Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the Sari as a tapestry of textile and cultural narratives on the female body.

Paper long abstract:

The Sari is still the most ubiquitous garment that clothes the female body in India. It maps multiple narratives, diverse production and technological processes and systems, complex social and economic networks across the country. An exercise in the deconstruction of the Sari, reveals a critical historical narrative of a country. The creation of a handloom sari involves a complex interplay of consumption and production, cultural and symbolic systems, as well as marketing linkages. There were as many different kinds and types of handloom saris with specific weaving techniques, motifs, dyes, colour patterns, and production mechanisms, as there were communities that wore them in different regions.

This paper proposes to address the issues in the handloom sari sector in South India and the consequent impact on the consumers of the saris. Saris once popular, declined in production and currently are being revived through significant government, fashion industry and NGO efforts. The paper will examine the institutional factors such as government policy, financial support from banks, marketing linkages etc., and the socio-economic and cultural modes of production of saris. The paper looks at the larger forces of demand and supply, the systems of production and the changing social systems which enabled the production of the saris.The role of institutionally trained designers and fashion designers in the creation of different kinds of saris which build upon the known techniques of embroidery, embellishment etc., is also examined in the revival and reinvention of saris.