One Sari, 365 Outfits: Celebrity Drape Artist Dolly Jain Tells You How

Eco-fashionistas, all you need is six yards of style to master sustainable fashion.

24 December, 2019

One Sari, 365 Outfits: Celebrity Drape Artist Dolly Jain Tells You How

Festive occasions or everyday wear, sari in all its various forms and fabrics is probably the one outfit that suits the ‘one size fits all’ adage to a tee.

The millennial styling tweaks such as sari gowns, crop top-sari combo, sari with jeans and more, the six yards of style has become the fashion must-have. “I genuinely feel very happy when I see young women heading to work in a sari or just using it as an everyday outfit. I like this change. When Rani Laxmibai can fight a battle in a sari, you can totally wear it to work,” says Guinness World Record holding drape artist Dolly Jain.

Dolly Jain

With 325 styles of draping under her belt, Dolly is rather happy about the Indo-western twists to the traditional sari too. It’s all about comfort she says.

You only need one

With sustainable fashion the need of the hour, the drape artist vouches for sari as the game changer. She says, “No matter how many saris you have, when you open your wardrobe you will always say you have nothing to wear. And…how much will you buy? I realized this once when I repeated a sari that I wore a week ago but with a different drape to another party with the same crowd. Everyone came up to compliment the sari. And I was like, Oh my God, they cannot recognize that it’s the same sari I wore a week ago.”

Dolly jain

She adds, “I completely stand by it which is why when I say that you can wear a sari in 365 ways, imagine in a year if you wish you can have one piece of garment and flaunt it in different ways throughout the year. You can wear it with crop tops, shirts, leggings, petticoats, lehengas…there are so many variations why do you even need to buy more?”

Sari and the nature’s call

“The weirdest and most common thing I have heard people say is that once you’ve worn a sari they cannot use the washroom. This is a big misconception because my mothers, grandmother, in fact a majority of Indians wear the sari, so what do you think they don’t use the washroom for hours?”

Well that’s one and the other sari myth that Dolly often comes across is ‘sari makes me look fat.’ The solution? She says, “What I feel is that you have to select the fabric and drape the sari according to your structure. Drape is the key here, no matter which designer you buy it from if a sari is not draped correctly, it will not look good. For easy draping I think georgette fabric is the best. Kota and organza are also easy as long as you know the basic draping styles.” The foundation of looking great in a sari lies in the petticoat.

While she advices against wearing the bodyshaping petticoat, the length of the skirt is also a big concern. “I always say, if you perfectly fit into a size M, then get a petticoat in size L with some room in it. If the petticoat is too body hugging how will you insert the sari fabric,” she says.

Sari x 365 days

Now, that you have your basics sorted. Here are some of the ways start your sari journey with her pick of basic draping styles you need to know:

South india Nivi style