How to Wear a Saree - Do's and Don’ts

If you’re a sucker for Indian ethnic fashion like us, then you’ll agree with us that your wardrobe is not yet complete without sarees. The saree is an Indian women’s best friend. It helps compliment her shapes and curves and effortlessly highlights her natural beauty and confidence. But there are rules -and levels to wearing a saree!

This post discusses the basics of how to wear a saree to look better! As one of the most important dresses in any Indian woman’s wardrobe, you’ll find out the do's and don’ts of wearing a saree so you can always look stylish and appropriately dressed!

Saree in Orange for Women

Getting started: What is a saree?

A saree needs no introduction for most people conversant with Indian women’s fashion.

But you might be quite confused about what this actually means if you’re new to what fashion means in this part of the world. If you’ve watched a Bollywood movie, you probably have seen those beautiful actresses don on one of these on occasions.

The saree is that piece of fabric draped over the shoulder.

Women in Red & Yellow Sarees

It usually ranges in length from 4.5 meters (5 yards) to 8 meters (9 yards) with a width of about 1 meter. Sarees are often sown in rectangular shape styles and unstitched. The fabric could also range from net to cotton, silk, georgette, chiffon, and crepe, among others.

How to wear a saree to look better

Wearing a saree is a very easy thing to do when you know how to do it! Fortunately, this does not require any extraordinary styling skills and you should be able to achieve a glam look in your saree in a few minutes. Let’s get started!

Get everything you need to wear

The saree is just one part of your fashion ensemble.

Some other items you’ll need include your blouse, your long petticoat or inner skirt, the saree itself, safety pins, shoes, jewelry, and other accessories you need.

Do's: Go for petticoats that match the color of your blouse and saree.
Don’t: Don’t forget the importance of petticoats especially as some sarees such as those made from net fabric and others can be quite transparent.

Getting started with dressing

Since you have everything you need at hand now, it’s time to start dressing up.

You start with the blouse, and then the petticoats, and make sure everything fits nicely and comfortably. The blouse should end just below your bust and the petticoat should end below your navel.

Do's: Shoes with colors and designs as well as high heels will help balance your look.
Don’ts: Avoid sandals and boots at all cost

Getting started with your saree

There are two easy to get started.

Either you make a knot at the plain end of the saree, tuck the knot in and wrap the saree once around your waist from right to left. OR you wrap the saree once from right to left and then tuck the wrapped part completely inside your petticoat.

Either way, the wrapped part must stay firmly inside the petticoat with the embroidery on the saree facing outwards.

Do's: Ensure the petticoat is worn tightly enough to hold the knot or wrapped part of the saree firmly inside.

Make sure the saree shows just your ankles to maintain a stylish look without letting the bottom reach the floor so you don’t rip over.

Don’ts: Avoid loosely fitting petticoats that might let out the knot or wrapped part of your saree.

Pleating your saree

You’ve tied the knot and wrapped some part of the saree around you. The next thing is to pleat some part of the saree and then tuck this into your petticoat too. Here’s what’s involved;

Do's: Hold out the saree with your left hand and use the right hand to make about 8 to 10 pleats.

Tuck the fabric inside your petticoats and adjust so they are straight and even.

Don’ts: Don’t forget to use a safety pin to hold the pleats in place so they don’t get ruffled up.

Draping your saree

We’re almost done!

Once you’re done with tucking in the pleats, hold out the remaining part of your saree and pass it around your body from left to right, over your waistline and bring it under your right arm.

Try to tighten it a bit around your waist and hips and then drape it over your left arm.

The draped saree should cover most of the space between your knees and bust line. And if you so wish, you may also pleat the pallu edge and use a safety pin to keep the pleats in place from the inside!

Designer Saree with Embroidery

There are different ways to style a saree!

Different states and cultures across India style their saris in different ways with slight differences. The method we described here is however the most popular style, more common in South Indian culture. Savvy fashionistas understand that there is more to any fashion style than just the clothes.

While a saree will make you look perfectly flawless and appealing, don’t forget you still need the right accessories from brooches to jewelry, and more to complete your look. Now that you know how to wear a saree, perhaps your love for the saree is already prompting you to make a purchase.

Where to buy sarees online

While there are different places to buy saris online, you need to be sure you’re getting the best quality fabric, while ensuring your dresses are made with great precision and attention to detail. And as it turns out, this takes a whole lot of dedication and expertise that you can get in very few places like Fabricoz.

Whether you need saris, salwar kameez, lehengas, jewelry, and other accessories, we offer the best ethnic fashion items you’ll need to channel your inner feminine beauty. Just choose your style, submit your measurements, and place your order. We’ll deliver at your doorstep within two weeks, for free!