Salwar kameez lets women revel in South Asian style
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/features/3157321
By BARBARA KARKABI
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
A FESTIVE LOOK
You’ll see plenty of women wearing saris, salwar (or shalwar) kameezes and kurtis at the Indian-themed Houston International Festival (http://www.ifest.org) this weekend. Here are a few local shops that carry the colorful, lightweight clothes.
Clarissa Valdez was focused on culture, not clothes, when she visited Hillcroft’s vibrant South Asian stores several years ago.
Her mission was simple: deliver postcards promoting an Indian dancer’s performance at MECA. But as Valdez chatted with business owners, she couldn’t stop looking at the colorful clothes displayed on racks.
“The shopkeepers kept asking me if I wanted to try one on,” Valdez said. “Finally I did, and they were just really comfy.”
Valdez ended up buying two salwar (or shalwar) kameezes, three-piece outfits worn in South Asia, a look that is increasingly popular with the younger generation in both India and Pakistan as well as finding a place in the closets of Western women.
Globe-trotting designers from Giorgio Armani to Karl Lagerfeld and Diane von Furstenberg are drawing on South Asian traditions for their collections this year, using flowing colorful fabrics, jeweled beading and intricate hand embroidery.
But many woman are opting for the real thing. Valdez paid $40 for each of her salwar kameez, but the more elaborate and custom-made outfits can cost hundreds of dollars.
The traditional salwar, or pants, have a drawstring waist. Elastic waists are also available in more modern versions. The kameez, or tunic, varies in length and is worn over pants. The dupatta, a large scarf, is worn in a variety of ways.
The Hillcroft-Harwin area in southwest Houston is known for its shops appealing to those of South Asian ancestry. You’ll find shops there with saris and colorful cloth for salwar kameezes as well as Indian jewelry and henna artists.
“My American customers seem to buy for evening wear, especially the opera,” said Naseem Noorani, owner of Couture of Pakistan. “Our fashion is basically colorful, and they are into the colors. They like the simple look for daytime and rhinestones and lots of hand embroidery at night. The ethnic look is back, so ethnic embroidery is very popular.”
The stylish clothes work for women with different body types, and those who wear them praise their comfort.
“The salwar kameez really flows with you,” Valdez said. “They cover things in all the right places, and it really fits a woman’s body. I always get such compliments when I wear them.”
Although Valdez finds saris beautiful, they show too much midriff for her comfort. In the two years since she bought her intricately hand-embroidered maroon and green salwar kameezes, Valdez has worn them to work, luncheons and for evening events.
Over the past few years Valdez spotted South Asian women wearing the outfits at Sharpstown Mall and thought they looked comfortable and cool — perfect for Houston’s summertime heat.
Sehba Sarwar, founder of the Voices Breaking Boundaries forum for writers, poets and performers, recently wore a multicolored sari and was asked what part of India she was from.
That caused a cultural contretemps. She politely explained that saris are worn in both India and Pakistan, where she was born.
“I’m fine with Western women wearing Eastern garb,” Sarwar said. “But I’m troubled by the stereotypes that only Indians wear saris. My grandmother wore a sari till the day she died, and my mother and sister love wearing saris, but they don’t when they travel because people ask what part of India they are from. I don’t think that clothing belongs to one culture or another, but I do think it should be respected.”
The sari is mentioned in Hindu literature and shown in paintings as far back as 3000 B.C. The salwar kameez started in northern India, especially Punjab and Kashmir. The dupatta is still used as a head covering by Muslim women, but it can also be worn very stylishly.
Sheila Bufkin, who recently worked for several months in India, recalls the young women on her company’s cricket team tying dupattas around their waists for easier movement. Dancers in the Bollywood movie Bride & Prejudice, a musical version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, do the same thing with their dupattas.
And while Aishwarya Rai, the superstar “Queen of Bollywood” is seen in the movie several times in a sari, Rai, who plays the heroine, is often seen in glamorous salwar kameezes.
Bufkin brought back three outfits, a red-and-green salwar kameez in silk, a pink-and-teal in jute and an off-the-rack cotton version with tan pants and a blue top.
While in India, Bufkin wore a salwar kameez once a week. Since she’s been back, she’s worn them about once a month.
“In India, people who I passed every day and were used to me in American clothes would never speak to me,” Bufkin recalled. “But when I wore my salwar kameez, I was the most popular girl there, and they told me how fabulous I looked.”
Bufkin got a similar response when she wore one to work for a cultural day.
Besides comfort, Bufkin likes the salwar kameez because it makes her feel feminine, something American clothes don’t do for her anymore.
To Bufkin, who worked in Hyderabad, India, the salwar kameez seemed the choice of the modern-day career woman.
“The saris seemed to be more traditional,” she said. “One of the young women I worked with said that when her mother-in-law came to visit, she had to wear her sari.”
The kurti, an embroidered shirt that can be worn with jeans or pants, is another popular item. Dawn Kelly, an artist from Jamaica, buys the shirts in all fabrics and lengths — from just below the waist to right above the knee. She has kurtis in cotton, silk and a sheer fabric.
“I wear the cotton tops with jeans or pants,” Kelly said. “They are bright-colored with stripes or embroidered around the neck and cuffs. I always get comments when I wear them to work, and I’m often asked where I got them.”
One of Kelly’s favorites is a turquoise and pink kurti with lime-green touches. Kelly wears longer kurtis with pants or skirts to dinner or the opera.
Growing up, Nirja Aiyer, a first-generation Indian-American, would never have worn a salwar kameez. She associated the longer tunics with elderly women. Somewhere along the way, she said, they became more fashionable and shorter.
“I feel great that our South Asian culture is getting more accepted,” Aiyer said. “I can see the appeal, and it’s nice that Westerners do, too. We bring our own slice of fashion, along with cuisine and culture.”
