Gandhi Jayanti today.
The book excerpt demonstrates Gandhi’s anxiety regarding the proper attire for his family on the eve of leaving for South Africa in 1897. The picture is taken on their return to India in 1915. Gandhi seems to have switched to Indian attire. Kasturba still wears her saree Parsee style but the shoes seem to have been discarded.
(Source: mlbd.com)
I came across a number of postcards – which actually boast a number of blouse styles (you can follow the link if interested) – of which I will post a few today. Most are pictures of pretty women intended as New Year cards and the like and are largely skewed towards representations of Bombay/city women though the picture of the lady with the bird indicates that she is a Calcutta beauty.
The woman in a gold and red saree – I don’t see too many pictures of sleeveless blouses and she seemed to me to have a degree of resemblance to Aishwarya Rai. Plus I have a weakness for pictures of people reading books 🙂
This gallery contains 2 photos.
The Victorian influenced blouse teamed with a nine-yard aka the Tamil Madisar saree.
Princess Victoria Gowramma’s story, the subject of a recent biography, is a somewhat sad one of a girl caught up in the politics of empire. There are a few parallels with the Pocahontas story – the conversion to Christianity, the inter-racial marriage, travel to England, the early death. Though the Gowramma-Campbell marriage is hardly the stuff of celluloid romance.
In this picture her dress is already like the modern version of the sari thanks to it being worn in the pleated (aka nivi) style. As is the fitted blouse/choli. And there is the jewellery belt, common in South India for awhile.
You can see her in western dress here as well as a painting of the Princesshere.
Perhaps more than anyone else Indira Devi’s daughter, the much photographed Gayatri Devi, consolidated the “Princess style” in India. Chiffons (often draped over the head), a single strand of pearls and simple little blouses spelt elegance and style for very many years. In many ways they represented the transition from girlhood to stylish womanhood for many Indian women.
Apparently the saris were French chiffons on to which brocade borders were stitched. That probably accounts for the numerous photos in the 30s and 40s in which this kind of sari appears.
(Source: gallery.mid-day.com)
Vintage Indian Clothing 
