Bringing saris back: the Indian social media influencers celebrating ‘six yards of freedom’
- The traditional garment is stereotyped as staid, restrictive and delicate
- But influencers, actors and long-distance runners have reimagined its possibilities and are wearing it for everything from hula-hooping to skydiving
Saris are stereotyped as staid and restrictive, but these women are wearing them for everything from hula-hooping to skydiving. This story is part of a series on women’s issues in China and Asia to coincide with International Women’s Day.
Eshna Kutty carries her clothes as effortlessly as she does her dance routines. She pirouettes to the popular Bollywood song ‘Genda Phool’ as she spins a hula hoop around her body, twirling it in the air, jumping through it and generally defying the laws of physics as she contorts her limbs through it.
Eye-catching though the routine in the video clip is, it is not Kutty’s dance moves that have captured India’s attention, but what she is wearing. For, rather than her blue sports bra, sneakers and tights she is wearing a maroon sari.
The Instagram post of the professional dancer, 24, accompanied by the hashtag #sareeflow was posted in September and has since been copied by hundreds of other women hooping just like her, all dressed in saris.
