A saree is five and a half metres of fabric and no fastenings, which is either liberating or terrifying depending on the day. The good news is that the drape everyone photographs – the Nivi – is the one most forgiving of a beginner. Here are three that hold up through a long evening, and the honest weak point of each.
1. The Nivi drape
This is the standard modern drape: pleats at the front, pallu over the left shoulder. Start with the plain end tucked into your petticoat at the right hip, take one full turn round the body, then make five to seven pleats about four inches wide, tuck them in slightly left of centre, and bring the remaining fabric round and over the left shoulder.
Where it fails: the pleats. If you make them while the fabric is loose they will splay within an hour. Pleat with the fabric held taut, pin the top of the stack before tucking, and press the fold line between finger and thumb as you go.
2. The Bengali drape
No sharp pleats at the front – instead two broad box pleats and the pallu brought over the left shoulder, round the back and up over the right. It reads as more traditional and it is genuinely easier, because there is no pleat stack to keep tidy.
Where it fails: the second pass over the right shoulder wants to slip. A single pin at the right shoulder, hidden under the fold, solves it. It also uses more length than the Nivi, so it is not the drape for a short saree.
3. The ready-pleated shortcut
If you are getting dressed in twenty minutes, pre-pleat the front section the night before, press it, and hold the stack with two safety pins at the waistband. You lose nothing visually and you save the part that takes the longest.
Where it fails: heavy silks resent being folded overnight and will hold a crease where you do not want one. Do this with georgette, chiffon and rayon; do not do it with a Banarasi.
What actually keeps a drape up
- The petticoat. Everything is tucked into it, so if it is loose the saree slides. It should be snug at the waist and reach the floor.
- The right footwear, chosen first. Drape length is set by your heel height. Change shoes afterwards and the hem is wrong.
- Two or three pins, not ten. One at the shoulder, one at the pleat stack, one at the waist tuck. More than that and the fabric puckers.
If you are buying your first saree, a georgette or chiffon in a mid-weight is far more forgiving than a stiff silk. Silk looks magnificent and fights you the entire time.