A week or two back we saw a saree with broad borders that would have made a nice uniform.  Here is one from the mid-1960s that is a uniform, in lovely lotus green and bengal purple… paper!  I recall the very brief fad for paper dresses as a kid, but had no idea that anyone made anything as pretty as this Air-India stewardess saree.  The “zari” designs along the edges and pallu were printed in some sort of gilt.

A few years later this Bombay saree shop photo was published – and I’m pretty sure no paper sarees were sold here!  It looks a lot like today’s quilt fabric stores, with bolts arranged by colours on shelves going up the walls. There are even sarees with large block designs, outlined with contrasting stripes or “sashing” that remind me of traditional quilts.  I really just want to buy all the sarees at 1970 prices!