Vidya Balan said of the saree, “It’s the sexiest garment ever. It shows the right amount, covers the right amount and is extremely versatile”. Nothing against the one-off woman reading this who isn’t comfortable with the nine-yard wonder, but it’s safe to say that most of us would be in consensus about our saree-love.
As Indian women, our love for the saree comes from seeing our mothers in it. So much so, that most of us as little girls would have at some point in time made ourselves a proxy-saree out of a dupatta and walked around in it in an attempt to copy our mothers. The saree has come a long in the last few years what with everyone from Victoria Beckham to Gisele Bundchen rocking it on the red carpet.
On that note, here’s a lady from USA who too has fallen in love with the quintessential Indian garment. Stacy Jacobs may not be a household name, but if you come across her Instagram profile, you’ll find it pretty difficult to look away.
We spoke to this saree-enthusiast’s long distance affair with Indian handloom, and here’s what we learned:
Suburban American woman meets Indian culture
Stacy describes herself as a middle aged American woman who works with mental-health and focuses on building support communities for at-risk groups, apart from being a professional writer, she’s also a competitive Bridge player.
She graduated from Knox College and it was here that she became friends with a lot of Indian and Pakistani people, and was introduced to late nights full of spicy keema and Bridge. Her passion for Bridge lead to her entry in the US women’s team which participated in the 2015 World Bridge Championship, in Chennai.
It was on this trip that Stacy fell in love with Indian handloom and colours. Malini Ramani’s “beachy glam silks” along with Rohit & Rahul’s “architectural details” and Anamika Khanna’s “breathtaking, fragile formal wear” worked their magic on her. But once she returned home, Stacy found almost no place to buy Indian fashion.
Though she fell in love with Indian fashion, she consciously stayed away from the saree for fear of draping it incorrectly and being viewed as disrespectful. It was a gorgeous handloom saree with fish motif all over, that changed everything.
Stacy soon stumbled upon fashion designers Mayank Anand and Shraddha Nigam who had stores online and the shopping spree began.
From draping the saree to making it a symbol of diversity
Stacy started taking early morning YouTube tutorials and a “closet saree-wearer” was born. Describing her struggle, Stacy says, “it is very difficult to stuff an entire saree into the waist of a pair of boyfriend jeans”.
Soon however, the love for the fabric changed to “showing care and concern for the terrible things happening in America”. With her deliberately ‘different’ clothes she hoped her “sloppy petticoats and messy pallu pleats, showing more belly than she’d like and tripping over her pleats sometimes” would help make a statement about acceptance and diversity in Trump’s America.
On how peers perceive her choice of wardrobe
Stacy does admit that she “thinks most people consider her to be a bit of a nutter”. It was the women of colour (often strangers) who showed her love. At a coffee shop, she was asked by a young brown girl if it was a saree that she was wearing and the encounter ended in a hug. Recounting a past experience, she says: “a woman caught hold of me at the train platform and complimented me on draping the saree a lot better than she herself did.”
Now, while those compliments keep Stacy going, it is the conversation with white people regarding her attire that gives her the drive to continue with her passion. She waits for people to ask, “why are you wearing THAT?” just so that it gives her an opportunity to let them know that she “stands with brown people, immigrants, gay people, refugees and Muslims. That I believe borders are only for sarees.”
Stacy loves cotton sarees, with the Bengali jamdani being her favourite. According to her, what sets the saree apart from other clothes, is the way it “flatters a woman’s body, unlike Western fashion which is made for the form”.
In a world which is increasingly becoming intolerant of diversity, cultures, religion, race or colour – this powerful and yet subtle statement against such hateful rhetoric, gives us hope. Take that, Trump. Ban that, if you will.
