As a wrap-around garment, the sari is a phenomenon, as to this day it consists of an unsewn piece of fabric that is between four to eight meters long and can be wrapped in a variety of ways depending on the occasion and region. While for some it’s an everyday piece of clothing, for others it can be formal or even uncomfortable. In any case, the unfixed form allows the sari to evolve over time and absorb changing cultural influences.
The Design Museum in London is devoting a major exhibition to the traditional garment still worn in different parts of the world today, The Offbeat Sari, which will run from 19 May to 17 September 2023 and celebrates the contemporary sari. It promises “dozens of the most beautiful sarees of our time” by designers, wearers and artisans from India.
The exhibition, curated by Chief Curator Priya Khanchandani, will “unravel the multiple forms of the saree and show that it is a metaphor for the multi-layered and complex definitions of contemporary India,” according to the museum in a preview.
More recently, the sari has been reinvented, with designers experimenting with hybrid forms such as sari dresses, pre-pleated saris, and innovative materials like steel.
“Young people in the cities who used to associate the sari with festive attire are now wearing saris and trainers on their way to work. Individuals wear the sari as an expression of resistance to social norms and activists embody it as an object of protest,” says the text accompanying the exhibition.
“Today, in urban India, the saree is a site for design innovation, an expression of identity and a crafted object that carries a multitude of cultural meanings. The exhibition will unravel the sari as a metaphor for the complex definitions of contemporary India,” the museum promises.