In conversation with Tanaya Das

In conversation with Tanaya Das

Tanaya Das loves anything adventurous and is exceptionally creative. Having grown up all over India, she’s a traveler at heart and a copy writer by profession. She is highly inspiring and courageous. Her creativity can be seen in the way she wears her saris, hardly ever repeating her style. In a way, Tanaya represents the Sari – she’s as adaptive, versatile and colorful. Read on to know more about her.

 

Tanaya's love for saris

I have loved saris since I was a little girl. Maybe it comes from being a Bengali, but I have always been drawn to their fluid beauty. Its six yards of fabric to play with! I find them comfortable, graceful and love the fact that India has so much variety to choose from.

 

"I believe there is no one right way to drape a sari. We don’t really have to wear it with a blouse and in-skirt and we don’t need a certain kind of footwear or a specific kind of jewelry"

 

Experimenting with different drapes

I believe there is no one right way to drape a sari. We don’t really have to wear it with a blouse and in-skirt and we don’t need a certain kind of footwear or a specific kind of jewelry. It is a liberating garment that people sometimes constrain with their rules. Why can’t we wear it with a sweater or with torn jeans? Why can’t we be innovative and find a drape that suits us the most? It is because of all the rules that people often wear Saris just as they don costumes.

The sari is whatever you want it to be; your perfect partner in crime for a life well-lived. I have never stuck to the rules and have enjoyed experimenting with different styles of draping. This has enabled me to adopt a drape that suits the occasion, be it going to work or to a wedding or to the pub. I find saris to be practical, not limiting. Hence it’s a part of my everyday life.

 

Her Journey

Have your tried googling saris? When you do, what you see is tones of pictures of women – who are fair, with brown eyes, skinny and with straight hair – in a studio. It seems very monotonous and hardly justifies the Sari and what it stands for. That’s when I decided to start my blog. Whenever I wore a sari I started taking pictures and writing about it. These were spontaneous shots of me going about my everyday life or casually chilling in a sari.

The idea was to highlight the sari, to celebrate this work of art and not me. This is why there are very few pictures where you can clearly see my face on the blog or on my Instagram. Sometimes I drape my sari with a blouse, sometimes with a random t-shirt and sometimes with just the woven treasure sans blouse, top or underskirt. There are times when I wear a very simple sari to a wedding and a grand heavy sari to work. It’s all about what I feel like on a particular day.

 

"Tanaya draped in one of our signature silk sarees"

 

Handloom Vs Powerloom

Every state in India has a massive textile heritage and I am very proud of our handcrafted saris and of the rich variety of options. Handloom saris come in every budget. They are not always expensive and when they are, it is because of the intricate work that has gone into it. Mine was a conscious choice – to wear only handloom saris. They’re a work of art. Why would I buy anything else?

 

Kanjivarams

I love Kanjivarams. Zari or no Zari, I love them all. They are beyond works of art. I adore vintage silks which have mellowed with age. They are a lot softer and drape really well. It’s a common belief that Kanjivarams should be worn only for weddings. I don’t believe that. They are versatile and can be worn in myriad ways. All that is needed is someone with a little bit of imagination to experiment with them. They are absolute poetry in motion, get better with age and make me feel like a queen who can ward off anything negative!

 

Draping Style

Some of the things I have learnt in my sari journey are

  1. The fun in not following rules – they restrict me.

  2. Not letting any kind of fabric intimidate me. If I really want to drape myself with something, I will find a way.

  3. Allowing the sari to speak to me. That’s when magic happens!

  4. Allowing myself to get creative.

  5. Not caring if I don’t have the right accessories to go with a sari.

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