OVERVIEW:

India is well known for its diversity all over the globe.Ethnic Clothing is just one of the things that distinguih one part of indian from the other.The tradional Indian attire has earned admires from people from all over to organization like UNESCO.

The Handcraftmanship with which artisans create tradional dresses is really Incredible and Unique in itself.All forms of clothing are quite labor intensive and require a lot of attention to details.
Many of these art forms are dying because the cost of production is higher and few people can afford to the high cost of the dress.This has forced the textile ministry to come up with ways to sustain these artisans and preserve their talest and art.As every state in India is Gegraphically Different from the other,this has given rise to varied of dresses and styles.

Foreign Influences on Indian Clothing

• The tradional salwar-kurta or the salwar Kameez was the result of the practice followed by Muslim women to wear Divided Garments during the Mughal period. This dress has stayed alive to this day and has a variant called 'Chooridar' in which the salwar is replaced by the 'Chooridar' a Narrowing pant with folds at the bottom.

• In Gujarat and Rajasthan the variant of the Lehenga- the ‘Ghagra Choli’ with an ‘Odhni’ or dupatta still preserves its ethnicity with mirror work and embroidery. Some Rajasthani women wear black ‘Ghagra Cholis’ with Cowrie shells and mirror work too. During the reign of the Nawabs in Lucknow the ‘Sharara’ or ‘Gharara’ was born which was influenced by the ‘Ghagra Choli’.

• During the British rule, women in West Bengal did not wear blouses and covered the upper part of their body with the end of their saree. The British People did not find it appropriate and that is how blouses and petticoats came into existence.

• The Saree is one Indian dress that enjoys worldwide popularity. The UNESCO praises it as “valuable Indian contribution to the world’s cultural heritage and diversity”. Artisans across the country make use of locally available resources to produce sarees, which are a  masterpiece in their own self. The beautiful weaves and designs on sarees makes one wonder about the creativity of these weavers. Different regions of India have different specialty and variety of sarees. Though there are several varieties, the famous ones are Chanderi and Maheshwari from Madhya Pradesh, Banarsi saree (which have brocade work), Paithan in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra has kept alive the 2000-year old traditional method of weaving Paithani sarees using pure gold threads and yarns of silk. The other types of sarees are Andhra Pradesh’s Pochampally saree or PochampalliIkat, in which skillful weavers create geometric patterns in silk, Assam is home to rich golden colored Muga silk, the finest of India’s wild silk sarees. Kanjivaram and Patola are also the finest silk sarees in India.

Folk Dress from Mizoram, North India.
Another eye-catching north-eastern dress is the ‘Puanchei’ of Mizoram, which is cherished by every Mizo woman. It is paired with the ‘Kawrechi’ blouse that gives the Bamboo dance its distinct feel because of the colourful designs and patterns of the dress.



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Images above have been downloaded from Pinterest.com