India is one of the greatest countries which is known for its vast culture and fashion. India is a country that has a huge fashion heritage coming from centuries, and still, we carry that legacy. Indian fashion is very famous all across the globe. Indian lehenga choli is one of its historical outfits.
What actually is lehenga choli?
Lehenga choli has three different parts in it. It has a lehenga which is a wraparound long Indian skirt, Choli is a fitting blouse with lots of embroidery and the dupatta is a long scarf-type cloth which complements the dress.
This dress has more importance in Indian weddings. It is a dream for a bride in India to wear a lehenga for her wedding. No matter how creative we can be with lehenga, lehenga can never change its significance. In India there is one such way to wear a lehenga, every state has a different style of wearing a lehenga which reflects the civilization there.
When did we start to wear lehenga?
The history of the lehenga is as beautiful as the dress itself. This attire of India is mentioned in ancient scriptures and texts. You can see the precursors of this dress in the sculptures made in ancient temples. The simple lehenga further has transformed into various forms but the three main parts of this dress are as it is.
The three parts of the dresses were called antriya, uttariya and stanapatta. Antriya means the lower garment, uttariya is a dupatta or a long piece of cloth worn around the shoulder and neck and the stanapatta is a chest band which covers the chest and the blouse is derived from this garment. The pyjamas, Peshwa and heavy dupattas of Mughal women are ancestors of the ancient lehenga and then it became the salwar in modern times.
When Mughal culture intertwined with the traditional lehengas from then the lehengas started changing. It gained volume, and different types of fabrics were used and different types of heavy and beautiful embroideries were used.
Sonam Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor’s wow fashion game at Red Sea Film Festival. Pics
What happened to the lehenga at the time of independence?
The lehengas are considered luxury items and middle-class and upper-class people started adopting this. Lehengas gain popularity till the nineteenth century but at the time of independence movements, people were influenced by the modern attire of India. Different types of laces, chiffons and pastel colours are brought to India by British rulers.
In the late 90s and early 20s ankle length lehengas were trends, it looks like an umbrella sat around the lower body. There are different types of fabrics were used by upper and lower-class people to make lehengas. Satin and silk fabric are used by upper-class people and cotton and Khadi were used by middle-class people. After this period sarees came into fashion and people switched to sarees and they started wearing lehengas on special occasions only.
What do we wear today traditional or modern lehenga choli?
The renewal of lehengas happened around the 1980s and 1990s. Now lehenga is the same but various changes have occurred. There are so many different designs available in lehengas now. One can have fish cut, A-line and many more designs in lehengas. Despite having so many varieties of lehengas today, traditional lehengas still attract everyone’s hearts and are everyone’s choice. Traditional lehengas are Ghagra-choli, banarasi lhengas and many more. One can even customise the lehenga according to one’s choice. We can experiment with different colours, dupattas, fabrics, laces and many more things to do. When it’s the wedding season, every girl definitely takes a look at the lehenga.
READ MORE:Miss Eco Teen International: Cherisha Chanda will represent India in
