, Costume, Culture, Dance, Dancer, Early 20th Century, fashion, Folk Dance, Girls, indian art, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Textiles, Indian Women, Jewellery, North East, North East India, Paintings, photodivision, Photography, regional styles, retro, retro fashion, Tribal, Vintage Blouse, vintage costume, vintage fashion, vintage hair, vintage jewellery, vintage style, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Islamic Dress Post

When you think of Muslim influenced fashion in India you think of anarkalis, gauzy dupattas, tight churidars, a North Indian style that has a tremendous grip on the popular imagination not least because of Hindi movies. While the Mughals with … Continue reading

Posted in 1900s, 1920s, 1940s, 19th century, 20th century, Accessories, Art, churidar kameez, Colonial, Costume, Culture, Deccan, Dress Reform, dupatta, Early 20th Century, Family, fashion, Girls, India, indian art, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Islamic Dress, Islamic style, Literature, Mughal, Paintings, Photography, Postcards, regional styles, Religion, retro, retro fashion, Salwar Kameez, Sari, Sari Blouse, South India, Vintage, vintage art, vintage costume, Vintage Dress, vintage fashion, vintage photography, vintage sari, Women | 3 Comments

The Love Post

MADANA, a name of Kama, the hindu god of love. In the hindu religion, festivals are held on the 13th and 14th of the month Cheyth*, in honour of Kama, the god of love. Madana, he who intoxicates, with desire, … Continue reading

Posted in 1610s, 18th century, Ancient India, Contemporary, early 18th century, indian art, indian festivals, Indian men, Indian Women, miniature paintings, Romance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Food Post

The iconography of Annapurna is given in the Agamas as a youthful goddess of red complexion having a face round like moon, three eyes, high breasts; the left hand carrying a vessel set with rubies and containing honey, and the … Continue reading

Posted in 16th Century, 17th century, 18th century, 1910s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 19th century, Ancient India, British Raj, Colonial, historical art, historical costume, indian art, Indian Cooking, Indian Literature, Indian men, Indian Women, Medieval India, Mughal India, Paintings, Sanskrit Literature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Forest Post

Pic 1: Nandalal Bose, Evening, 1941. Pic 2: Girl in  a Forest, Allah Bux, 1963.  [X] Pic 1: Girl from Chotanagpur (1956) Pic 2: One of a series taken of a Santhal festival in Santiniketan. Via Shibaditya Ray. The original … Continue reading

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 21st century, Accessories, Art, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Tribal, vintage art, vintage sari, vintage style | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ladies Tailor

All my past attempts at making a vintage(ish) blouse have been rubbish, not least because I have never found a tailor with any interest in old patterns. Just a few months back I finally located a tailor who was quite … Continue reading

Posted in churidar kameez, Contemporary, contemporary fashion, fashion, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Women, Late 19th century, Salwar Kameez, Sari Blouse, Tailoring | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Kerala Post

This post was in response to a reader request on tumblr. Its fairly basic and is confined mainly to the 19th and 20th century but does cover some ground. Here goes! Though the “set-mundu” consisting of two pieces of cloth … Continue reading

Posted in 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, 1970s, 19th century, 20th century, Accessories, Art, Colonial, Costume, Culture, Early 20th Century, fashion, Flora, Flowers, Girls, Hair, historical costume, historical dress, India, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian Literature, Indian Women, Kerala, Late 19th century, Malayalam Cinema, Period Drama, Photography, regional styles, Royalty, Sari, Sari Blouse, sari drape, sari history, Sets, South India, South Indian Cinema, Studio Portraits, vintage costume, vintage fashion, vintage hair, vintage jewellery, vintage sari | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Mughals-1

It’s probably accurate to say that an indigenous form of the Islamic clothing brought in by the Mughals (a mix of Turkish and Persian influences) took shape during the reign of Akbar and Jahangir.  This period also sees the style … Continue reading

Posted in 1600s, 1610s, 1620s, 16th Century, 17th century, Art, churidar kameez, Costume, Culture, Deccan, Dress Reform, dupatta, fashion, ghaghra, historical art, historical costume, historical dress, historical fashions, History, India, indian art, Indian Dress, Indian fashion, Indian History, Indian men, Indian Women, Islamic Art, Islamic Dress, Islamic style, Mughal, Paintings, Royalty, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Republic Day

“The concept of this procession and exhibition and everything else should be to demonstrate both the unity and great variety and diversity of India…..Each State should represent some distinctive feature of it’s own in the tableaux or in the exhibition … Continue reading

Posted in 1950s, Asia, Central India, Costume, Culture, Dance, Folk, Folk Dance, India, Indian Dress, Indian History, Indian men, Indian Textiles, Indian Women, Photography, Politicians, regional styles, Tamil, Tribal, Vintage, vintage costume, vintage photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment