Amritsar to Chennai: Journey of salwar kameez

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From being a regional dress, the good oldsalwar kameez from Punjab has emerged as the dress that Indian women love to wear

Jasvinder Kaur

When we visit our friends in Chennai in December, it is a delight to attend the annual Carnatic music festival. In earlier times, I had always been amazed at the way women would turn up for the event wearing the latest Kanjeevaram sarees. But things are different now. One sees not only young girls but also older women with grey hair elegantly dressed in the latest stylesalwar andkameez. The traditional half saree, similar to the dress worn by Deepika Padakone inChennai Express and Alia Bhatt in2 States, is not the dress on the street anymore and has been replaced by thesalwar kameez. Punjabi suit, as it is commonly called outside the state, has also invaded other states in the East and the West. Slowly but surely it has overtaken other traditional dresses in popularity. Having evolved over the years in style, it has become the modern way of dressing and bringing about uniformity in dress throughout India.

How it all began

Late 19th century writers like Baden Powell (1872) as well as many district gazetteers like that of Hoshiarpur (1883-84) district mention dress of women consisting of a pair of drawer’ssuthan or pyjama, a short kurti, aghagra and achaadar ordupatta. Similar observations have also been made by innumerable other writers many decades later. Except theghagra, the other three garments of women’s dress had more or less been fixed by then and have remained so for over 100 years with some regional variations. With time and changes in fashion, the length and width of garments have transformed to the demands of the fashion changing details off and on. Obviously thesalwar andkurta of the 19th century would be very different from that of present times.

Wearing ofghagra was very important for women, as they would not step out of the house without one. This they would wear over theirsalwars. Many European writers equating garments with European terms often termghagra as a petticoat, which in western dress is an undergarment, though in Punjab it was worn over thesalwar.

I remember as a child hearing stories of how women would starch themalmal ghagra using starch and crushed mica to give it a shimmer.Ghagras of Punjab were not structured like those from Rajasthan and was only a piece of cloth that was strung by a traditional drawstring ornarra to make gathers. The material could vary from thinnermalmal to khaddar to harishal, which has references in folk tales and folk songs. Length could be from 9 to 25 yards depending on the material. Theghagra was worn till the late 1940s and its usage declined after India gained Independence. Somehow the lifestyle of people changed with changed priorities. Partition had its effect on some of the other garments, embroideries and patterns.

Thekurti, a short garment, seems to have developed from being an undergown of 19th century. Watson (1866) mentions it as a shirt or under gown worn by both Hindus and Mohammadans and made of muslin cloth calledkameez from Dacca. Baden Powell writing in 1872 talks ofjat women wearing kurti orchemise. In Europe,chemise was women’s loose white cotton gown of late 18th century. It was different from other contemporary dresses in having unfitted bodice and was worn over the head. That was perhaps the similarity to loosekurta and hence the name. In Punjab, chemise is a commonly used word for a slip worn by women under theirkameez.

The dress of late 19th century has been captured in paintings and later photographs. The length of thekurta of this time was much shorter than that of men’skurta. It had short side slits. Different writers have given different descriptions as the style may also have variations with different regions and different ethnic groups. Baden Powell describeskurti as a full cut tunic with large open sleeves reaching a little below the waist. With time, it developed into a longer garment of today, which was generically calledkameez, the word being Arabic in origin.

For some,kameez is also a garment with collars and cuffs that had been worn in Punjab in the early 20th century. It is still worn by older women in interior Haryana. Drawing its inspiration from men’s English shirt, this style was also popular in Punjab. The wordkameez seem to have stuck in modern usage and today is broadly used for any kind of upper garment worn with any kind of bottom, asalwar, a churidaar pyjama or even a modernplazzos.

The lower garment or thesalwar was also interchangeably calledsuthan. This comes up in writing at many places wheresuthan appears as a dress of women often made of striped silk calledsusi or with mungashari silk (mixed cotton and silk). It was also worn by different ethnic groups.Churudaarpyjama was also worn in Punjab as is illustrated in many paintings of the 19th century.

A largedupatta that gracefully folded over the head and covered the whole body in the 19th century was, perhaps, for the purpose ofpurdah. It has been transformed from being a wide longchaddar or dupatta to a modern narrow widthdupatta.

Modern dress

The popularity of the Punjabi dress has increasingly made a shift in people’s dressing preferences. The half saree, which the young girls wore once they reached puberty, has now almost been replaced bysalwar kameez in the metros. In the past 10 to 15 years, another change has happened among the dress of the middle age women as well as the elders of Tamil Nadu. They have for many occasions shifted from saree tosalwar kameez for walking or other leisurely activities. In the pastThe Indian Ladies Magazine of 1934 had also observed that women then would only wear a saree, even for playing sports or walking, etc. It was indeed the West that had introduced the concept of dressing differently for different activities.

Schools in many states from sixth class onwards have shifted tosalwar kameez as school uniform. A teacher from Vidya Mandir, Chennai, explains how thedupatta has been replaced by akoti, a kind of a sleeveless jacket.Salwar kameez has also emerged as the dress of the young college students and young working girls. One of the main reasons for the match of the Punjabi suit to different parts of India has been due to the fact that this dress does not expose any part of the body, a reason readily accepted by mothers of young girls. It is a generational change as well for young girls are happier wearing jeans and tops. However in many traditional homes in the smaller towns, this dress is not acceptable but thesalwar kameez is.

Traditional clothes like half saree as well as the saree are not really out of women’s wardrobe in Tamil Nadu but have remained as the dress for festive occasions and weddings but Punjabi suit is now the daily dress of the young the elderly and the office staff. The European school uniform of skirt blouse and a tie has been replaced by thesalwar kameez in many schools. From being a regional dress, it has emerged as the Indian dress of the metros bringing uniformity in dressing from North to South and East to West in the true Indian spirit.