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Data + AI Summit 2022
Data+AI Europe (2020)
Spark+AI (2020)
Michael Armbrust
Distinguished Engineer, Databricks
Michael Armbrust is committer and PMC member of Apache Spark and the original creator of Spark SQL. He currently leads the team at Databricks that designed and built Structured Streaming and Databricks Delta. He received his PhD from UC Berkeley in 2013, and was advised by Michael Franklin, David Patterson, and Armando Fox. His thesis focused on building systems that allow developers to rapidly build scalable interactive applications, and specifically defined the notion of scale independence. His interests broadly include distributed systems, large-scale structured storage and query optimization.
Watch this speaker at Data + AI Summit 2021
Summit 2021 Keynotes: Lakehouse Data Architecture, Data Engineering, and Analytics
May 26, 2021 08:00 AM PT
Join the Wednesday morning keynote to hear from Databricks co-founders and original creators of popular projects Apache Spark, Delta Lake, and MLflow on how the open source community is tackling the biggest challenges in data.
Stay tuned for them to reveal some of the latest innovations in data engineering and data analytics to simplify and scale your work.
Summit 2021 Delta Sharing AMA—with Matei Zaharia and Databricks' Engineers
May 26, 2021 03:15 PM PT
Data sharing has become important in the digital economy as enterprises wish to easily and securely exchange data with their customers, partners, and suppliers, but to date, data sharing solutions have been tied to a single vendor or commercial product. Today, Databricks unveiled "Delta Sharing" -- the industry's first open protocol for data sharing -- making it simple to share data with other organizations regardless of where the data lives.Join Databricks Co-Founder and Chief Technologist Matei Zaharia, as well as Databricks engineer and product manager Michael Armbrust and Todd Greengstein for a 'Ask Me Anything' session on Delta Sharing. Whether you want to dive deep into the technology, or a better understanding of the scenarios, this is the session where you get to ask your questions!
In this session watch:
Matei Zaharia, Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Original Creator of Apache Spark & MLflow, Databricks
Todd Greenstein, Product Team, Databricks
Michael Armbrust, Distinguished Engineer, Databricks
[daisna21-sessions-od]
Summit Europe 2019 New Developments in the Open Source Ecosystem: Apache Spark 3.0, Delta Lake, and Koalas
October 15, 2019 05:00 PM PT
In this talk, we will highlight major efforts happening in the Spark ecosystem. In particular, we will dive into the details of adaptive and static query optimizations in Spark 3.0 to make Spark easier to use and faster to run. We will also demonstrate how new features in Koalas, an open source library that provides Pandas-like API on top of Spark, helps data scientists gain insights from their data quicker.
Summit 2019 Ali Ghodsi, Michael Armbrust | Delta Lake
April 23, 2019 05:00 PM PT
Ali Ghodsi (Databricks), Michael Armbrust (Databricks) - Keynote from Spark + AI Summit 2019
Summit Europe 2018 The Power of Unified Analytics – EU Keynote
January 15, 2022 07:56 PM PT
Summit 2018 Threat Detection and Response at Scale
June 5, 2018 05:00 PM PT
Security monitoring and threat response has diverse processing demands on large volumes of log and telemetry data. Processing requirements span from low-latency stream processing to interactive queries over months of data. To make things more challenging, we must keep the data accessible for a retention window measured in years. Having tackled this problem before in a massive-scale environment using Apache Spark, when it came time to do it again, there were a few things I knew worked and a few wrongs I wanted to right.
We approached Databricks with a set of challenges to collaborate on: provide a stable and optimized platform for Unified Analytics that allows our team to focus on value delivery using streaming, SQL, graph, and ML; leverage decoupled storage and compute while delivering high performance over a broad set of workloads; use S3 notifications instead of list operations; remove Hive Metastore from the write path; and approach indexed response times for our more common search cases, without hard-to-scale index maintenance, over our entire retention window. This is about the fruit of that collaboration.
Databricks Runtime and Delta Demo
Summit 2013 Catalyst: A Query Optimization Framework for Spark and Shark
December 1, 2013 04:00 PM PT
Query optimization can greatly improve both the productivity of developers and the performance of the queries that they write. A good query optimizer is capable of automatically rewriting relational queries to execute more efficiently, using techniques such as filtering data early, utilizing available indexes, and even ensuring different data sources are joined in the most efficient order. By performing these transformations, the optimizer not only improves the execution times of relational queries, but also frees the developer to focus on the semantics of their application instead of its performance. Unfortunately, building an optimizer is a incredibly complex engineering task and thus many open source systems perform only very simple optimizations. Past research[1][2] has attempted to combat this complexity by providing frameworks that allow the creators of optimizers to write possible optimizations as a set of declarative rules. However, the use of such frameworks has required the creation and maintenance of special "optimizer compilers" and forced the burden of learning a complex domain specific language upon those wishing to add features to the optimizer. Instead, we propose Catalyst, a query optimization framework embedded in Scala. Catalyst takes advantage of Scala's powerful language features such as pattern matching and runtime metaprogramming to allow developers to concisely specify complex relational optimizations. In this talk I will describe the framework and how it allows developers to express complex query transformations in very few lines of code. I will also describe our initial efforts at improving the execution time of Shark queries by greatly improving its query optimization capabilities.
[1] Graefe, G. The Cascades Framework for Query Optimization. In Data Engineering Bulletin. Sept. 1995.
[2] Goetz Graefe , David J. DeWitt, The EXODUS optimizer generator, Proceedings of the 1987 ACM SIGMOD international conference on Management of data, p.160-172, May 27-29, 1987, San Francisco, California, United States
Deep Dive into Spark SQL's Catalyst Optimizer
Summit 2014 Performing Advanced Analytics on Relational Data with Spark SQL
June 29, 2014 05:00 PM PT
In this talk I'll describe Spark SQL, a new Alpha component that is part of the Spark 1.0 release. Spark SQL lets developers natively query data stored in both existing RDDs and external sources such as Apache Hive. A key feature of Spark SQL is the ability to blur the lines between relational tables and RDDs, making it easy for developers to intermix SQL commands that query external data with complex analytics. In addition to Spark SQL, I'll also talk about the Catalyst optimizer framework, which allows Spark SQL to automatically rewrite query plans to execute more efficiently.
Summit East 2015 Beyond SQL: Spark SQL Abstractions For The Common Spark Job
March 17, 2015 05:00 PM PT
Since its introduction one year ago, Spark SQL has proven to be a highly effective way to speed up existing SQL workloads by leveraging the power of Spark. Spark SQL's built-in support for reading data from existing Hive warehouses allows HQL users to achieve better performance simply by switching query engines. However even non-SQL workloads can often benefit from the automatic optimizations that Spark SQL can perform. At the core of Spark SQL is the notion of a SchemaRDD, which improves on traditional RDDs by giving them knowledge of how best to manipulate the data that they hold. In addition to rich querying, this structure makes it possible to more efficiently cache and shuffle the data during computations. Furthermore, with the addition of the data sources API, Spark SQL makes it easier to compute over structured data sourced from a wide variety of formats, including Parquet, JSON, Apache Avro, and more. This talk will show examples of how even traditional Spark jobs can benefit from using SchemaRDDs to capture richer information about the structure of the data being processed. It will also describe how the built-in JDBC server opens the loosely structured world of big data to traditional BI tools. Finally, it will reveal the road map for Spark SQL and where the project is heading.
Summit Europe 2015 Spark DataFrames: Simple and Fast Analysis of Structured Data
This post will provide a technical overview of Spark's DataFrame API. First, we'll review the DataFrame API and show how to create DataFrames from a variety of data sources such as Hive, RDBMS databases, or structured file formats like Avro. We'll then give example user programs that operate on DataFrames and point out common design patterns. The second half of the talk will focus on the technical implementation of DataFrames, such as the use of Spark SQL's Catalyst optimizer to intelligently plan user programs, and the use of fast binary data structures in Spark's core engine to substantially improve performance and memory use for common types of operations.
Summit East 2016 Structuring Spark: DataFrames, Datasets, and Streaming
February 17, 2016 04:00 PM PT
As Spark becomes more widely adopted, we have focused on creating higher-level APIs that provide increased opportunities for automatic optimization. In this talk I given an overview of some of the exciting new API's available in Spark 2.0, namely Datasets and Streaming DataFrames/Datasets. Datasets provide an evolution of the RDD API by allowing users to express computation as type-safe lambda functions on domain objects, while still leveraging the powerful optimizations supplied by the Catalyst optimizer and Tungsten execution engine. I will describe the high-level concepts as well as dive into the details of the internal code generation that enable us to provide good performance automatically. Streaming DataFrames/Datasets let developers seamlessly turn their existing structured pipelines into real-time incremental processing engines. I will demonstrate this new API's capabilities and discuss future directions including easy sessionization and event-time-based windowing.
Summit 2016 Structuring Spark: Dataframes, Datasets And Streaming
Introducing Apache Spark 2.0
DataFrames and Datasets
A Tale of Three Apache Spark APIs: RDDs, DataFrames, and Datasets
Introducing Apache Spark Datasets
Summit East 2017 Production-Ready Structured Streaming
February 7, 2017 04:00 PM PT
In Spark 2.0, we introduced Structured Streaming, which allows users to continually and incrementally update your view of the world as new data arrives, while still using the same familiar Spark SQL abstractions. I talk about progress we've made since then on robustness, latency, expressiveness and observability, using examples of production end-to-end continuous applications.
Summit 2017 Easy, Scalable, Fault-Tolerant Stream Processing with Structured Streaming in Apache Spark (continues)
Last year, in Apache Spark 2.0, Databricks introduced Structured Streaming, a new stream processing engine built on Spark SQL, which revolutionized how developers could write stream processing application. Structured Streaming enables users to express their computations the same way they would express a batch query on static data. Developers can express queries using powerful high-level APIs including DataFrames, Dataset and SQL. Then, the Spark SQL engine is capable of converting these batch-like transformations into an incremental execution plan that can process streaming data, while automatically handling late, out-of-order data and ensuring end-to-end exactly-once fault-tolerance guarantees.
Since Spark 2.0, Databricks has been hard at work building first-class integration with Kafka. With this new connectivity, performing complex, low-latency analytics is now as easy as writing a standard SQL query. This functionality, in addition to the existing connectivity of Spark SQL, makes it easy to analyze data using one unified framework. Users can now seamlessly extract insights from data, independent of whether it is coming from messy / unstructured files, a structured / columnar historical data warehouse, or arriving in real-time from Kafka/Kinesis.
In this session, Das will walk through a concrete example where - in less than 10 lines - you read Kafka, parse JSON payload data into separate columns, transform it, enrich it by joining with static data and write it out as a table ready for batch and ad-hoc queries on up-to-the-last-minute data. He'll use techniques including event-time based aggregations, arbitrary stateful operations, and automatic state management using event-time watermarks.
Summit Europe 2017 Announcing Databricks Delta
Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi introduces Databricks Delta, a new data management system that combines the scale and cost-efficiency of a data lake, the performance and reliability of a data warehouse, and the low latency of streaming.
Databricks Delta Guide
Databricks Delta: A Unified Data Management System for Real-time Big Data
Events PolicyCode of Conduct
Organized by Databricks
If you have questions, or would like information on sponsoring a Spark + AI Summit, please contact organizers@spark-summit.org.
Apache, Apache Spark, Spark, and the Spark logo are trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation. The Apache Software Foundation has no affiliation with and does not endorse the materials provided at this event.


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Q: On iOS, using Intruments, do we have to recompile the program and run it and stop it, and press Record in Instrument to see memory used? To check the memory usage of an iOS app, say if the code is
int n = 1000000;

NSObject *bar = [[NSObject alloc] init];

foo = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity: n];
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    [foo addObject: bar];
}

we can start Instruments and click on Library on toolbar and chose "Memory Monitor".
But it seems that if I change the code to
n = 10;

and stop Intruments' Record, and restart Record, the memory use is the same.  I have to stop Record, recompile the code in Xcode, and run it, and stop it, and then come back to Instruments and click Record to see the new memory use?  Is it always needed to go through that many steps, or is there any simpler way, or even if we can use NSLog to print memory use right inside touchesBegan so whenever we touch the screen, the memory use is printed?

A: The profile command in Xcode (cmd-I) should do a build and then restart the run in Instruments.

A: Yes, you must recompile your source code to executable code using Xcode, Instruments isn't able to do this, but you have to swap back to Xcode to make the change anyway right? You can't make a code edit in Instruments either.
I'm not sure where you got this sequence of steps from. Once your edit is made you need to build, cmd-B, then Profile, cmd-I.
So that seems like 2 key presses to me..?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Заур Абдулгалимович Гаджиев (13 июля 1986, Махачкала, Дагестанская АССР, РСФСР, СССР) —  российский спортсмен, специализируется по ушу, чемпион Европы по ушу-саньда, 4-х кратный чемпион России.

Биография
Ушу-саньда начал заниматься в 2001 году. В 2006 году в итальянской коммуне Линьяно-Саббьядоро в весовой категории до 60 кг, выиграв стал чемпионом Европы. 24 февраля 2007 года в Оренбурге принимал участие в турнире по версии ушу-саньда между командами России и Беларуси, в котором одержал победу над Сергеем Ивановым. В 2007 году в составе сборной России принимал участие на чемпионате мира в Пекине.

Спортивные достижения
 Чемпионат России по ушу 2002 — ;
 Чемпионат России по ушу 2004 — ;
 Чемпионат России по ушу 2006 — ;
 Чемпионат Европы по ушу 2006 — ;
 Чемпионат России по ушу 2007 — ;

Личная жизнь
В 2004 году окончил среднюю школу № 24 в Махачкале.

Примечания

Ссылки
 Канаев, М. Спортивная слава Дагестана. 1956—2009.- Махачкала, 2010.- 187 с.

Мастера ушу России

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


MSc in Sport Business Management students are engaging with the sport business industry as much as possible, to make sure, they experience what the industry and real market is all about.
As part as their Sport Law class (Adjunct Faculty Filippo Chierici), the current MSc in Sport Business Management students have been working on sport legal issues for the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (ATP rules and regulations, contracts, etc.). To thank them, the organization has invited them to attend the exciting tennis tournament last Saturday and Sunday.
In May, students will also visit the prestigious Monte Carlo Country Club, where they will be warmly welcomed by SMETT (Société Monégasque pour l'Exploitation du Tournoi de Tennis) of Monaco, to see in details the organization of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Thanks to this exclusive opportunity they will better understand the function of the SMETT team's work throughout the year, and the different phases of organizing an event (Event and Venue Management class). They will have the chance to see 'behind the curtains' of the creation of such fantastic international tennis tournament as Rolex Master: from hospitality management, ticketing, media management and sustainability, through marketing, sales, and logistics. When it gets to logistics, it is important to mention the geographical challenges of Monte-Carlo.
They will interact with the President of the SMETT, Mr Zeljko Franulovic, former international tennis player and winner of the Rolex Masters in 1970 ; Mr Poly, SMETT Director of Ticketing; Mr Rialland, SMETT Marketing, Sponsoring, Press and Arbitration Director; Mr. Valley, SMETT Sales Director. All of the discussion will bring an extra added value to the day!
As part of their curriculum (Event and Venue Management class), our students will have the chance to collaborate with Automobile Club de Monaco, on the organization of the Historical Grand Prix and the F1 GP.
During these 6 days, they will be involved in different activities around the two major international sport events of Monaco.
They will cooperate with : Protocol, Media Center, Classic Club Hospitality, Credit Suisse Drivers Club, Loges VIP Hospitality, TAG-Heuer Guest programme and Monaco Grand Prix Live, just to name a few.
The students will be in charge of reception, guest coordination for The ACM, media and sponsors, Credit Suisse and TAG- Heuer.
Experiencing the beauty and the challenges of organizing an event and the team work around it, in the heart of these prestigious sport events, is the perfect way to learn and also to build professional network!
Masterclass #3: Communication, the heart of the Football Industry!
Why do a Master in Sport Business Management in Monaco?


Participants will gain knowledge and information on unique facets of Cape May County from local experts, guest speakers, and field experience that will enhance your future leadership roles. Each month, participants will delve into specific areas of importance to Cape May County including Arts, History, and Culture; Tourism, Economic Development; Drug Addiction, Poverty; Government, United States Coast Guard; Public Safety, Law Enforcement, & Criminal Justice; Health & Human Services; Education & Entrepreneurship and our local Environment, Agriculture & Aquaculture. Class enrollment is limited to 20 qualified candidates. Tuition for Leadership Cape May County is $599. There is no fee to apply for the program.
Class enrollment is limited to 20 qualified candidates.
Pictured from left to right; Brigitta Scott (CMC Chamber of Commerce), Elizabeth Hulitt (First National Bank of Elmer), Michael Porch (DRBA), Eliza Lotozo (Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities), Rhonda Jackson (Fishermen's Energy), Anthony Martino (Gaiss' Meat Market), Maria Kellett (Atlantic Cape Community College), Paula James (Atlantic City Electric), Steven Steger (Stager Beach Service), John Young (Sturdy) and Beverly Trapp (GWTIDA). Not pictured is June Cooper (Crest Savings Bank).
September 2017 through May 2018.
Classes held on the third Tuesday each month.


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Einnorden mit Excel, auch Lüthen-Kahlhöfer-Methode genannt, ist eine Methode zur Einnordung äquatorialer Montierungen für astronomische Teleskope mithilfe von Digitalkamera und Computer. Die Methode ist einfach, genau und sicher und somit eine interessante, moderne Alternative zur bekannten Scheiner-Methode.

Bei der Einnordung soll die Stundenachse (Rektaszensionsachse) der Montierung genau parallel zur Erdachse ausgerichtet werden. Eine sorgfältige Einnordung ist Voraussetzung für die Astrofotografie mit langen Brennweiten oder langen Belichtungszeiten oder für die Benutzung der Teilkreise der Montierung bei der Suche nach Himmelsobjekten.

Aufnahmetechnik
Eine Kamera mit Normalobjektiv oder einem kurzen Teleobjektiv wird mit einer geeigneten Halterung  vorne auf dem Teleskoptubus oder direkt auf der Montierung befestigt und ungefähr auf den Himmelspol gerichtet. Dann macht man eine Aufnahme mit Belichtungseinstellung "B" (Bulb), wobei die Kamera langsam um die Stundenachse der Montierung gedreht wird. Dadurch erhält man eine Art Strichspuraufnahme, wobei die Strichspuren jedoch nicht durch die scheinbare Drehung des Himmels, sondern durch die Drehung der Kamera entstanden sind. Anfang und Ende der Strichspuren sollen mit ein paar Sekunden statischer Belichtung deutlich markiert werden. Infolge der Drehung ist die Information über die aktuelle Ausrichtung der Stundenachse in der Aufnahme versteckt. Alternativ kann man auch 2 statische Aufnahmen machen, die sich durch eine Drehung um die Stundenachse unterscheiden.

Auswertung der Aufnahmen
Zur Auswertung der Aufnahmen wurde eine spezielle Excel-Tabelle entwickelt.
Für drei Sterne werden die rechtwinkligen X-Y-Koordinaten an beiden Enden ihrer Strichspuren, bzw. auf beiden statischen Aufnahmen gemessen. Außerdem brauchen wir die aktuelle Rektaszension und Deklination (Astronomie) der drei Sterne, den Zeitpunkt der Aufnahme und die geografischen Koordinaten des Standortes. Die Berechnung in der Excel-Tabelle ergibt dann sofort die erforderliche Korrektur der Nord-Süd-Richtung und der Polhöhe in Grad. Diese Werte können in einem Hilfsfeld der Tabelle noch in die entsprechende Anzahl Umdrehungen der Stellschrauben umgerechnet werden. Damit kommt man zügig zum Ziel.

Die Kalkulationstabelle mit ausführlicher Anleitung ist zum kostenlosen Download auf der Internetseite der vhs-Sternwarte Neumünster erhältlich.

Weblinks
 Jürgen Kahlhöfer: Einnorden mit Excel auf der Webseite der Sternwarte Neumünster
 Download der Excel-Tabelle auf der Webseite der Sternwarte Neumünster

Einzelnachweise

Amateurastronomie


So much work goes into making our stationery, so when one of my brides sent me this I was absolutely thrilled. Our 'Elegance' range on one of her tables, in its full glory…perfect!
Visit verdigrisdesign.com.au for simple sample works and much more.


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See what's brewing!
Watch videos & listen to the weekly podcast ›
Voters' Choice
'The Christmas Chronicles' delivers more ho-hum than ho, ho, ho
By Brian Lowry, CNN
(CNN) — "The Christmas Chronicles" actually wraps up the schizophrenic nature of Netflix's movies with a great big bow, combining the fuzzy plot of a Hallmark holiday offering with the loud, special-effects-driven trappings of a theatrical release. Landing on Thanksgiving, it's not terrible, just more ho-hum than ho, ho, ho.
The main wrinkle, such as it is, involves casting Kurt Russell as Santa Claus, taking the actor back to his family-movie roots, inasmuch as he started out in Disney films like "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes."
Here, he's a rock 'n' roll Santa, who takes pride in the fact that he's "not a big fat slob" and dismisses the notion that he says "Ho, ho, ho" as "fake news." (Note to writers: Perhaps best not to use such specific lines in movies that you hope will have a long shelf life.)
After that, "The Christmas Chronicles" is basically a series of clichés, as 10-year-old Kate (Darby Camp), who believes in Santa, and her teenage brother Teddy (Judah Lewis) are preparing for their first Christmas without their father. (He's played in flashback by Oliver Hudson -- the son of Russell's longtime partner, Goldie Hawn -- just one of the insider takes within the film.)
Armed with a video camera, the pair not only see Santa but stow away on his sleigh, startling the driver to the point where he inadvertently dumps his load of toys.
"You two have really messed things up," Santa says, before the trio embark on a series of adventures in order to (yes) save Christmas, including a car chase, getting arrested, and an introduction to Santa's elves, an animated bunch that look and sound like extras from "Gremlins." (The resemblance might not be entirely accidental, inasmuch as director Chris Columbus, who wrote that 1984 movie, is the producer here.)
The only really amusing part of "Christmas Chronicles" is Santa's omniscience, knowing everything about everybody, including what they wanted for Christmas when they were children and what adults secretly yearn for now. There's also a gratuitous musical number that gives Russell a chance to sing, with Bruce Springsteen's guitarist Steven Van Zandt among the cameos.
Netflix, obviously, has money to burn, and delivering a big-budget Christmas movie to kick off the holidays fulfills its strategy of trying to offer something for everyone. The problem is that it's competing with all sorts of traditional and new holiday fare, which means "The Christmas Chronicles" doesn't feel particularly special, even if Santa's sleigh looks like it's making the jump to hyperspace when it really takes off.
"How cool is this?" Kate asks, a question clearly hoping to serve as a surrogate for the audience.
Not that cool, actually, in a movie that represents the sort of holiday gift nobody really needs.
"The Christmas Chronicles" premieres Nov. 22 on Netflix.
$20 Voucher To Jersey Mikes For Only $13
Monica surprised with statewide honor after decades with 5 On Your Side

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Quantum Cryotherapy launches full-body cryotherapy chamber
Supplier: Quantum Cryogenics
More Quantum Cryogenics details
The CryoQube is the world's first whole body cryotherapy chamber to be designed and manufactured in Britain
Quantum Cryotherapy, a Devon-based cryotherapy specialist, has launched the CryoQube, the first whole body cryotherapy chamber to be designed and manufactured in Britain.
The CryoQube offers indirect cryotherapy, which provides all the benefits of traditional cryotherapy, without the user being exposed to freezing nitrogen vapour. Instead, it delivers ultra-cold temperatures from pure air that has been pre-chilled by liquid nitrogen. Without the direct nitrogen exposure, which requires user's heads to be kept outside the unit, users can be fully immersed in the chamber.
Users can spend up to the three minutes in the chamber, where they experience temperatures of - 130-degrees celcius and the skin cools to around 15-degrees celcius. At this temperature the body releases endorphins, reduces inflammation and numbs pain.
Adela Thornton-Wood, co-founder of Quantum Cryotherapy, said: "Developing CryoQube was a natural next step for us as a company and builds on our 40-year heritage of providing high-tech, high quality cryogenic control systems."
"This is an exciting new venture for us and we're delighted to be manufacturing our cryotherapy chambers for the sports, health club and spa markets."
Quantum Cryogenics sets the standard for quality electronic solutions in the cryogenic and transport industry.
Web: www.quantumcryotherapy.com
Click here to visit Quantum Cryogenics's leisure-kit listing
Famous restaurants are popping up in unexpected places. We found out more


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Dance critic's guide to burlesque: Naughty, lively, but is it art?
By Laura Molzahn
Burlesque dancers Spitfire, left, Olive and Clara perform to "Singing in the Rain" at the Uptown Underground, Friday Aug., 14, 2015. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Seated in the front row, we were spattered with little, wet strands of Silly String, courtesy of a randy hand puppet. Later, we were showered with sparks: Think the workshop scene in "Magic Mike XXL" but performed by a woman, on pointe, wielding a grinder and wearing little other than a strategically positioned brass plate.
Performances featuring exploding substances, among other acts, all fell under the rubric of neo-burlesque, at least as Naughty Little Cabaret defined it one July night at the Uptown Underground, Chicago's only dedicated burlesque performance space.
Simply put, neo-burlesque consists of the many routes that contemporary performers have taken to honor the historic traditions of burlesque. So it's not easy to define: It appeals to men and women, gay, straight and other. It can be classy or raunchy, funny or serious — or a bizarre mix. Just consider Chicago burlesque artist Michelle L'amour's viral video, "Butthoven's 5th Symphony."
Is burlesque dance? Well, in a society where people literally have nightmares about being naked in public, burlesque is going to have emotional and sexual subtexts, different for each viewer. That in itself is enough to make me think it's dance. And if the dance universe encompasses Alzheimer's patients waltzing, young folks breaking, immigrants performing their native dances, and babies bopping along to Beyonce — and why would they be excluded? — then surely burlesque is dance.
From what I observed in my admittedly small one-night sample of two shows, burlesque dance isn't necessarily polished technically, or even performed with the utmost energy or charisma. But when it is, watch out. This can be a quadruple-threat art form, potentially involving comedy, theater and social protest.
Burlesque devotees often cite its long history as an argument for its artistry. An American entertainment with British roots, burlesque dates back to the 1860s and, perhaps thanks to increasing doses of female nudity, flourished for seven decades. Prohibition put an end to that, but burlesque gained new momentum in the 1990s, when the Exotic World Burlesque Museum was founded in California. When it relocated to Las Vegas, it became the Burlesque Hall of Fame, which offers not only conferences and competitions but historic exhibits and live performances; Tempest Storm danced there at the age of 82, in 2010. Unfortunately, she did fall and break her leg.
"There are still some living legends," says Jenn Kincaid, who with Chris Biddle founded both Kiss Kiss Cabaret — the other troupe we caught — and Uptown Underground. "And they are fantastic to see because they exude stage presence. Some of these women, their bump-and-grind moves are the signature moves still used today. It's just a real treat to watch where it came from."
History is a double-edged sword, however. Neighborhood history is what inspired Kincaid and Biddle to establish the Uptown Underground where they did: in a basement that reputedly once housed a speakeasy. On the other hand, Chicago's Prohibition-era laws threw them a few curveballs, says Kincaid.
"The city of Chicago has very strict policies on nudity and serving alcohol [in the same space]," she says. "Even though burlesque has become this big, popular thing for bar and restaurant owners, it was kind of under the table. It took some explaining of what we planned to do to convince [city officials] we were not a strip club. We had to do a little bit of education and a lot of shutting up."
Uptown Underground, which opened in early 2015, boasts not only a full bar but regularly scheduled, totally non-nude evenings of magic, comedy and music. Burlesque troupes performing there follow strict rules, Kincaid says: "No female nipple, no male or female genitalia, no buttocks — that's a funny one, because pretty much everybody shows their butt onstage. Popping pasties happens, even though a lot of tape and glue and other things are applied to make sure things stay put. But our girls cover up immediately."
The relative modesty of burlesque, as opposed to hard-core stripping, might be what makes it attractive for bachelorette parties, a major component of burlesque's audience.
"It's just a fun alternative to going out and having some gross guy on steroids who doesn't know how to dance just grind on you," says Rob Racine (aka "Rob the Pup"), MC and producer of Naughty Little Cabaret, which counts itself the city's first male-burlesque ("boylesque") troupe.
Male burlesque is relatively new and undefined. "A lot of people see burlesque as this highly feminine, super-stylized version of glamour," Racine says. "There's no one to look back to for ideas on being highly charged in a masculine way."
Naughty Little Cabaret apparently achieved that goal right off the bat, though. When the troupe first started performing — in 2013, with three male dancers (the award-winning Stage Door Johnnies), one female, and one drag performer, at the Original Mother's — they attracted mostly bachelorettes, says Racine. In that first year, female audience members would regularly get onstage uninvited, but these days Racine announces that they must be asked, and audiences are about "50 percent bachelorettes and 50 percent all over the board: couples, birthday parties, divorce parties," he says.
But despite the blowout atmosphere, sexuality and nudity aren't Naughty Little Cabaret's only calling cards.
"I'll be honest with you: I didn't see this as art when we started," says Racine. "But now burlesque means so much to me. It can't just be someone who knows how to dance and takes their clothes off. There has to be a story line, or something that another performer couldn't do."
Ultimately, my sample hetero-male population — my husband — and I agreed that the dancer's gender mattered less to his or her appeal than charisma, theatricality, dance expertise and wit. He loved Bazuka Joe's fan dance; I adored Kiss Kiss Cabaret's Cheeky Charlie, playing a lonesome cowgirl; and we were both awed by acrobatic wonder and 2013 King of Burlesque Ray Gunn, aka Christopher McCray, former Chicago Dance Crash performer and artistic director.
But whatever our assessments, Chicago's burlesque dancers clearly aren't competing with one another. Taking their creative freedom to heart, they don't judge. Or, as Racine puts it, "burlesque is different for each of us. And you can't say your art is better than somebody else's when that's what they are, who they are."
Because Chicago's burlesque scene incorporates so many guest artists, it can be hard to pin down what performers are in what shows when. Here are some starting points:
Uptown Underground (4707 N. Broadway, 773-867-1946, uptownunderground.net) features burlesque dancers — including its home troupe, Kiss Kiss Cabaret (kisskisscabaret.com) — every Friday and Saturday night.
Naughty Little Cabaret (naughtylittlecabaret.com) performs every Saturday at the Original Mother's, 26 W. Division, and select Fridays at Uptown Underground and She-Nannigans, 16 W. Division. Classes are add-ons to party packages.
Vaudezilla (773-558-0081, vaudezilla.com), founded in 2008, offers different late-night shows on the same month-long theme every Saturday at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont. Vaudezilla Studios, 3614 W. Belmont, hosts a full lineup of burlesque workshops and classes; the new session begins Sept. 13.
Studio L'amour (4001 N. Ravenswood, 773-641-6387, studiolamour.com), founded by Michelle L'amour (michellelamour.com), also offers classes, some designed for more advanced students. L'amour's next performance, with the Chicago Starlets, is Friday, Aug. 28, at the Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace.
Laura Molzahn is a freelance critic.
ctc-arts@tribpub.com


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Magazine Web Edition
October/November/December 2008
Fabric Begets Fashion
The Indian sari remains the pinnacle of weaving skill and designer apparel
With tucks and pleats, flowing folds and knotted ties, Hindus have for fifty centuries fashioned impeccable apparel from lengths of unstitched cloth. Ranging from simple body coverings to masterfully embroidered works of weaving and wearing, the sari is without question the reigning queen of the world's traditional dresses. No attire elicits images of India more strongly than the sari, and no other culture's costume has remained in vogue longer--over 5,000 years. While the sari soars in social circles, the time-worn garbs of other world cultures, such as Japanese kimonos, have largely faded from public view--usurped by Western garb and scuttled to museum displays or limited to ceremonial occasions. In contrast, the sari, still the daily dress of most village Indians and the preferred attire of millions of urbanites, is now the rave in big-city clothing cliques around the globe. It commands the respect and admiration of chic designers who revere the silken swath of cloth as a fashion stalwart, an icon that has transcended time's trendiness. What has saved the sari from extinction is its exceptional quality of being ever open to the creative inspiration of its wearer. While tailored clothes are strictly one-way-forward, up or down, and either casual or formal, the sari stretches beyond such limitations. A single unstitched weave can become an entire wardrobe, all depending upon the chosen methods of draping. No other garb has such a range of possibilities. In this educational Insight, we explore the global popularity of this timeless attire and present some excellent resources about the sari and the fine art of draping.
Traditional and modern, the garment of India tours the world in flying colors
By Lavina Melwani, New York
lassiwithlavina.com
At a big society wedding in delhi, everyone was dressed in the latest budget-busting designer outfits, yet all eyes were on a young girl dressed in a rich, bluish-pink Varanasi sari with intricate floral motifs. This one-of-a-kind cloth had cost her nothing, for it had been part of her mother's trousseau thirty years ago. Instead of having gone stale and out of style with age, it was the cynosure of all eyes, a treasure which had grown more valuable with time.
Who would have thought that six yards of fabric could be a synonym for elegance, beauty and style? The sari is the world's longest-running fashion story, as relevant today as it was hundreds of years ago. While the sari shares space in a modern woman's wardrobe with the popular salwar kameez (also known as the Punjabi suit, consisting of trousers and a long top) and Western pants, it is still the garment of choice for many, be it a washerwoman, an urban working woman or a high-society socialite.
While Western dress has made inroads into almost every Asian culture, with traditional garments like the Japanese kimonos and Chinese cheongsams being reserved for ceremonial wear, the sari is a living garment, a part of the daily lives of women in the Indian subcontinent, from Nepal to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Practical and always in style, it is a forgiving garment that conceals a woman's imperfections and enhances her special qualities. Even for a young, 21st century girl, draping a sari for the first time is the ultimate coming-of-age experience.
Author and folk-art historian Jasleen Dhamija describes in her book, Handwoven Fabrics of India, how "The most intimate element in a person's external being is the cloth with which one wraps oneself or one's loved ones. It is also closely associated with inner life and the stages through which a person passes. Though the rituals are similar, their enactment and the fabrics used in them are quite distinctive. Saris were bought during the Dipavali festival, and the whole family participated in the yearly visit of the family weaver to the house, for saris traditionally were never bought off a shelf.
"Weavers came from the weaving centers of Thanjavur, Kumbhakonam, Kanchipuram and Dharamavaram, bringing samples of new designs, colors and different qualities of silk. Families of weavers worked over generations with large joint families. Every village or center had a distinct style which a connoisseur could distinguish."
While the sari lives on in villages and cities, young innovative designers in India now give it fresh life and a new twist for the new generation. In India there are about 15 established labels, such as Rohit Bal, J.J. Valaya, Rina Dhaka, Suneet Varma, Tarun Tahiliani, Sandip Khosla and Ritu Kumar. These designers have revitalized the sari, adding heavily embroidered blouses to plain cloth, or re-styling the pallav (the portion of the sari which covers the bodice and falls over the shoulder) to give a new look to the sari. There's even been the zip-on sari for girls who may have trouble handling all those pleats! At fancy weddings many women drape the sari in Gujarati style or seeda (straight) pallav (the pallav is taken from the back to front instead of being taken from front to back)--considered high style by the fashion-conscious.
India's designers, adroit in Western styles and fashion, still take great pride in ethnic traditions, and their offerings often echo embroideries and designs of earlier craftsmen, celebrating India's cultural heritage. There are designer saris with scenes from the Mahabharata or Ramayana embroidered on the pallav (the ending border of the sari), or entire village portrayals in Bengali kantha work (running stitch embroidery used on decorated quilts). There is a kind of visual poetry in these saris, which are often woven by Muslim artisans for Hindu brides. Some of the best embroiderers in India are Muslim, who can even reproduce the intricate pieta dura work found on the Taj Mahal. Saris tell stories--of the Ramayana, of folk lore and mythical heroes and carry verses from the Vedas. Ganesha--the auspicious one--is popular on sari pallavs.
As Indians have spread around the world, they have taken the sari with them. Saris are a common sight in London, Johannesburg, Trinidad, Toronto, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Singapore. In places as far flung as Mauritius and Nigeria, saris are a part of the landscape. In fact, saris are big business in countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, countries that produce bolts of synthetics like chiffon, satin and nylon which are bought in six-yard lengths by Indians to use as saris. These are also exported to many countries and find their way to the Little Indias of the US, UK and Dubai.
Saris in America:Sari shops thrive in many Indian enclaves in America. Among the largest is India Sari Palace in New York, with a vast inventory from India as well as Japan. Many Indian communities here, such as the Gujarati, wear mostly saris, so there is a constant demand. Just looking at the stores in Little Indias across the nation indicates the sari is thriving. In the 60s, many women were reluctant to wear saris in the US, afraid they would stand out. But in today's multicultural America, there seems to be a growing pride in one's ethnic roots. While some Indian women working in corporate society may still prefer to wear Western dress to fit in, others in less structured jobs--film editors, writers, travel agents--often wear salwar kameez or saris to work.
Many especially wear saris to evening events. After all, there is nothing quite as graceful as the sari, especially for evening wear. While styles and lengths of the salwar kameez fluctuate with alarming regularity, a sari is always in style. Traditional saris from different regions have a beauty all their own and are timeless.
Kavita Lund, a wife, mother and accountant living in New York, has a sizable collection of saris and enjoys the grace it imparts. She, like most of her friends, wears the more practical pants and salwar kameez during the day and saves the saris for special occasions and evening events. Her 19-year-old daughter, Monisha, born and brought up in the US, is just as fascinated by saris, though she wears only the trendy designer styles. These modern incarnations of the sari would probably make any great-grandmother faint--the stomach is completely exposed and the pallav is wrapped nonchalantly around the neck, leaving the bodice bare. Dr. Manjula Bansal, a pathologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery and the Cornell University Medical Center in New York, has a large collection of saris from every part of India and wears them with great pride. Even when she was a medical resident, she wore a bindi on her forehead and saris to her workplace, riding on the subway. Now she wears the more practical salwar kameez to work, but always dresses in saris for social events, be it an Indian or a mainstream gathering.
Bansal, who was involved with funding of the India Chair at Columbia University and with other mainstream cultural organizations, finds her sari a great ice-breaker at international gatherings. Her treasured saris are always great for conversation. She says, "Not only is a sari beautiful, but it is a story in fabric, depicting religious and social beliefs, and it shows good omens for a good life. Every craftsman puts his identity into it. You don't have to be beautiful to feel beautiful in a sari. It brings out your inner beauty and grace."
So many styles:In all countries, dress usually indicates religion, social position, ethnicity, wealth and regional origin. While this is still mostly true in India, some urban Indian women and those living abroad do wear a cross-section of saris from different regions, and are certainly more Indian than regional in their perspectives.
Women have a rich array of saris to choose from, including handloom saris from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, silk brocades from Varanasi and Kanchipuram, jamdani (fine, transparent cotton muslin) from West Bengal, cotton saris from Kota in Rajasthan, patolas (elaborate, five-color design) and ikat (special dye process) from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. For those living abroad, a trip to India means a new wardrobe, since the variety of fabrics in Indian cities is so vast.
Interestingly enough, just as there are fakes in art and jewelry, there are fakes in saris. Today it's easy to be taken for a ride because technology has improved so much. For example, saris with artificial gold look identical to those with real gold threads, the difference in price being a hefty Rs. 10,000 at least.
Advances in India's textile technology have made saris more affordable and easy to maintain for working women. Synthetic saris made in powerful industrial mills are attractively priced and don't need heavy ironing or care. The flip side is that this has endangered the livelihood of village craftspeople who can take many months on a loom to produce a single sari. As one old weaver told Bansal when she visited his dilapidated, almost shut-down workshop, "People are impatient nowadays, and they can get ten machine-made saris for the price of one hand-woven sari. They don't want to wait or spend the money."
Fads and experiments:Recently the New York Fashion Institute of Technology showed the 1940s saris of Princess Niloufer, an Ottoman princess who married the son of the Nizam of Hyderabad. She made the traditional sari her own by giving it a Western touch through decoration and the placement of motifs. Her saris were ornamented with sequins, beads and metallic embroidery on chiffon, crepe and net, with the floral designs falling in the front or over the left shoulder. Many of these saris were designed by a Frenchman, Fernande Cecire, and embroidered in India. This is reminiscent of the days of the British Raj, when Indian princesses traveled to Paris and had saris designed by French couturiers.
Saris, with their golden threads, intricate embroidery and innate romance, have always attracted Westerners. Glimmerings of Indian inspiration appeared in the West in the 1920s when Madame Gres, a renowned Paris designer, showed sari-inspired styles in her collection. Western passion for Indian fashions can be traced to the British Raj, when socialites in London, New York and Paris were smitten by Indian fabrics and embroidery. Famous Western designers were deeply influenced. Those who have used saris and Indian fabrics in their collections include Mary McFadden, Oscar de la Renta, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Norma Kamali and Anna Sui.
Recently, British designer Paul Smith did an entire collection based on India, including men's shirts created out of saris. When Indian designer Rohit Bal's mother saw this collection, she said plaintively to her son, "What's all this nonsense about? I used to make shirts like this for you when you were young, and you never wore them!" To which Bal retorted, "I'm sorry, mom, but that was you. This is Paul Smith!"
While some Westerners fashion saris into everything from pillow covers to tablecloths to evening dresses, others actually wear them, a memento of their Indian adventure. Some designers use it to outrageous effect. John Galliano was once spotted at a society gala in New York wearing a silk sari with a short tuxedo jacket and dress shoes. Supermodel Naomi Campbell wore a sari at the MTV Music Awards, and Goldie Hawn, a great fan of India, often wears saris to social events. The Duchess of York was presented with a green Varanasi silk sari by Prince Andrew. Legendary ceramist Beatrice Wood, who died at 105, wore nothing but saris and Indian jewelry for the last several decades of her life. And pop icon Madonna is very much into Indian saris, mehndi and meditation in her CD, "Ray of Light."
For mainstream Americans, the sari is still an exotic garment, a costume to transport them to another world. In fact, Magic Markers Costumes, a Halloween costume supply house in Huntington, West Virginia, offers a sari for rental, along with blouse and petticoat, for US$45. Their website: www.magicmakers.com, shows an American woman draped in a sari.
Fads come and go, but the sari survives them all. As Bansal points out, "One wants to be noticed, especially in a crowd, but why ape the West? The sari creates an instant identity for you, and I think that's what most people are looking for, whether you are a CEO or a physician or you're trying to make a mark. The sari says a lot about you."PIpi
India's Ten Top-Selling Saris
India remains the best place in the world to shop for saris. Rajiv Malik of Delhi, our Hinduism Today correspondent and an expert in fabrics, composed this list of ten most popular saris after consulting with Mr. Vishnu Manglani, a leader in India's national sari business. Prices are in US dollars.
1	Gadwals:Cotton with separately woven and attached silk borders and pallavs. Made in Andhra Pradesh. $25-130.
2	Tanchois:Pure silk with intricately woven pallavs and borders. Variety of designs used. Made in Varanasi. $130-400.
3	Bumkais:Silk yarn, made in Orissa. Yarn is dyed so that, when woven, patterns appear in various colors. $20-125.
4	South Handlooms:Like Kanjivarams, but they cost less. Bangalore made. Jari and silk borders and pallavs. $90-300.
5	Printed:Silk, hand printed on three materials:silk, crepe and chiffon. Comfortable for party or home wear $65-130.
6	Tangails:Fine cotton, hand-woven in Calcutta. Traditional Bengali designs. It gets softer with each washing. $10-100.
7	Cotton Handlooms:Hand-woven in Coimbatore. Elegant for summer wear. Rich and crisp. Need much care. $20-50.
8	Valkalams:Pure silk, woven in Varanasi to depict folk art scenes. Special handlooms can weave 25 colors. $90-400.
9	Kanjivarams:Finest handloom silk, specialty of Tamil Nadu. Also called heirlooms. Pure jari-woven borders. $130-1500.
10	Chanderis:Made with silk and cotton yarn in Madhya Pradesh. Saris are lightweight, ideal for summer. $20-125.
The Remarkable Indian Art of Draping
While there are many detailed studies of India's textile and sari-making industries, only one recent study has focused primarily upon the diverse ways saris are worn. In 1997, French anthropologist Chantal Boulanger [see her story on page 64] published a landmark work, Saris: An Illustrated Guide to the Indian Art of Draping. Her efforts are a significant step towards categorizing and preserving sari draping styles, some of which may be known only by a few elderly ladies in each region. The following overview is drawn from her work. See page 62 for definitions.
By Chantal Boulanger, France
The most ancient recorded indian drape, excluding those of the Harappa civilization, is a dhoti. Buddha's lay followers, such as Ashoka and the men and women represented on the stupa of Bharhut (Madhya Pradesh, 2nd century bce), wore elaborately pleated dhotis. Nowadays, dhotis are still worn by men all over India. They require a piece of cloth which seems longer and larger than what was worn in the past, but their pleating is often simpler, and they are no longer adorned with belts. There are several styles which reflect personal taste and/or occupation, such as the classic, priest, Andhra, Marwari and the Chettiyar dhotis.
In the past, women wore dhotis just as men did. But from the 14th century onwards, women's clothes started to develop in a very different way from those of men. The number of yards required increased and the shawl that sometimes covered the shoulders was transformed into the upper part of the sari--the mundanai. By the 19th century, the colonial attitudes imported from Victorian Britain considered dhotis to be indecent for women, and women in some castes modified the drape so that it covered their chest.
Dravidian saris, which are the basis of the modern sari, are draped in two parts. The veshti (from the Sanskrit verb vesh, meaning "to cover," "wrap around" or "to roll") covers the lower part of the body. It is supplemented by a separate mundanai or mundu. The draping of the veshti is simple and virtually universal. Most people all over the world use this drape to wrap a bath towel around themselves. Various forms of veshtis were worn in India, and are represented on many sculptures and paintings from numerous places as early as the 2nd century bce. Veshtis are commonly worn by men in India's two southernmost states, and also by women in Kerala. It is a common drape in many countries of Southeast Asia.
It was probably not earlier than the 19th century when women joined both pieces of cloth, thus creating many elaborate new drapes. The draping of Tamil saris did not change much from that of the veshti-mundanai, except that this new fashion had one big inconvenience. When walking, the sari was pulled upwards by the mundanai, revealing the legs. Women in each region of Tamil Nadu found their own solutions, and adapted their draping in order to remain "decent," thus spawning a great variety of styles.
Most saris fit into families, which means they follow certain basic ways of being draped. There are four main families: the dhoti family, the Dravidian sari, nivi saris and tribal saris. There are also sub-families and a few smaller families. The dhoti family includes men's dhotis, women's dhotis and South Indian Brahmin saris. Dravidian saris include veshtis, Tamil saris, Eastern saris and Santal saris. The nivi saris are modern saris, kaccha saris and upper kaccha saris (the Sanskrit word kaccha means "pleats" or "pleats tucked between the legs"). The tribal family consists of high veshti tribal saris and right-shoulder tribal saris. The smaller families are the Gond-related saris, Lodhi saris, drapes with nivi and Dravidian influences and unique saris. Some drapes could fit within two families, such as the Gauda sari, which is at the same time tribal and kaccha. On the other hand, several drapes do not fit anywhere.
The drape which is now considered to be the Indian sari, called nivi, has never been represented on any ancient painting or sculpture. Whereas dhotis and veshtis were commonplace in the past, nivi saris seem to have been nonexistent.
The nivi family is by far the most widespread. These saris are now worn all over India, as well as in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, not to speak of the Indian communities living abroad. In Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, where stitched clothes are traditionally worn, nivis are becoming increasingly popular. In Sri Lanka, it has become the compulsory sari of government employees, rather than the more typical Ceylonese sari. It has influenced Western stylists and evokes for most European women a vision of flowing beauty and elegance.
Every drape requires a piece of cloth of a specific length and width. For instance, it is impossible to make a Marwari sari with six yards; nine yards are needed. Each region of India has developed textiles woven in the dimensions fitting the local drapes. But apart from the size of the cloth, almost all saris can be tied with any kind of textile.
When at home or working, women wear cotton or synthetic fabrics. When going to a function or an event, they often dress up with a silk sari. Most of the time, the draping is the same whatever the textile. While there are festive and daily drapes, a festive drape can be worn with a beautiful silk, polyester or cotton sari, and one might wear an old silk sari with a daily drape.
Both textile and drape are independently influenced by fashion. Stylists are mostly concerned with the fabric and the form of the choli, or blouse, but sometimes the adventurous introduce new drapes, too. Cotton always provides the best sari drape. Once folded and tucked, cotton stays in place, and doesn't require anything to hold it. For weighty or slick cloths, such as silk, a pin or a clip might be used to hold the pleats and to keep from having to readjust the drape all the time. Just as in painting or playing a musical instrument, it takes training and practice to wear a sari perfectly.
Saris are fun to wear. They can be tried by anyone, and more styles can be created. They are the expression of women's creativity, and there is for each woman one drape that suits her perfectly. Often it is not the modern sari.
Choli: a usually tight-fitting blouse often worn with a sari.
Dhoti: usually white, a five-yard long, four-foot high weave, normally made of light cotton, having little or no borders and pallavs. These are worn by men all over India, except in Tamil Nadu and Kerala where only Brahmins drape them.
Lower border: the edge touching the feet when the sari is first tied.
Mundanai: the part of the sari, starting from the pallav but significantly longer, that is thrown over the upper body.
Mundi: a Tamil word meaning pallav, or border; the mundi is the pallav at the other end of the sari, less elaborate, where the colors of the body and the borders usually mix. Draping often begins with this pallav.
Mundu: a smaller piece of cloth often used to cover the head or thrown over the shoulder. This word usually translates as towel.
Pallav: the most decorated end-part, which is thrown over the shoulder.
Upper border: the highest border when the sari is first tied, generally used for the knot in closings.
A sari's two dimensions are length, which may range from two to nine yards, and height, which may range from two to four feet.
Recommended resources:Saris: An Illustrated Guide to the Indian Art of Draping, by Chantal Boulanger, Shakti Press International, Post Office Box 267, New York, NY 10276-0267; The Sari: Styles, Patterns History, Techniques, By Linda Lynton, Harry Abrams Publishers, 100 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011-6903; Ikat Textiles of India, by Chelna Desai, Chronicle Books, 275 Fifth Avenue, San Francisco, California 94118-2307; Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in India, By Emma Tarlo, University of Chicago Press, 5801 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637.
Draping a Sari
Of the more than eighty styles of sari drapes documented by Chantal Boulanger, the nivi sari is the most widely used style in the world. The following instructions are from her book, Saris: An Illustrated Guide to the Indian Art of Draping. For newcomers to draping saris, here is a word of advice from Sheela Venkatakrishnan of Chennai.
"When you hold a sari out to wear the first time, you feel a mix of shock and surprise! How does so much go around and how does it stay in place? Then, someone who knows how it is done steps in, asks you to just hold your arms out, goes around you a couple of times, puts a pin here and a pin there and a few short minutes later, it is done. Now you want to learn to do this on your own. While it does help to have a person assist you, illustrations and instructions also work, mixed with a little imagination and a vivid recall of women in saris... and there you have it! A new look for a new you!"
1 This sari is draped counter-clockwise. Start by making a knot on the right side of the abdomen with the upper corner of the mundi and the upper border, after passing it around the waist.
All nivi saris start from the same basis, with little differences when tucking the pleats. All modern saris require six yards of cloth. If a petticoat is worn, an alternative to tying a knot for the closing is to tuck the upper corner of the mundi in the petticoat on the right side of the abdomen.
2 Take the upper border, pass it and tuck it around the waistline counter-clockwise, making a small pleat first on the left hip, and then on the right hip. Finally tuck the upper border over the middle or the left side of the abdomen (depending on whether you want the front pleats to fall straight or in a fanlike shape).
Most women tuck the pleats over the right side of the abdomen, so that they fall in the middle, but others tuck them in the middle, their fall being over the left side. If the pleats are to fall really straight, the first and last ones should be larger, and a small pleat should be made on the right hip before the main pleats, toward the right.
The length of the mundanai is determined by the way each woman likes to drape it. Some let the pallav fall from the shoulder only to the waistline in the back. Others leave it down to their feet. What I have described here is the way most ordinary women wear it on usual days, when they tuck the pallav back in the closing over the left side of the abdomen. There is no absolute rule for the drape of the pallav; it is only a question of personal taste. Two common styles are shown below.
3 Pass the sari around the body once, let it fall and take the pallav to drape the mundanai. It is essential not to follow our instinct to drape the sari from one end to the other, since the front pleats--the most characteristic part of nivi saris--are made with the cloth left between the drape of the sari's closing and its mundanai.
4 Take the pallav, either pleated in height or by its upper corner, pass it (at the waistline level), across the back and just under the right arm (in the armpit). Throw it from under the right arm to over the left shoulder, pulling it long enough to be able to come again across the back, under the right arm and to the left side of the abdomen.
5 Once the mundanai is draped around the upper part of the body, a length of sari should be falling in front, between the closing (or the tucking) and the drape of the mundanai at its tightest. Take the upper border of this part and pleat it towards the inside, starting from that which is closest to the closing. Once the whole length is pleated, tuck it over the abdomen, pleats towards the left.
Sari's Unlikely Savior
How a French anthropologist, happening upon an unusual sari, rescued dozens of Indian drapes from extinction
By Shikha Malaviya, Minnesota
It is a blustery, cold afternoon as i make my way to the Goldstein Gallery and the University of Minnesota's School of Apparel and Design. Opening the auditorium door, I make out the silhouettes of roughly 200 people focused on a slide of a Tamil woman whose sari wraps around her knees and divides in the middle, a common style among rural working women. The lights turn on, and in the front of the auditorium a petite, blond-haired woman dressed in a navy blue silk sari deftly demonstrates that very style from the slide on a volunteer while explaining its method in a lilting French accent. The audience stares in awe as anthropologist Chantal Boulanger proceeds to unravel the mysteries of sari draping.
The sari, a versatile female garment of ancient Indian origin, has enthralled and mystified many in its variety of texture, design, size and draping style. While numerous scholars document the intricacies of the sari's myriad colors, fabrics and patterns, few, if any, have closely examined draping styles. Chantal Boulanger hopes to change that. Boulanger is the author of Saris: An Illustrated Guide to the Indian Art of Draping. In her book, Chantal documents and lucidly illustrates more than 100 sari drapes, which she divides loosely into families and sub-families where possible, based on certain basic draping techniques. By doing so, Boulanger is the first scholar to define the art of sari draping and give its study a legitimacy that goes beyond mere fashion.
Boulanger's book came to life in an exhibition presented by the University of Minnesota's Goldstein Gallery January 25-March 1, 1998, aptly called "The Indian Sari: Draping Bodies, Revealing Lives." It was the first sari exhibition to accentuate draping techniques rather than fabric texture or design aspects.
For Chantal, it all began in 1992 when a unique sari drape at a wedding in South India sparked her interest. "I saw a drape with pleats on the side and its border in the back. I asked how to do it, but no one knew." Having studied Tamil temple priests for the past fifteen years, Chantal encountered various sari drapes in her field work, but never imagined they would one day become the object of her study. A trip to a research center in Pondicherry turned up little information on the "wedding sari" drape, and her inquiries to Tamil women followed suit. Finally, an old woman identified the mystery sari as a drape worn by peasant women from the region of Tondaimandalamam, in Tamil Nadu. Many young women no longer wore such styles because they didn't want to be identified as a peasant or a lower caste. Chantal realized that many of these drapes--at times intricate, functional, and in most cases symbolic of religion and social status--carried a certain part of Indian women's history, and that it would vanish without a trace if not recorded soon.
Zigzagging across the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal from 1990 to 1997, Chantal visited big cities and remote villages. Taking notes and photos of diverse sari drapes was a constant ritual, even if it meant stopping women on the street. But this wasn't enough to cognize intricacies of the wrapping art. "I realized the only way to remember these saris was to try them again and again," Chantal shared with Hinduism Today in 1998. She practiced until she got them right, and wore saris under every possible circumstance to personally experience how saris work in daily life. "Whenever Indian women taught me how to wear a sari, they missed essential steps I had to discover on my own." Secrets such as knotting a sari instead of just tucking it into a petticoat came with trial and error. Now a bona fide expert in more than eighty drapes, Boulanger is an inspiration to most of us Hindu women who barely know a handful.
Dissection: As Chantal organized her information, she realized that most sari drapes could be categorized into families. On grouping various drapes, she found the necessity of a glossary to identify each part of a sari. "Every sari starts with tying it tightly, whether on the waist or chest. So I decided to call it the closing." Boulanger enlisted words from Sanskrit and Tamil because "I couldn't just write, 'tie this end to that end.'" As a result, she terms the part of the sari from which the drape begins, mundi, and the part thrown over the shoulder, pallav. The main part of the sari is the body. The edges are the upper and lower borders.
While Chantal created a working glossary of the sari, she feels most successful in having arranged the sari into families. Studies that preceded her work grouped drapes according to region or state, so she initially followed suit. But as her research progressed, she realized that draping styles cross regions. By focusing on method instead, she found that most sari drapes could fit into four main families [see page 29]. Many drapes overlapped families, indicating migration of a group from one region to another--and some saris were unique and did not fit within any family--but the grouping of saris revealed many things. "I saw dhoti styles worn mainly by the brahmins," shares Boulanger, "while veshti-style drapes appeared on other classes." In this context, Boulanger applauds the modern nivi drape, with its pleats in front and pallav over the left shoulder, calling it the egalitarian sari because, she enthuses, "It crosses boundaries of class and caste, making all women equal in the eyes of others."
Charmed by the sari's visual appeal and social context, Chantal dreamed of a sari exhibition. But as she pitched the idea to friends and colleagues, they urged her to write a book to supplement it. Accepting the suggestion, Chantal labored five years and finished the project in 1997. Her biggest challenge was creating more than 700 illustrations which she personally drew and redrew until satisfied they were clear and accurate. The exhibition of Boulanger's work would marry the aesthetic importance of drapes with related cultural implications.
Drape display: The Goldstein exhibit rendered sari draping with such authenticity that it provoked visitors to feel transported to India. Call it coincidence or kismet that student curators Hazel Lutz and Susheela Hoeffer had both sojourned in India, and Jean Ross, responsible for exhibit design, had visited India and Pakistan. Lutz and Hoeffer primarily focused on drape families and technique, but also featured saris in various contexts, such as photographs, a wall of artwork (including a sketch by world-renowned artist Jamini Roy), a display of blouse styles, Indian dolls dressed in saris, and hanging saris as well, because as Hoeffer observed, "It's hard to visualize the mass of a sari as a flat piece of cloth when it is draped on the body."
Lutz (who co-authored The Visible Self: Global Perspectives on Dress, Culture, and Society), saw the exhibition as a way to "fully appreciate the complexity of drapes, and drop stereotypes. We are showing that there is innovation within the confines of a sari, and tradition is fashionable as well as practical." Ross added a rural touch to the exhibition by painting the walls saffron and the top with a red, stenciled border, reminiscent of villages in India and Pakistan. With Boulanger's work as their focus, and their individual experiences in India to draw from, Lutz, Hoeffer and Ross turned an intimate gallery into a colorful Indian oasis of art and savoir-faire.
The exhibition drew over 200 on opening day, some out of curiosity, others to learn. Regardless of motives, visitors left the exhibit with fresh knowledge. As Mani Subramaniam, native of India and business professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management commented, "On my next visit to India, I'll definitely be looking at saris more carefully, even though I have seen them all my life." A fitting compliment for Chantal Boulanger and her work, and for women worldwide who make the sari an integral part of their lives.
Chantal Boulanger Publishing website:www.devi.net
The Full Six Yards
Feminine, graceful, elegant are a few words that come to mind when you hear the word sari. The modern sari has stepped beyond tradition to become a fashion statement. Designer saris, and blouses too, have made their mark beyond India's borders, draped in ways that seem very fashionable but are actually like how they were worn very long ago in India. The six yards has come a full circle, it appears. PFor many women, their very first attempt to wear a sari would have been when they were five or six years old. You guessed it! They want to be like their mother. Imagine wrapping a full length sari around that tiny body! As she grows, the little girl gets other inputs, and these days more often than not, the sari is looked down upon as "not in." College is the time when the sari regains its stature on special occasions, especially weddings. Grandparents fawning over their "little big lady" is a sweet moment to witness. PMany city girls grow up never having worn a sari. So much material going around (God knows how!) in hot weather. The pallu slipping off, the waist being visible, stepping on the pleats and having the sari come off are but a few mini-nightmares she would have to overcome before gaining the courage to make the first attempt. Once bitten, totally smitten is usually what happens. Rarely does someone say, "Not for me." The magic of the sari begins to work! The way one feels in a sari can only be experienced. It cannot be described. Try it. You will like it!
Sheela Venkatakrishnan, Chennai
Heralding the Drapes of India
Excerpts from Chantal's book, one woman's fashion odyssey
By Chantal Boulanger
Of all the arts that have flourished in india, one of the least known and studied is that of draping. This is all the more extraordinary because it is a unique art and craft which offers special insights into the ethnology of Indian and Southeast Asian peoples and the archaeology of the periods in which it developed. At its heart is Hinduism, whose preference for unstitched clothing, for both religious and social reasons, fostered the growth and development of the sari. Although knowledge of sewn garments has existed since prehistoric times, these were mostly reserved for warriors and kings, and never achieved the popularity of drapes. Therefore, the Indian culture developed the art of wrapping a piece of cloth around the body to a degree that far surpassed that of any other people. Unfortunately, this art has never been fully studied. Books on saris usually show a maximum of 10 or 15 drapes, and too few explain how to drape them. Most of these studies have been done by men who have never experimented with the drapes themselves.
When I was studying Tamil temple priests, I learned that the women draped their saris in a special way, using a piece of cloth nine yards long. It is a well-known fact that Tamil brahmins, such as the Coorg, Bengali or Marwari women, have their own peculiar way of wearing saris. Yet, nobody had noticed the way Tamil peasant or Kannadiga laborers draped theirs--and neither had I.
Having discovered that sari draping had never been properly researched, I decided to record as many drapes as I could find. As I traveled throughout South, Central and Eastern India, I realized that the whole subject was far too big for my own researches to be exhaustive. I hope, however, that this work will lead others to carry on this research all over India. Apart from the few famous saris recorded in the past, I found a large number of drapes, most often typical of a caste or a small region. Only worn by old women, the majority of them will be forgotten in a few decades.
The modern drape, often called nivi sari, is now worn by most Indian women. Few even bother to learn from their grandmothers how to attire themselves traditionally. This is especially true with the lower castes, where girls refuse to dress in a way that clearly displays their humble origins.
"Show me how you drape, and I will tell you who you are" could be the motto for this book. Drapes are closely linked with the ethnic origin of the wearer, and in Chapter Seven I detail the conclusions that I reached from this study.
I started this research totally unaware of its wide implications (not to mention the time and effort!). Thinking that I would save a few drapes from fast-approaching oblivion, I discovered a totally unexplored world whose meaning had never been considered.
Researching drapes requires travelling through as many villages and regions as possible, looking at everybody to identify precisely what they wear, and asking everyone if they know or have seen different ways of draping. Once I found an unknown drape, I not only saw how it was produced from the person who usually wore it, but I also learned how to do it myself. It was very important for me to be able to wear it. Since this might seem a little extreme, here is an anecdote which will illustrate the necessity.
I always thought I knew how to wear a kaccha sari, such as worn in North Karnataka and Maharashtra. All I had to do was to drape a modern sari with nine yards, so as to have many pleats in front. Then I had to take the lower border of the middle pleat and tuck it in the back. When I went to the region where these saris were worn, I did not bother at first to learn how to drape them. Problems started when I decided to go out wearing a kaccha sari. It was in Goa and I went to a Hindu temple, where I was clearly conspicuous. Most people appreciated my efforts, but at one point, a woman, seeing me, shouted something in Konkani and everybody laughed. My assistant was reluctant to translate, but eventually he explained that the woman had said: "The way she wears her sari, all the boys are going to fall in love with her!"
I understood that something was wrong with my draping and immediately I sent my assistant to find someone who could teach me how to wear it properly. A few minutes later, a woman showed me many of the finer details which prevent this kind of drape from crumpling up and backwards, revealing the thighs.
I have travelled quite extensively through Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. I have also visited Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal, although not as thoroughly. A short trip in Assam convinced me that there is much to learn in this area. Exhaustive research would have meant visiting almost every village and caste in India, a task far too difficult for me. This may again sound a little extreme, but many drapes are worn by small castes, and may only be found in a village or two. For instance, the Kappulu sari, one of the most interesting and elegant drapes I have found, is worn only by old women of the Kappulu caste.
I have asked many women to teach me how to drape their saris. Most of them were unknown to me, and I had simply met them in the street. None refused and every one of them, from the educated Brahmin to the illiterate tribeswoman, understood what I was doing and why. They were all pleased with my work and entrusted to me their knowledge with pride.
The woman who taught me the pullaiyar sari was about four feet tall, and so old that no one in the village knew her age. She was illiterate and spoke a dialect of Tamil I hardly understood. But I could see she was happy to give me what she clearly perceived as part of her culture and identity. When I left she took my hand and said, "Go and tell others who we are." From her village, I walked several miles through the jungle to the nearest road and eventually came back to France, keeping the photograph I had taken of her as a treasure.
Sources: To help complete my field research, I used information provided by other scholars in books or orally. For antique drapes, the work of Anne-Marie Loth, La vie publique et privee dans l'Inde ancienne, fascicule VII, les costumes (1979), is the most detailed and complete book available on draping. For Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal, I relied on information from Linda Lynton-Singh [see her book below], who is a textile specialist and who had learned several drapes from Northeast India (her husband is from Bihar). Thambal Yaima showed me the two styles draped in Manipur. Mrs. Ruklanthi Jayatissa helped me with the saris worn in Sri Lanka. For Madhya Pradesh, I also studied very closely the book Saris of India: Madhya Pradesh, by Chishti and Samyal (1989). I tried all the drapes myself. For tribal saris, I relied on the book The Tribals of India through the Lens of Sunil Janah (1993).
I don't believe that these drapes should simply be recorded and then confined to dusty libraries in the future. Drapes have many advantages over stitched clothes, especially when beauty is an important value. Saris are much more practical than we think, especially since they can be so easily modified. I made this work for anybody who wants, at least once, to wear a drape, any kind of drape. Draping is an art. I hope this book will help it take its place as a heritage of mankind.
Chantal died suddenly in Africa of a brain aneurism on December 27, 2004, the day after the Asian Tsunami. She was cremated in London, and her ashes were spread by her husband Peter Maloney on the shore at Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, India.
Styles, Patterns, History & Techniques
Linda Lynton brings us a lavish sourcebook
Linda lynton-singh, a professional writer, became curious about saris when, upon marrying Sanjay Singh, a native of India, she was welcomed by his extended family with gifts of saris. "I heard stories about local saris and hoped to find more stories about saris from other regions of India, so I looked for books, but didn't find many," Linda recalls. That lack of information on saris inspired five years of research and an expansive tome--The Sari: Styles, Patterns, History, Techniques. By concentrating on region, Linda captures the sari's beauty and complexity in vivid detail through ethnic art, historical facts, motifs and patterns, all which integrate and represent their geographical surroundings. "Most of the world uses tailored clothing, and here is a culture that doesn't," explains Linda. "The whole emphasis is on the cloth itself, how it's woven, how it's decorated, how it's colored, and that alone makes it interesting." Particularly notable in the book are textiles from groups, such as Gujarati indigo-dyed saris that heretofore were never illustrated and documented. While Chantal Boulanger's book is a practical manual on draping techniques, Linda surveys the sari as a prized fabric, focusing on its design. From this perspective, Linda documents forty types of saris with photographs and diagrams to illustrate complexity in patterns, weaves and colors. She also includes a comprehensive glossary of textile terms, in English and Indian languages. An exhaustive and scholarly work, 208 pages, with photographs by her husband, Sanjay K. Singh.
A Tribute to Indian Dress
Fashion that has survived over 5,000 years
By the Editor
Fashion in clothing is a kind of living archeology, a wash-and-wear history. It tells us much about who we are and where we came from, and maybe not a little about where we're going. Modern clothes tell a story of simple pragmatism. Throughout the world, clothing has become more spartan, more practically polyesterish, less elaborate. Men, especially, have made some dismally utilitarian decisions about their wardrobe. Around 1666 the present-day suit was first stitched in France and England, and by 1872 it was widespread enough in India to be fiercely satirized. Somewhere in that era, men from all cultures made the not-so-natty decision to abandon other attire in favor of the egalitarian grey suit, white shirt and necktie.
Men around the world lost their national and personal character when they adopted the Western business suit. Japanese men, who once looked so very Nipponese in their graceful robes, now look like Europeans. South Americans, once so distinctive in their hand-woven costumes, now look like the Japanese who look like the Europeans. Indian men, who 200 years ago had regional raiment that was earthy and elaborately colored, now look like the South Americans, who look like the Japanese, who look like the Europeans. Look at the marriage photo to the right. She's elegant, and he is--there's a word in the world of fashion--boring!
I know of what I speak. Visitors to our Hawaiian editorial offices know our monastic staff is not sitting at their MacBook Pros in jeans and T-shirts. We are swathed in saffron and ochre cotton--hand-spun, hand-woven and unsewn--draped in the old South Indian style. I can never forget the first time, three decades ago, that a Jaffna, Sri Lanka, elder helped me wrap a veshti, and then took us to the bustling main market-place. Every step was terrorizing, the unwieldy garment threatening to fall, with me cinching up the subversive sarong several times a minute, both hands never more than a few swift inches from my waist. How awkward I felt, and certainly looked. As time passed and the fabric was tamed, I learned how refined one feels in such attire. It was like floating, living in your spirit more than in your body. To this day, I only feel comfortable and soulful in these traditional robes. Jaffna is, in fact, one of the few sanctuaries where Western pants and shirt are disdained, and most men, including politicians, go around in their veshtis.
Indian women who wear saris know the sad truth of all this. They have watched their sisters go the way of men, wearing dresses that look like the dresses that every dressmaker dresses her customers in. Okay, women at least have wide options in type and fabric and color. And that is good. But still, women in Japan look like women in Australia, who look like women in China, who all look like women in Europe. There are few kimonos left to announce the passing of a Japanese lady and few ao dai to tell us that the woman shopping over there is Vietnamese.
So, we pay tribute to India's women and Hindu women abroad who have not relinquished their elegant dress. They alone have preserved traditional attire, for the sari is the only major apparel to have survived the last 500 years and to remain elegant and voguish daily wear in the 21st century. That's quite an accomplishment. No wonder the Western world has been smitten by the sari, and every woman with a smidgen of sartorial savvy wants one.
Exploring the web on saris, I found this gem, written by Shantipriya Kurada in 1994: "The beauty of the sari never ceases to amaze me. There is something strikingly feminine about it. Flowing like sheer poetry, graceful in every contour and fold, it's a fascinating mixture of tradition and style. A single stretch of fabric that comes in a range of textures and patterns, the sari is creativity at its best. A cotton sari, charmingly simple, starched and perfectly in place, has such a natural feel. Chiffons and crepes add a glamorous touch. Fragile, utterly soft and delicate, they create an aura of fine elegance. Weddings come alive with the grandeur of silk saris. Painstakingly handwoven to the last detail, the brocade created to perfection by skilled hands, each silk sari is a work of art. A sari has such a special place in every girl's life. It all starts with wrapping around mother's sari, playfully and clumsily tripping on its edges. Then there is the first sari you wear, perhaps to a college function, looking self-conscious and achingly innocent. And, of course, the precious wedding sari that's fondly preserved and cherished for a lifetime. In a world of changing fashions, the sari has stood the test of time. There is something almost magical about it, for it continues to symbolize the romantic image of the Indian woman--vulnerable, elusive and tantalizingly beautiful."
Historians say the sari can be traced back more than 5,000 years! Sanskrit literature from the Vedic period insists that pleats be part of every woman's dress. The pleats, say the texts, must be tucked in at the waist, the front or back, so that the presiding deity, Vayu, the God of wind, can whisk away any evil influence that may strike the woman. Colors, too, are ruled by tradition. Yellow, green and red are festive and auspicious, standing for fertility. Red, evoking passion, is a bridal color and part of rituals associated with pregnancy. Blue evokes the life-giving force of the monsoon. Pale cream is soothing and represents bridal purity. A married Hindu woman will not wear a completely white sari, which is reserved for brahmacharinis and widows.
The sari culturally links the women of India. Whether they are wealthy or poor, svelte or plump, the sari gives them a shared experience, a way in which they are all sisters, forging a link that binds them across all borders, even geographical ones. Women wearing saris in Durban, Delhi or Detroit are part of a social oneness that is nearly eternal and which may, it seems, last yet another thousand years. Jai Hindu women!
ow I Came to Be the "Lady in the Sari"
My personal path of fashion self-discovery took me back to our unbeatable Indian dress
By Kavita Daswani
Last year, I had to make a work related trip to the Italian city of Vicenza. There I was introduced to an elderly gentleman. "Ah," he said, clasping my hand. "You have been described to me as the lady in the sari. Why are you not wearing one?" In my functional beige pantsuit, Isuddenly felt slightly ashamed. Ihad gotten off a plane to come straight to the meeting. Ididn't think a sari would be appropriate. This man's perception was not misplaced. Over the past few years, I have made numerous trips to Europe and the US in my capacity as a fashion writer. When Iwas much younger, I thought the way to shine was to wear a little black designer dress, like all fashionable women. Then I realized that I had adopted an urban uniform that wasn't really mine.
So I learned how to drape a sari. As a Hindu Sindhi girl brought up in the bosom of a semi-traditional trading family in Hong Kong, this sari business should have come naturally. But it didn't. I was cajoled into wearing one during family weddings after relatives insisted it would "look nice." But I would stand, frustrated and impatient, while someone would tie and pleat and fold the fabric on me. Then, Icarried the sari like a burden.
Now, my sari-wearing has become a burden no more. Instead, it is an honor and a privilege. Who needs a Chanel gown or a Gucci evening suit--all essentially redolent of sameness--when you can be swathed in a beautiful pink brocade sari, shot with golden threads, its pallu revealing a parade of peacock motifs? What can possibly rival the elegance of a Kanchipuram sari, all handwoven silken threads and flecks of gold?
So now, whenever Itravel, Ipack a tiny bag filled with a few saris, some glass bangles, bindis and a shimmering kundan set. At formal dinners in glamorous Western capitals, where low-cut dresses and fanciful frocks are the norm, the effects of me and my sari are fascinating. There is an immediate sense of respect. I am often greeted by a halting "Namaste" instead of a two-cheek Euro-style kiss. People suddenly, surprisingly, become rather tender.
At an outdoor cafe in Florence once, in a chiffon sari with a colorful tie-dye pattern, I walked past French fashion designer Christian Lacroix. He stopped his conversation to stare at every fold in the fabric and thread. Wanda Ferragamo, owner of the Italian fashion empire that bears her name, made her way across two gilded salons to tell me that I was "the most elegant woman in the room." At another party in Paris, actress Tracy Ulman peered at my bindi, cast her eyes over my rich ivory silk and gold sari and asked, "Are you someone rich and famous I should know about?" And, most memorably, at a charity benefit in Los Angeles last summer, where Hollywood celebrities competed with one another in their sexy, revealing dresses, I stood apart in a pink and green silk brocade sari. A young American man approached me, looked at the bikini-clad dancers on high platforms around him, pointed at my sari and said, "Now that is how all women should be dressed. I think the sari is God's gift to womanhood."
So the next time I saw the man in Vicenza, Idid not disappoint him and arrived in a dark-hued cotton sari. The look of appreciation on his face was worth more than all the designer dresses in the world.
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text:
STONE ALONE
NME Nov 16, 2001 3:04 pm GMT
Fred Durst, Billy Corgan, Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes see the Rolling Stone showcasing his solo wares...
FRED DURST, BILLY CORGAN, JIMMY PAGE and members of BLACK CROWES were amongst a stellar crowd who witnessed a rare solo live show by MICK JAGGER last night (November 15).
The Rolling Stones frontman performed a club date at the approximately 800-capacity El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. The date was his only live performance to promote his new solo album 'Goddess In The Doorway', which is released in the UK on November 20.
Jimmy Page told the Reuters news service that Jagger looked "great" at the show. He said: "It felt like it was 1978 and people were worshipping the idea that Mick looked exactly like he did 23 years ago. He looked great."
In addition to his solo material, Jagger performed two Rolling Stones songs, 'Respectable' and 'Miss You'.