Then saris were meticulously woven by hand and a halloed place is allocated to the weavers due to the quiet sensitivity with which they gestate a relationship between motif and colour. Today even through power looms produce most of the saris ; 'Handloom' saris' are still the most precious prizes.
Made in cotton, silk, muslins they tenaciously cling to timeless tradition s whereas the more modern ones are in rayon or polyester, tempered by scientific developments and economics that are the main drivers for this change.
A woman's ethnicity, class, caste influences are shown through her choice of fabric, colour and pattern, and all of these will in turn be structured by the prevailing social norms in the surrounding environment. Among middle-class and wealthier women, saris sweep the floor, whereas shorter saris with exposed ankles are sign of the labouring class.
Time has only enhanced the eastern woman's romance with this fabled fabric. A recent revival by designer Tarun Tahiliani, Satya Paul and Rohit Bal has contemporized the silhouette, giving it a sensuous signature. These gurus of glam are dramatically draping Bollywood and Hollywood icons like Naomi Campbell, Lady Di, Goldie Hawn, Aishwariya Rai, Shilpa Shetti and Pamela Anderson.
The most inspiring precedents is set by late Mrs Indra Gandhi, Mrs Soniya Gandhi, Nandita Das Gupta, Rekha and Shobba De as they set in their own style signature, immortalizing it through 'indiaviualism'. Recently Shobba De took this experiment one step forward as she graciously gestated a platform for young designers, playing their muse working with "Fashion Activist" Bibi Rusell creating unique Jamdhanis and Kotas. With their joint sensibilities creating saris that were priceless art pieces.
The cross cultural influences continues to morph-from the day it was depicted in the Coliseum to the ramps of Milan and Madrid where international designers Zandra Rhodes, Versace, Gautier are chartering its progressive pilgrimages into 'tiny sari dresses'.
Four distinctive sari styles
The Nivi Style- where the skirt pleats in the front and the drape folds around the back and finally drapes around the front- on to the right shoulder.

The Bengali Drape - worn by the woman living in the lower Ganges region of West Bengal and Bangladesh - the fabric folds in the front with the pallav going over the head- in a reverse from the left.

Dravidian style where the pleats of the skirt are created first, so that they hang inside the sari and the skirt fabric then wraps around them. This results in the upper end of the pleats being folded outside as rill round the waist. The remaining few yards of cloth are folded in front of a large, apron-like drape over t the front of the skirt.

Gujarati or Parsee Pallav- It pleats at the skirt in the front but the drape over the shoulder is in a reverse style -coming over the left shoulder to the frontal area.