When thinking of Indian dress you may at first
envisage a draped sari worn with a choli top. But think again -
Bollywood films have recently popularised the Lehenga Choli as a
glamorous alternative outfit fit for the heroine to marry the
hero. For today's Indian bride influenced by Bollywood
actresses, this often makes the Lehenga Choli a perfect bridal
wear choice. The lehenga is the skirt while the choli is the
bodice (which can
be cropped or worn longer to cover bare flesh). The Dupatta is a
shawl stole that is draped over the shoulder or head as desired.
Designer examples of the lehenga, choli and dupatta from Vibrant
Fashion Week 2010 are shown below.
Extras include an overlay jacket for those who don't want the
brevity of a choli top and a lehengas belt. Contrarily for the
less modest and more modern woman, the lehenga skirt is
sometimes teamed with Western crop top, halter neck or baby doll
top.
Despite many variations there are basically 4
main styles of lehenga/lengha/lehnga skirt from slim line
to full. The first two are the simple styles of straight
and flared.
The first is basically a long straight skirt
falling straight from the hips and it may be wraparound as
in gopi skirts.
The second the long flared skirt that
gradually increases flare from hip to hem in proportion to
the skirt length.
The third is the lehenga that is pleated
from the waist and the heaviness of this creates flare.
The fourth is the form and fit mermaid fish
style which hugs to the knees and then flares from the
knees. Younger girls love the fishtail style.
Richly patterned fabrics are used in all Indian wear but
especially in lehengas, dupattas and saris. Cholis are often
made of plainer materials that add contrast and pick up pattern
colours.
When women wear saris they also wear a midriff baring blouse
called choli. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are all
places where women don saris. In Urdu the word for choli is lehnga
and so it's easy to get confused as the many Asian languages affect clothing
names.
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