Saris

The sari is the most representative apparel of India, worn in a variety of ways. The sari is a fabric-length of varying densities in its body, borders and end pieces often woven by combining a range of cottons and silks in colours and patterns that are constantly evolving. Saris is an exhaustive overview of this fascinating unstitched garment and a cutting-edge documentation of design and all that supports it socially, culturally and economically. Travelling district-by-district, village-by-village, the book explores an entire spectrum of traditional weaver and printer settlements in fourteen sari-producing states of India. Thus emerges the first comprehensive compilation of the whole range and scale of the sari: the structures, designs, colours, the format and technology that make up the lingua of the sari. For the first time, this book offers a step-by-step guide for at least 108 ways of draping the sari, through a series of line drawings and colour photographs. A vivid account of how saris come into being for the lay reader and the specialist – be they textilists, designers, scholars or developers who will find this book equally engaging.