There are some women who have a distinctive style about them. It is in the way they dress, in the grooming, how they carry themselves, or something undefinable. No matter what strikes us the most the them, they remain in our memory long after we stop meeting or seeing them. It could be the neighbor auntie from your childhood street, the principal of your primary school, the distant aunt who looked collected and put-together at any time of the day, the maid-servant who managed to look impeccable in her modest saree and neatly-oiled hair, a teacher in your college, colleague from your first job. Or it could be a public figure, celebrity, news anchor, TV personality, politician. Do you recall such women whose style you admired then and recall even now? Or, contemporary women whose style impresses you? .
May 23 2019 was the birth centenary of Maharani Gayatri Devi. I came across her interview with Simi Garewal on youtube in February and ended up watching almost all of it. It is the complete version of that Rendezvous episode. Just watching the first few minutes is a reminder on why Gayatri Devi's name is almost synonymous with style. It goes beyond the cliched chiffon sarees and pearls.
Another woman I've long admired is Mrs. Varma, our Geography teacher in 10th grade. Or, Soumya Ma'am as we called her. Her trademark was cotton sarees, mostly plain with buta embroidery, of course pastel or earthy colors, not too stiffly starched, and most distinctive was how she draped the pallu around her shoulder with the saree edge running almost parallel to the top line of the blouse at the back. It stayed like that all day. Like most women of those years, she wore the same style of blouse and did not change with changing sleeve length or neck shapes. I can still recall her walking down from the school gate to the building entrance, her left arm a little raised balancing her purse. I heard recently that she moved to the U.S. to be with her son and daughter. I wonder if she still wears cotton sarees in that style of hers.
1)It has to be H mam for me. High school social science teacher . Usha Uthup style. Big round Bindi, heavy built, statement neck piece and the Kanjivaram(simple elegant one's) sarees beautifullly draped. Social science (boring for other students) was our favorite because of this mam. Very enthusiastic lady with impeccable style . 2)Hindi teacher in high school. The boy cut with her brown dye (Mehendi probably) and the colorful sarees with her pointed heels which made that "tak tak" sound, subtle colored nail paint, nails always shaped beautifully . She was very stylish. I used to imagine dressing up like her .. 3) My mommy for her sarees and simple neck pieces. She looked most beautiful when she returned tired from her office . Saree used to so set and beautiful . Like she just wore Now this makes me wonder how these ladies carried themselves so easily in sarees the whole day?
My enduring memory of stylish women are three of my schoolteachers. My geography teacher was a high-society lady who volunteered teaching at our school. Our school was solidly middle-class and we would be awestruck when she would arrive chauffered in her Contessa, dressed in a crisp new cotton saree EVERY single day. We never saw her repeat a saree for all the 5 years she taught us. She would dress simply with no makeup and not even a pair of earrings, just a big bindi. Yet she was so elegant and such a nice warm person. Our history teacher was an older Iyengar lady, very regal and strict. She had the most amazing collection of Mysore silk sarees and we would always guess what new color she would get. She turned out to have a wicked sense of humor once we got to know her after graduating. The last is our chemistry teacher, a cosmopolitan Keralite lady who would regale us with tales of her world travels at a time when few of us had ventured outside Chennai. She had amazing sarees and unlike the other two would also accessorize with perfectly matched jewelry from all her travels.
Miss warrier...a young,temporary, english teacher in our school some where in Madhya Pradesh. She was a fauji brat.....wore her cotton saree dangerously low and made a high bun.Smelt of Ponds talcum powder. Still in primary school, we all looked forward to her sarees and her classes.
For me its my mum. Those nicely starched and ironed cotton sarees , that round marroon shilpa bindi, jet black curly hair , very simple make up and those black framed spectacles. and those not very fancy sandals Those cotton sarees were her trademark style. No one in my family remembers seeing her in any other sarees - other than the pattu ones for festivals and auspicious days. Cannot remember seeing her wearing any other polyester sarees much Now I got spects and most of my childhood friends say that I look like my mum. #AmmasDaughterRightHere
For me, it was our ninth standard Biology teacher. She had an upper middle class look. She was the only teacher wearing sleeveless blouse in our school that time. She wore light colour cotton sarees with contrast border, same border colour sleeveless blouse, marron round bindhi and a light colour lipstick. she was fair, wore stone studded earring, simple plain thick gold like bangle in one hand and blackbead short northindian thali. From the morning till evening, she carried that tiredless look with tight pinned short hair and elegantly draped saree. She was my favorite one too.
The mention of sleeveless blouse reminded me of one teacher who wore it in my school and another one in our junior college. Each had her style of cut for neck front and back and stuck to the same one for years.
So many of us remember moms for their cotton sarees. It used to be a ritual for the sarees to get starched and hung properly to dry (so no corners get stretched). Home wear sarees did not get ironed and it was important that the starch be not too much. Sometimes it was so hot in the summer afternoon, we used to hold a mildly starched saree standing in the shade, and it used to dry in minutes.
