Charlotte Colley talks with Sarees Designer Rashika Sharma about the threads of femininity, discipline and community interwoven throughout India’s national garment.
She says: “The first time I wore a saree, and I felt the presence, the power, I wasn’t just wearing six yards of cloth.”
Rashika Sharma established her brand in 2020 after working with designers such as Gaurav Gupta and has since expanded to worldwide capitals, including London and New York.
Despite catering more to a western audience, Rashika still specialises in Indian and ‘Indo western’ women’s occasion wear, committed to incorporating aesthetics that honour the regions of her home country.
Rashika Sharma, an Indian fashion designer from Delhi, wore her first inherited saree when she was 17 at her high school graduation.
Like many other South-East Asian women, wearing a saree signifies familial bonds, culture and womanly strength.
Sarees, spelt in the Indian English version, are perceived as links to ancestry and are often passed down generations from mother to daughter on their wedding day or when stepping into womanhood.
Rashika says: “My mother got our family saree when she was getting married from my grandmother, and now when I get married, I’ll have that same saree passed down to me.
“I’ll add heavy embroidery, so I look like a bride, but I’ll have my mother’s side of heritage with me, to hopefully receive blessings and have an equally happy married life as these women have lived.”
The alterations made to a family saree tell stories about their ancestors, who often added embroidery that aligned with their beliefs, such as a lotus flower symbolising the power of life.
She adds: “They’re not just clothes but woven heirlooms, and they hold different stories and memories for families.
“It’s a tradition meeting personal expression, each woman brings her own story and how she wears it.”
Whilst Sarees follow down the maternal line, they often also preserve heartfelt memories for the men of the family.
Men typically gift sarees out of love or respect to the special women in their lives, and more often gifted as a wedding tradition.
Rashika said, “I wish I could articulate my father’s reaction when he saw me in my mother’s saree. He said I looked just like my mother when he saw her for the first time.
“Not just for the women of the house, but also for the men. They’re a whole family experience.”
However, sarees are gifted to mark many milestones. In India, for example, a common tradition is for a man’s first paycheck to be spent bestowing his mother with a saree as a sign of gratitude and financially giving back.
The significance of sarees is also reflected in their colour, an aspect designers like Rashika are dedicated to preserving, even while embracing Western influences.
In North India, red is the wedding colour for symbolising marital bliss and harmony, while in South India, it represents fertility and purity associated with the Hindu Goddess Durga.
“For many women, wearing a saree is a way of connecting with their roots. They represent tradition, heritage, regional identities, where everybody has a different community.” Rashika says
“When they wear a saree, they’re representing an identity that they belong to a different kind of ‘tribe’.”
In the southern state of Kerala, white and gold sarees, known as Kasavu sarees, represent purity and harmony between Kerala’s diverse communities.
The gold embroidery and borders embody wealth and mark sacred rituals, such as Onam, the harvest festival of Kerala.
However, in northern and eastern Indian states such as West Bengal, white sarees are worn for 13 days during the mourning period by widows out of respect for the deceased.
Rashika says: “We are in the same community and country, but we have different cultures altogether.”
A saree’s symbolism extends beyond just its fabric, its embroidery is also a testament to the artistic craftsmanship of the designer.
Originating in the village of Lucknow, India, Chikankari is a popular embroidery motif which involves white on white handmade floral patterns that would offer women both economic and social empowerment.
Traditionally, Chikankari embroidery was reserved for royalty, but is now used for events ranging from weddings, festivals or daily wear.
Rashika says: “We take the ancestral motifs from paintings or the artwork inside the Taj Mahal, and we keep on developing them, so we produce different kinds of embroidery inspired by them.
“We picked up the scenes they painted on our monuments because we have a lot of rich cultural history, and then we depict the art, and we keep on improvising it generation by generation in our garments.”
Zardozi, a technique Rashika uses in her sarees, is a gold thread embroidery mainly used for ceremonial wear to symbolise opulence.
The technique first gained popularity in the Mughal Empire in the 17th century when saree designers would use real gold.
Today, Zardozi is practised across South Asia, including in Pakistan, Iran, and Bangladesh, to uphold the cultural art form, but is now usually made with gold-plated copper threads.
Embroidery and embellishments have also gained popularity, particularly when decorating and personalising wedding sarees.
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Rashika explains: “The heavier the saree, the more it signifies your affluence, so it’s common for wedding sarees where people want to show their wealth. They can weigh 15 kilograms or more.”
Beyond the adornments, the way a saree is draped speaks to the character and identity of the wearer.
The art of draping a saree is connected to both feminine beauty by framing a woman’s curves, but also demonstrates a level of discipline.
“The more polished the draping is, the more it says how disciplined you are, how feminine you are and how graceful you are and is seen as,” Rashika says
“It shows if you have the discipline to wear the saree correctly, then you have the discipline and you have the patience to manage a household.”
Regional distinctions are also expressed in their unique draping styles.
The Nauvari saree from Maharashtra in West India is worn by wrapping the 9 yards, not the typical 6 yards, of fabric around the body and tucking it between the legs.
The draping style pays homage to the women warriors who wore it this way to be able to ride horses and fight alongside men, and it stands today to represent a strong female spirit.
Sarees and other South Asian garments remain links to individual and regional cultural heritage.
As South Asian fashion increasingly influences modern Western trends, such as a dupatta being rebranded as a Scandinavian scarf, it remains vital to recognise the culture behind these garments.
Rashika says: “I feel proud when I say Indian fashion is finally getting recognised, a Saree is a major source of inspiration for designers worldwide for elements like intricate beading and draped materials.
“When international designers take inspiration from our culture, it affirms an identity, and it also helps shift the narrative that a lot of people used to believe, that Indian fashion is more costume.”
But with inspiration comes a required level of education to avoid appropriating the culture it comes from, especially from Western designers.
“We must be educated about these crafts and garments to avoid cultural appropriation or disrespect.
“When cultures have historically been mocked and marginalised for wearing those exact same garments, people need to take the inspiration correctly, not just no longer mock us.”