Wearing Indian dresses in US

Srividya,
I always wear sarees, irrespective of weather and places of visit..

Varsha,
I usually wash the saree in the washer which are not cotton based..use the 'fabric softener'...I hope this helps in reducing the crumbliness..

sriniketan

Hi ladies,

Don't know how I missed this thread ! Nice topic !

First, Bhargavi, hats off to you for always wearing sarees ! That's really commendable !

So, what about cotton & silk sarees? How do you maintain them? Do you hand wash the silk sarees?

How about the general maintenance of all types of sarees-washing,ironing, blouse stitching etc? Please do share these info if you can Bhargavi...


As for me, I usually wear sarees for Indian festivals, sometimes to temple, Indian functions/occassions etc.

As others pointed out, whenever I wear sarees or salwar kameez, I am sure to get a compliment/appreciative look from the Americans. Never felt out of place ! :)

Cheers
Krithika

Krithika,
my children usually bother me to wear salwar atleast and they bought 2 of them when they went to India..My co-sister gave me one last time she visited us...I use them only when I travel to India..
Usually, I use the washing machine...if the cotton sarees or silk sarees are for daily use..I hand-wash them if it gives out colors and those sarees, I use it occasionally., and later iron them..
As for the blouses, i keep a note of it and buy and stitch those when in India..(eventhough I learnt blouse-stitching, I am out of touch now)

sriniketan

Somehow I never find the occasion to wear a saree. All my wedding sarees are sleeping in a nice saree bag

Hi,
even if I live in Chennai only, I would like to share my thoughts too.
First of all, hats off to Sriniketan for wearing a saree, even while in US. My two sils always wear saree only here.
I used to wear saree while I worked, it was compulsary. But I had wanted to wear different attires from a young age. Later, when I had my son, I started salwar kameez and now that is the dress I wear most of the time. Saree for marriages, temples etc. only. I wear it the traditional way for shrarsam, nombu etc. too, with ease. I prefer to wear salwar kameez as it is more comfortable.

Here in Holland we always wear sari when we are going to a party, mandir or any other special occasion.

I love sarees, wish I could wear them more often.

Have you ever worn Indian clothes (salwar, lehenga or Saree) to work/shop/drive. How did you feel? I only wear to temple and Indian get togethers. One of these days I would like to think outside my regualr suits

When I first came here I will wear sudi to all the place but now I stopped wearing because i felt little uncomfortable everybody would ask on way and inside the shops what type of dress and ect..? I am tired of explaning... so only for Indian friends get together.

For last Diwali all the Indian ladies in my office decided to wear traditional Indian wear.It was so much fun coming to office with trepidation that you are not the only one who bought in this idea but fortunately many turned up aplomb with beautiful Indian wear.In an office with 5000 employees there were 50 pretty women on that day stealing curious glances from everyone , looking cheerful and proud of their Indian roots.



-Sabitha

Oh.. How nice it must have been.. I too wish to do that.. My hubby too encourages me to wear salwar on friday (casual day) . But he also warns me to answer all the curious questions.
The people here know that indian traditional is Saree, so they will b puzzled seeing salwar..

You know what, if we see an oddly dressed person in india, we keep staring at them and wont behave friendly to them (unless we know them well). Its similar to that. If we wear salwar/saree to any public places people may be scared to even smile at us..
Am sort of a Be-a-roman-while-in-rome types..