Do It Yourself Costume Look #2 : Indian Contemporary Dhoti Pant

July 9, 2013

My ex roommate and also my closest friend in Bangalore seems to think I am slowly turning into a hippie. I guess it’s because of the nose piercing I got done recently. But also because she thinks I dress like one. I have always been a big fan of all types of harem pants. There used to be a time where I would wear only jeans for comfort wear . But after buying a couple of harem pants, I have become very used to wearing only pants of those types. the staples in my wardrobe amazingly are track pants, harem pants, shorts,jasmine pants and dhoti pants. They go with all tops and can look really bright and colorful . I am mainly fond of their fabric which is mainly cotton or Lycra mix.

I really like incorporating dhoti pants into dance performances. It has got ideal combination of looking Indian but at the same time providing enough room to do a lot floor work . (Unlike lehengas, which restrict you only tno standing movements . Not saying I don’t like lehengas though)

There was one such time where we were in a crisis of costumes and we decided to create dhoti pant. In my previous post I had added picture of a few girls dancing in green and black.

Today I am going to create a modified dhoti pant which you can wewhere any Indian contemporary dances using a tank top or a gurjari work blouse. Gurjari is this handloom brand which sells beautiful fabric work from Gujarat. I am big Gujju by heart, so I absolutely love the work.

Anyway, let me start with this tutorial and hope you like it.

• Step 1: Use a broad dupatta which is about 45 inches in width. Normally in the market you would get two width options, called “panna” in Hindi. One is 36 inch and the other is 45 inch. The dupatta used in the photo is made by my mom ten years back for some stance show of mine. She bought one marble saree and cut it in two halves and made two dupattas. Take the dupatta around the waist and pull it behind till both the ends are equally placed.

• Step 2: Tie a small knot behind to keep the dhoti in place. You can put safety pins too. I have just tied a double knot here.

• Step 3: Take the left side of the remaining dupatta and bring it in front in between the legs, almost resembling the Marathi Style Saree except for the fact that this will be brought to the front from the back. Pleat the remaining dupatta and tuck it in using safety pins as shown in the picture.

• Step 4: Take the right side of the dupatta which was behind and pleat it behind and tuck it in such a way that we have two sets of pleats, one in the front and one behind.

• Final look: As a last tip, if you are looking to buy dhoti pants or harem pants, there are two places worth going. One is Tibeten plaza in brigade road. Also the roadside shopping of Commercial Street is sure to get you beautiful, comfortable pants.

Happy Shopping !!!

Please give us suggestions so that we could improve and make better tutorials.

Photo Courtesy: Anuj Krishna

Model: Madri Mankad, yet again