Hello! Beautiful ladies! Today, do you know what I am going to share? A drape. A complete ‘from the scratch till the end’ tutorial on ‘how to wear a kanjivaram saree perfectly’. A kanjivaram saree is such a wonder and an appealing drape but if you don’t wear it properly, it would look like a whole mess around; making you uneasy or uncomfortable.
For that matter, one should know how much to tuck, where to pleat, how much to pleat and all those details. Through these useful tips and steps, all your woes related to kanjivaram silk saree drape will be solved.
Step 1 – Choosing The Right Petticoat / Skirt
Take a beautiful and stunning kanjivaram saree in traditional colour if you are going to attend a wedding or Indian festival. So, start with wearing a saree blouse and a petticoat. One can wear a petticoat or a saree shaper of a matching colour or slightly different hue if the saree is not see-through. An important point to keep in mind is wearing the not-so-flared or heavy fabric petticoat because kanjivaram saree goes a lot inside while draping and that would result in showing a huge bulge at waist area. So, to not feel too bulky on the hip and waist area choose a light and narrow-flare petticoat.
Step 2 – The Basic First Round
Start draping from the right side for the basic tuck. You may start from the middle and stop in the middle at navel point. Now you can grab the other end or last end of the saree. Before draping the saree entirely, you can first set your pallu pleats. Once you are done with shoulder pleats that would help you handle the rest of the saree for draping. So, for shoulder pleating you can go for narrow or broader pleats- the choice is yours. However, narrow 6 to 7 pleats look quite pretty when they rest on the shoulder and fall back. The trick is to align them properly. For that you can ask for help or take clips so that pleats remain intact on the shoulder.
Step 3 – Pinning Up The Shoulder Pleats
Pin up the shoulder pleats and run your hands over it for that neat look. Many of you do iron it but that might end up making the pleats look too flat. So, if you want a little fluffy finish, you can rub or slide your hands over the pleats. So, after finally resting the pleats on the shoulder that imparts grace and elegance to a kanjivaram saree, you can move further with your draping.
Step 4 – Swinging The Remaining Saree Around The Waist
Another important step is to neatly tuck in the saree where we left. Make sure the saree bottom skims the ground. As you completed one round before making shoulder pleats, you must have encircled the drape. Now make sure that saree skims the ground, apart from keeping that loose fabric for the front pleats.
Step 4 – Making Vertical Pleats
To start making pleats take the free end of the saree and bring it towards the front till your hand’s length. Now fix a finger to hold them tightly and then continue making a few more pleats. Keep making a few pleats and at the same time also make sure that you are carefully and firmly holding the ones that you have already made. You can make around 6 to 8 pleats depending upon the length of the saree or as much as you like. Now finally you have to tuck in those neatly done pleats into the petticoat of your kanjivaram saree.
Step 5 – Securing The Pleats
Now after tucking in the pleats into your petticoat, you can arrange them a little more with your hands and also pin them up. To make it more secure you can use more than one or 2 pins. Now once you are done with the front pleats, resume the process of draping the saree in a circle, and tucking it into the petticoat along the way.
Step 6 – Drape With Footwear
If you are planning to wear your kanjivaram sari with high heels or wedge heels, then make sure that you have not tucked in the saree and the pleats too high as it will make it less appealing, or it won’t be a pleasing sight at all. So as a suggestion the best thing to do is to first wear your heels much before you have started wearing your saree. Overall, with your heels on, the draping process of a kanjivaram saree becomes a lot more convenient.
Step 7 – Fix The Pallu
Now once again we come back to the pallu or aanchal which was set initially. Pallu is a decorative end of the saree and can be fixed in myriad ways. You have already taken the plates over your left shoulder and now you have to put it under your right arm and then take it all towards the left shoulder. And since this process of pleating was already done at the beginning of the tutorial, what you need to do is just reset and adjust it as per the need. The way you adjust or set the pleats on the shoulder, it should look neat and appealing.
Step 8 – Finishing Touch With Pins
And last but not the least, what you have to be careful about is that your royal and traditional kanjivaram silk or Benarasi saree is pinned up properly everywhere; be it your chest area, the shoulders or the waist area. Also check that the very beautiful border of the saree is clearly visible and that the hem of the saree is not turning inside out. Give the finishing touch by pinning up wherever required. Covering up your frame showing the pretty design of the saree and doing it neatly are all together innovative, creative and a balancing act.
So, here you can see ‘how to style a kanjivaram saree perfectly’. And we know you are definitely going to try this drape. So, here on, investing in a good kanjivaram saree will look incredibly sensible to you and you would feel like piling up more. Isn’t it? To buy kanjivaram sarees online, you can visit kalkifashion.com and feel graceful and pretty. The rich and luxurious kanjivaram sarees at KALKI will truly be your heritage collection- like the one your grannies had that was passed on to generations and generations.
Also Read: How To Style The Same Dress For Different Occasions
