The Times of India had an interesting article about saree last week:

Goddess Durga has eight hands, while Lakshmi and Saraswati have four each. Coincidence? Maybe not. I think it symbolises the fact that superwomen multitask. I can say from first-hand experience that on any given working day morning, an empowered woman regularly touches the limits of being a mere human. I, for one, pack lunch with my invisible third hand, set the pleats of the starched sari with the fourth — even as the visible two are engaged in bolting the back door. Ironically, once out in the street, my limbs get clipped. I end up having just one hand at my disposal, because the other is on a permanent assignment of holding up sari pleats. One would think that after all these years of going around wrapped in six yards of fabric, one would’ve mastered the art of sari wearing. But come the monsoon, the sari washes me down to the level of a novice. It happened again one fine morning — one charged out of house, holding up the umbrella, sari and bag — and lost some precious time because one had to wait for someone to come and open the gate and let one out.

It was about then that one started to wish that recently-deceased fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent would be reborn in India and redesign the sari. I don’t think our fashion gurus are ever going to get it right. If the fashion shows beamed on TV are representative, we only have designers who can look at a woman’s clothing through the eyes of a man. The guiding principle seems to be to uncover all that the sari has attempted to keep under wraps. Saint Laurent was unique in that he could see women from the inside as well. To quote a head seamstress with YSL, “Monsieur Saint Laurent detested constraints. He hated to see a woman impeded in her movements. He wanted that women must forget what they are wearing, feel supported yet unrestrained”. Saint Laurent called it “the total silence of clothing”. My only fear is that in the 20-odd years that it could take before the reincarnated designer gets to work on the sari, the women’s trousers that he so famously invented would have edged out the sari from our urban streets and workplaces.

The key part, if you missed it here is:

(for new designers) The guiding principle seems to be to uncover all that the sari has attempted to keep under wraps.

I think there is some truth to this complaint.

Adolescent girls are uniquely capable of raising the standard of living in the developing world.

A powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society.

The Girl Effect can change everything!

Pl. visit Girl Effect.