Category Archives: Vintage

Spring-The Paintings Post

Spring is always the red tower of the May tree; alive, shaken with bees, smelling of honey; and the blood, a moving tree of May, (Judith Wright). Its spring – sort of – in the Southern Hemisphere. Today’s painting is … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, Art, Colonial, Culture, Early 20th Century, Flowers, Girls, Goa, India, Indian Women, Paintings, Uncategorized, Vintage, vintage art, Vintage Blouse, Vintage Dress, vintage fashion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The 80s Post

In the 80s: “Contrast piping” blouse which picked up the sari colours (pic 1 on Rekha). Matching blouse pieces based on the sari (pic 2 on Shabana) or the border (Pic 3 Courtesans of Bombay)-these pieces were often separate and not … Continue reading

Posted in 1980s, Actor, Bollywood, Cinema, fashion, Indian Cinema, Indian Dress, Indian Women, Sari, Sari Blouse, Vintage, Vintage Blouse, vintage fashion, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The 1920s Paintings Post

Mazumdar tended to hint at nudity by draping his models in semi-transparent or wet saris, a technique that was later adopted by Indian cinema. Hemendranath Mazumdar‘s naturalistic oils of partially clothed, vaguely erotic looking women were unsurprisingly popular in the … Continue reading

Posted in 1920s, 1930s, Art, Bengal, Culture, Early 20th Century, Indian Dress, Indian Women, Jewellery, Paintings, Sari, Sari Blouse, Vintage, vintage art, vintage fashion, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Sharara/Gharara

The sharara and the gharara are lower garments that are like flared pants. While a variety of such garments were in use in India in the 18th and 19th century, some of the examples shown here were fairly common wear … Continue reading

Posted in 18th century, 1940s, 1950s, Costume, Early 20th Century, Islamic Dress, Vintage, Vintage Dress, vintage fashion, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Girdle Post

Girdles have been in use in India for a very long time, since possibly the early chalcolithic age. The kanci aka girdle, is often a broad golden belt used to secure the sari to the waist, to which are often … Continue reading

Posted in Indian Dress, Indian Women, irdle, Jewellery, kanci, lt, ndia, Vintage, vintage fashion, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Parsis Post

I mentioned in previous posts that Jnanadanandini was influenced by the blouse and sari style of Parsi women in Bombay. Here are a few examples.  Most have “ribbon border” sari with motifs on the ribbon is quite common in Parsi … Continue reading

Posted in British Raj, Colonial, Dress Reform, Early 20th Century, Edwardian, fashion, Indian Dress, Late 19th century, Paintings, Sari, Sari Blouse, Victorian, Vintage, Vintage Blouse, vintage fashion, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Independence Post

One of the most significant influencers of the way we dress in India was the freedom movement, in particular Gandhi’s thoughts on the moral dimension of clothing, the quest for an authentic Indianness and clothing as a unifier of India’s … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, British Raj, Colonial, Dress Reform, Early 20th Century, History, Independence, India, Indian Dress, Indian Women, Men, Politics, Sari, Sari Blouse, Tumblr, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Village Post

Achhut Kanya was directed by Franz Osten and shot in the Bombay Talkies studio on Europeanized sets of a typical Indian village. It has been cloned times without number ever since in Hindi films.The Indian village, in its romanticized image … Continue reading

Posted in Bollywood, Early 20th Century, fashion, History, Indian Cinema, Indian Dress, Old Bollywood, Rural, Sari, Sari Blouse, Village, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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  Mothers and Daughters-1 MS Subbulakshmi (MS) was one of India’s most famous and celebrated singers. Her mother, Shanmugavadivu (note that the S in MS is her mother’s name) was a famous veena player. Pic 1 is of her mother, Pic … Continue reading

Posted in Early 20th Century, fashion, Indian Dress, Indian Singers, Indian Women, Music, Sari, Sari Blouse, Vintage, Women | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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The ancient style of antariya and utariya to the sari in the 1930s. Blouse Styles in the 1940s.

Posted in 1930s, Ancient India, Illustration, Sari, Sari Blouse, Vintage, Vintage Blouse, Vintage Dress, Women | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment