Indian ladies wear

For the wedding in Chandigarh, I got to don one of the famously beautiful Indian saris (or sarees, I've seen it spelled both ways). I had actually bought it in Udaipur for 600 rupees in hopes of wearing it for the Chittogarh wedding, but didn't know that a few more things need to happen to a sari before wearing it!

At purchase, the sari is one long and wide piece of fabric. No buttons or latches hold it in place for the Indian lady - it is just a series of clever tucking and wrapping! Although, I have been informed that it is common for Indian ladies to pin the fabric at the left shoulder to keep it from slipping (which is a faux pas if it happens).

The blouse, however, is tailor-made. Typically, the fabric meant for the blouse is loosely attached to the sari when you buy it so that it contains a complimentary color and design to the main part of the sari (that wraps around the body). In addition, Indian women wear a petticoat beneath the sari's main part, and a "fell" is sewn to the hem of the sari to keep it from fluttering around. To get these additional sari elements done, it cost about 300 rupees. The total cost of the sari was approximately 900 rupees, or less than US $20.

Because I didn't know that the petticoat and "fell" were required and had thought I could get away with another shirt for the blouse, for the wedding in Chittorgarh, Teena took pity on me and lent me this beautiful lehenga:
The lehenga is composed of 4 parts - a cropped bikini-like top with sleeves, a smock that goes over the cropped top, a full skirt, and the veil. I understand a petticoat is often typically worn under the skirt as well. The lehenga very comfortable as well as elegant-looking!

I was a novice at wearing the veil, which is also tucked in a very certain manner. At the wedding, I kept getting grabbed by the ladies at the event, who would re-arrange the veil in the correct manner!

At the Chandigarh wedding, many of the other girl exchange students purchased salwar kameezs. This type of dress is composed of pajama-like pants and a dress-like tunic. Since it was a special occasion, the girls bought salwar kameezs in beautiful colors with lots of sparkles and embroidery. Since I already had the sari, I didn't purchase one, but you can see what the other girls are wear in this hazy picture below:
Of course, nothing could compare to the intricate clothing worn by the bride. It was heavily bejeweled!
Another element of Indian ladies wear that I've noticed is very necessary is the bangle - thick to thin, colorful to shiny, glass to metal, at all dressy events Indian women seem to have an armful of them. Watching Gary's aunties shop for them in Chandigarh, it is clear that a lot of thought goes into these accessories as well; I watched them pull out their fancy wear to match the bangle colors appropriately. It also seemed to be concerning to the ladies that I didn't have ANY in Chittorgarh - one of Teena's relatives began pulling some bangles off of Teena's cousins arms just to give them to me!

While the bangles seemed the most crucial accessory, there were many other jewelry elements that I saw, such as in this picture (this picture taken by our exchange student friend Axel):

Finally, I learned that the bindi (the dot on the forehead) is also an accessory unit. Bindis of various colors and designs can be worn and bought to complement a lady's dress. We bought our stick-on bindis next to the bangle shops. Bindis can be worn by married and unmarried ladies alike.

It was a neat experience to be able to learn about all the Indian special event clothing first hand!