A sari draping demonstration by Kalpana Shah drew large crowds of women to the Satya Paul showroom in Mantri Mall, Malleshwaram. The showroom was brimming with women of all ages. Kalpana, a professional sari draper and author of the book The Whole Nine Yards, asks for volunteers and soon is draping a sari on a youngster sporting a crop-top and jeans. “You can try on a square neck pallu or a single layered one. Pin the pallu or open it and let it drape on your arms. You can even transform this sari and wear as a lehenga,” says Kalpana as she works on her model.
Every demonstration is greeted with applause and oohs and aahs. Just then a lady wearing a starched cotton sari, walks in and Kalpana calls out to her saying, “Let’s re-drape this one and see the before and after looks.” When she is done, the women exclaim, “She looks thinner!”
Soon, saris are flying off the shelf as women want to be draped by Kalpana and take home a memory. It is not every day that you get draped by a celebrity draper. Kalpana is known to help drape saris for Bollywood stars such as Deepika Padukone, Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Sonam Kapoor.
She demonstrates various ways of wearing the sari from Bengali, Gujarati and Coorgi to retro and Mumtaz-style. Kalpana gave tips on how to keep the sari in place, how to walk and carry off a particular look. Women shared their sari woes and were given solutions. One suggestion that got the maximum applause was, attend more sari draping demonstrations!
Kalpana started off as a Bharatanatya dancer and was into make up and dressing up. “People always complemented me on my style of wearing a sari. I started by helping people wear saris and also helped them with makeup. It was for free but people turned it into a profession by inviting and paying me.”
On pre-stitched saris, she says, “They are good for those who don’t know how to wear a sari. The disadvantage is that you can wear it only in one style. I agree that our lives are moving at a fast pace. But women have to make the effort to learn to drape a sari. It is our culture and we can’t let it die. Earlier we wore only saris. Surely you can spare 15 to 20 minutes and try on a basic style. Don’t you wait in lines in malls? Then why not wait and learn to drape on a sari?”
To learn more about saris log on to Kalpana’s FB page or you can download her “Learn Sari” app, which “teaches you eight different styles of drape”.
