Embrace your inner diva this Durga Puja

It's that time of the year again when a large number of women of the Indian subcontinent will adorn themselves to welcome the goddess Durga. The ladies will wrap themselves up in the 12 yards of elegance called shari, and visit mandaps to offer their devotion to the goddess. 

Rainbowing through the streets in elegant fabric origami, the pandal-hopping women will enjoy themselves and weave their elegance across the country. 

So what type of shari should you choose to wear on Puja?    

Sushmita Chakraborty Mishu, a journalist and writer based in Dhaka, loves to wear and collect cotton and khadi sharis, although her mother and grandmother prefer buying half silk, silk and Garad or Tussar silk sharis, to wear and give away as gifts on Durga puja. 

This year, however, Mishu's mother has bought a Madurai cotton shari to add to her shari collection.  

"Being a Chhayanaut student, I have to wear cotton sharis all year round. Maybe that is why I like to take a break from sharis during the puja. But my mother prefers buying half silk or block printed sharis. Those can be worn on other occasions throughout the year," Mishu said.  

Bangladeshi designers and boutique owners reflect what Mishu said through their offerings. We talked to the prominent fashion designer and the owner of Bishwarang Biplob Saha, the fashion editor of Ice Today magazine, Goutom Saha, and the co-owner and designer of BJNS (a Facebook clothing brand) Jeenat Jahan Nisha, to highlight the trends in shari choices of Bangladesh women and how their designs reflect those choices. 

The fabric and colour depends on the Day and hour

The Shari is slowly evolving into mostly a festival wear for urban women nowadays. 

"Not many women prefer to wear sharis on a regular basis in their daily life. The ones who do, they buy sharis of different materials and fabrics that fit different times of the day and seasons," said Biplob Saha. 

"It is mostly celebrations like Puja, spring and Boishakhi festivals, etc, when women buy sharis; irrespective of whether it is a heavy party-wear investment piece or made for the particular festival," he added.    

Goutom Saha concurred. "Durga Puja is not really the biggest festival in Bangladesh, it has a small market. So apart from Aarong and Bishwarang, not many fashion brands bring out a Durga Puja collection. There is not much experimentation with the fabric or designs in the market during this festival, hence you will not find a particular trend". 

According to Goutam, it is not just about the shari, but rather mostly about creating an all-over outfit, or a look that women go for, with jewellery, blouse and make-up. 

"Wearing red and white for Dashami is a tradition, which is bought on Ashatami. Those who celebrate Shashthi and Saptami, wear light breathable colours on those days - light yellow or pastel shades," Goutom added.  

Durga Puja is a festival that goes on for five days- starting from Shashthi to Dashami. The timing also includes both daytime puja, and evening explorations of mandaps and offerings to the goddess. So the shari they chose also depends on the time of the day. 

For example, the women choose light breathable fabric and bright colours for the day, while choosing heavy gorgeous sharis in dark colours for the evening. 

During the morning and daytime, the women choose cotton, endi cotton, linen, and half silk. The colours are also subtle, for example white and cream, combined with orange and red.    

Various kinds of silk, maslin, banarasi, jamdani, katan and other heavy traditional fabrics are preferred in the evening, with a dark colour palette of sea blue-green, purple, deep magenta, red, a lot of black, turquoise, brown etc. 

"This is mostly because of comfort. During the day the sun is bright, hot and humid. Some fast on puja days, so they choose simple, light sharis to visit mandaps," Biplob Saha described. 

Motifs featured in Puja sharis

This year Bishwarang designed their Puja collection themed on children's art. In 2022, a children's art competition was held, themed 'Aamar Mai aamar Durga', which means my mother is my Durga. The boutique house picked the best four paintings and featured them on their collection - shari, punjabi, shirt, fatua etc - this year. 

They also featured paintings of Indian and Bangladeshi artists. Colourful folk motifs like shokher hari, trishul, portrait of goddess Durga, lotus, swan, vahanas of gods and goddesses etc, have also been featured. 

Social media-based clothing stores bring out pieces for Durga Puja as well, where you will find a lot of red and white. You will also find a lot of Joba (hibiscus), Sheuli (coral jasmine) or Kashful (kans grass), as the symbol of autumn and Durga puja, in their collections. 

"This year we decided to incorporate motifs that were inspired by these traditional symbols. For example, rather than incorporating the Sheuli flower motif, we decided to work with the bright coral-orange colour of the stem of the flower. We took the suggestions of a hibiscus flower and created our own motifs",  said Jeenat Jahan Nisha.

The many ways to wear a shari

Out of hundreds methods, there are a number of shari draping techniques that have been followed by the women of this region for many years. The most common and widely preferred technique of wearing a shari is the ubiquitous Nivi drape. 

According to historians, this method was introduced to Bangla culture by Gyanodanandini Tagore in the 1860s, who increased the shari's length to wear this particular drape. Pleated, wrapped around the waist, with the anchal (the embellished end of the garment) flung over the left shoulder - this is one of the most popular ways of wearing the long textile.   

Also, the traditional Bangla drape, Santhal or Adibasi drape, Kalna and Nadia drapes, can be comfortable to carry, and also helps create a personalised style.  

But if you really want to stand out in the crowd, go for the Indo-Western pant sharis. 

Don't forget the accessories  

Sharis have blouse pieces attached to them, which are cut and then tailored. But nowadays ready-made blouse designs and cuts have gained popularity in the market as well.
 

Biplob Shaha said, apart from matching shari-blouses, Bishwaranag has a collection of ready-made blouses that incorporates designs of Hindu gods and goddesses, folk motifs, painting etc.

Generally, women match their blouses with the shari they are wearing. But these specially designed blouses are made to be the centrepiece of the attire, so buy simpler sharis to highlight the blouse. 

"While designing these blouses, we cannot really over-experiment with the neckline, because the designs or the motifs are portrayed on the back. So we choose oval, V-line and round necklines so that the designs can be placed uninterrupted," he said.  

This is the same reason they keep the sleeves really simple, so that the design gets to be the showstopper. 

While you can choose to anchor your shari with modern shari shapers, nothing beats a cotton petticoat (or the shari underskirt) if you want to walk the entire day and pandal hop.  

Also while choosing the jewellery consider the design of your shari. If the shari has golden jari work, you can opt for gold or gold-plated jewellery. And if there is silver jari or no jari work at all, you can go for oxidised or silver jewellery.  

Also, there are beads and fabric-yarn jewellery pieces, pieces that feature gods and goddesses, wooden jewellery, shells and Rudraksha - there are hundreds of jewellery styles to choose from. 

"Oxidised silver jewellery matches with almost 80% of the sharis if paired well. The rest depends on the personal taste and the kinds of shari you are wearing," Biplob Saha said.