The versatile sari gets a denim touch

New age drape

Pick any farewell photograph, you will see how one dressed up in a dazzling sari and ended up looking like our moms, says Anubha Jain.

A graduate in fashion designing, this 24-year–old lass has no intention to carry her mother’s sari that makes her look much more than her actual age.  

“I want none of the girls to look like mature women,” says Anubha, who designed special ‘Denim saris’ especially keeping young girls in mind. 

“I come from a baniya family where women are supposed to wear only saris. They are not allowed to wear salwar suits. Personally, I am very much fond of sari but I realised that we lack something in sari section that could go well with the personality of young girls. Something that is smart, chic yet traditional,” she says.Therefore, when Anubha was asked to submit her final year project she decided to work on saris only.  

“A lot was already being done on prints, so I focussed on the fabrics. When I proposed about my interest in denim saris to my mentors, they too were excited,” says Anubha. She was hunting for something that could define her identity. “I wanted to create an item that belonged truly to me. It should be Anubha Jain’s contribution to the world of fashion,” she adds. 

But the question was how to turn denim into a light fabric. “The concept was to retain the characteristics of denim yet making it more like a fabric that can be easily draped and is comfortable too,” says Anubha. Therefore, she chose hand-dying techniques to achieve a tie-dye effect. It was after constant bleaching and processing, Anubha got the results she was looking for. 

“It was my mentors in college who introduced me to denim manufacturers – Arvind Mills, where I learnt the technique of washing and dyeing the denim. But styling was also another important aspect,” she says. For this, Anubha experimented a lot with blouse designs. She teamed chequered shirt and lace blouses with the sari. To see how well these saris used to look, she made her mother and sister wear her creation. 

“My mother told me she can never wear denim sari even if it looked good on her. But she also loved my work.” 

Today, Anubha wants actresses like Deepika Padukone and Sonam Kapoor to flaunt her designed denim sari.  “I know denim saris cannot be long-lasting unlike Kanjeevaram saris. So, my goal is to promote these denim saris among young girls.”   The young designer’s denim saris are priced at Rs 12,000 a piece.