Modern dresses

People in the states are doing their spring shopping. So am I, in a sense.

My aunt and I took our fabric to the tailor. This gentleman has been in business for the past several generations. Now his son runs the business. (The son is in his forties.)

The tailors, father and son, keep several books of patterns under the glass counter. I marked the most interesting pages, keeping in mind the simple material I was working with. The man realized I was from the States early on, but most tailors are used to taking rush orders from non-resident Indians. He promised to finish the sample early, and stapled pieces of my fabric to the receipt. The total bill was 175 rupees, or a little more than $3.

We got this tailor’s reference from my cousin, who said that she went there for a few sari blouses. The problem is that the old man who founded the business refused to give my cousin the designs she asked for because the designs were too modern. “Modern” means a lower scoop in the front or an exposed back or sides. The tailor usually makes modern designs, but once he discovered that my cousin is a Marwari, he told her that he felt he had to be protective of her. “Marwaris don’t wear patterns like this,” he said.

Plenty of tailors, it seems, feel responsible for upholding community standards. Last time I was in India, my aunt gave me the most beautiful fabric I’d ever seen in my life. I was about to turn 18, so I asked the tailor to do a modern design. I took a sample of the type of blouse I wanted and drew a picture for him: I wanted a low scoop in the back.

He nodded along to everything I said. When I went back to pick up the fabric, he’d manufactured an entirely different blouse. It was high-necked in the front and back, mid-sleeved and loosely fitted. Not only had he not done what I asked, but he acted like he’d done me a favor! And because the fabric is difficult to match, I couldn’t get a new blouse made from a different material.

I told my aunt in advance that this type of behavior wasn’t going to fly, and she agreed. I chose a very simple, modest design (as it is I’ve never asked for anything too risque, although plenty of women do). The younger son, however, had wised up to the way business works and of his own accord told me he’d make as modern a design as I wanted. I think he was surprised when I refused.