Made to match

There’s also the demand for dialing down femininity that has egged on this trend. For instance Mumbai designer and artist Payal Khandwala,who has always sworn by her bohemian sensibilities. From the time she started work on her first sari collection earlier this year,she decided against making clingy,revealing blouses to go with it. “I wanted to design a comfortable option. And what better than a plain ganji or even a monochrome silk shirt?” she says.

Indeed,with the culture of separates offering more functionality,people are increasingly open to experimenting. At LFW,Sabyasachi Mukherjee presented striped crop tees with some of his saris. As part of her autumn/ winter 2013 collection,Delhi designer Payal Pratap replaced the traditional blouse with kedia blousons,a peplum-style blouse traditionally worn by Gujarati men. Rahul Mishra’s textile story at LFW saw him craft peplum jackets and shirt blouses out of 100-year-old chanderi weaves. “The sari is one of our oldest garments and I didn’t want to disturb that. Using peplum jackets and shirts seemed like a good way to contemporise the ensemble and make it more appealing to a wider audience — particularly the young,well-travelled woman,” he explains.

Styling too has also seen a change. Archana Kochhar had the narrow pallus of her saris passing through the epaulettes on shirt blouses whereas Mishra had the pallus pass from inside the peplum jacket. “A slim pallu draped over a shirt blouse lends a smart look that is easy to achieve,” says Kochhar.

Khandwala says that while the choli may continue to have takers,there are others options. “At the end of the day,there’s nothing like fashioning your own look using pieces from different labels. Individual style stems from using these multi-functional shirts. Besides,a long shirt or jacket will also help cover up one’s problem areas,” she says.