Saturday, October 08, 2011

How to Buy a Saree Blouse

- By Deepa Krishnan

If you're female and Indian, there's one absolutely essential skill you must learn: how to buy the perfect blouse for a saree.

The Matching Centre is where you learn the ropes. It's almost a rite of passage, really.

My mom and sister, entering the Matching Centre

In the early days, when you enter the Matching Centre, you're filled with a gnawing, groping uncertainty about what to buy. So many shades to choose from! How can there be *that* many shades of green? And which of those is best for my saree? Should I buy a blouse the colour of the main saree? Or should it be maroon, the colour of the saree's border? If I buy the green will it also work for that *other* saree, the one that aunt gifted me? Two-by-Two or Cotton? 80 cms or 1 metre? Should I get lining for this blouse? Will it be see-through? Will this colour run? Will silk be too hot? Aaarrgh. A million questions, plaguing the rookie blouse-buyer.

See how difficult it is?

But then, just as you lose all hope, help emerges - and it's usually in the form of an unassuming guy with an unerring eye for colour. Every Matching Centre has this miracle guy, with a quiet manner, who will take your saree from your hands, find the *perfect* fabric with the *perfect* shade of grey or green or whatever. All you have to do is stand there with a grateful expression, and fork out the money.


Mr. Know-it-all-but-will-never-get-cheeky-about-it

As time goes along, you become more confident. You find yourself saying somewhat firmly "Two-by-two will do just fine, thank you". "No, I do NOT think that's the perfect shade. It needs a little more purplish-brinjalish-rani-pink, really." At this point in your life, you will find even older aunts turning to you and asking, "Deepa, do you think this blue shade is ok?". And you step in, inspect the fabric critically, and say "Uh-uh. Nope. Not sky-blue enough. It's got to have more white in it. See that piece? Fourth from the left? That's the one you need". If you're proved right, and that indeed is the right shade of sky-blue, you feel a wave of confident smugness that nothing can quite beat!

But is that all? Of course not. The goal (ahem) is to get to the point where you actually find yourself expressing your personality through the blouse you buy. What? You didn't know? Yep. The saree blouse is all about personality, baby :)

And how does one express personality? By going beyond the plain single-colour blouses, of course. You have to start using patterns and borders and coordinating them with your sarees - with just that little edgy difference to keep it from becoming boring. You'll buy some disastrous stuff in the beginning - but eventually you'll get there.

Some ghastly prints and some good ones

A nice but small selection of Maharashtrian khun

I bought this black and red one, to wear with a red Fab India saree.

Over time, you end up acquiring a set of printed blouses; and various combinations of plain sarees to wear with them.
Small part of my blouse collection!


And some sarees that I team them up with

I like this purple and ochre cotton saree; and this blouse with slightly different but similar shades looks very good when worn with it.

And *then* as you start to experiment, as you start to mix and match and reconfigure your wardrobe, people stop saying "Hey, nice saree!" and start saying "Hey, nice combo!".

That, my friend, is how you know you have arrived in Blouse Heaven. When they start noticing the blouse fabric, you've done it. You've finally cracked the Art of Buying A Saree Blouse.

26 comments:

GSDastur said...

I'm holding out for a nice comfortable elastic blouse that will fit me whatever I weigh.

Deepa said...

Hold that thought, GS. There's a million-dollar business idea in there!

Anuradha Shankar said...

great post!!!! u have described so beautifully something we dont even think much about, but do all the time!! and btw, elastic blouses are already available! come to ghatkopar/chembur for them!!

Anonymous said...

Came over from Blogeswari. Lovely post :)

I think the 'attached' blouses that come with most sarees these days are an assault on creativity. With 'free' blouse material in hand you don't feel like buying a new one. But they are so predictable and boring!

Super Babe said...

Great post! I did go to a place like that in Chennai - I had bought a saree at Pothis but didn't have the blouse... so I just showed them the saree (purple and gold) and they matched it with a perfect blouse :) Now... you need to talk about the special bras that those blouses were designed to wear with! Not all bras fit them nicely!!! :P

Anonymous said...

Is that Matunga Milap?

Deepa said...

Yes, Matunga Milap, O Sharp Eyed Anonymous One.

Anne-Trine from Norway said...

Lovely post - absolutely lovely colours!

Annagha said...

Awesome that is.. was there this afternoon, have picked up their ready made blouses & it fits like a dream.. must try ! cheers Annagha :-)

Anonymous said...

Where can you get good elastic blouses in Mumbai? And a good blouse tailor?

Milap Matching Centre said...

Thank You very much, Deepa Krishnan for your valuable efforts to post such a lovely blog about our shop. We really appreciate you.

Also now we have started with a wide range of designer readymade blouses in different styles and sizes. So do check out our new collection and keep visiting regularly.

Regards,
Jignesh Gala.

Shubhi said...

What a lovely idea for a post! I always think a visit to the matching center is such a fun experience!

http://www.shubhisrevels.blogspot.in/

Kala Vijayaraghavan said...

Isn't our day made when someone notices the saree blouse combo and comments!
Nice post.

Anonymous said...

may I know the price of khun fabric

Neelam Saxena said...

Pls suggest from where can I buy ready made blouse in Mumbai?!!

Deepa said...

Lots of middle-class and upper-middle class markets sell readymade blouses. If you tell me where you are staying, I will recommend nearby markets.

Deepa said...

Lots of middle-class and upper-middle class markets sell readymade blouses. If you tell me where you are staying, I will recommend nearby markets.

Unknown said...

Hi Deepa, could you please advise any market or shops in Chembur or nearby for buying ready made blouses. Generally what is the price range of these blouses.

Deepa said...

Saritha, nowadays all markets have readymade blouses available, so I am sure the market near Chembur Station will have it. It has so many shops, surely you will find it in that stretch. I don't know the market well enough to tell you a specific name.

Nice Blouse Patterns said...

Great post! I did go to a place like that in Chennai - I had bought a saree at Pothis but didn't have the blouse... so I just showed them the saree (purple and gold) and they matched it with a perfect blouse :) Now... you need to talk about the special bras that those blouses were designed to wear with! Not all bras fit them nicely!!! :P

Anonymous said...

Do u keep stretch blouses as in like the stretch churidar material

Unknown said...

Guess, I will have to visit ur shop soon... Thanks Deepa Krishnan for this write-up :)

Unknown said...

Guess, I will have to visit ur shop soon... Thanks Deepa Krishnan for this write-up :)

Anonymous said...

Hi. Wanted to know where can I get a good variety of mid-range reasonable readymade dresses & ready-made blouses in mumbai.

Nilam Soni said...

Great post with a lot of details! Beautiful photographs!

Srinidhi Pochampally Textiles said...

Really a good and beautiful blog it remains me of my days how we used to do shopping with my cousins and its really hard to make one selection in a matching center because of huge collections thanks Deepa for such a nice blog.