Tales from the City - The Offbeat Sari

In the shimmering summer heat on Wednesday morning Walsall station looked almost picturesque as I sat in the sunshine awaiting the 9:50 to Birmingham New Street.

After meeting up with Nikki in the shadow of Ozzie the Bull, the mechanical masterpiece which acquired worldwide fame after his appearance at the opening ceremony of the commonwealth Games three years ago, we headed out of town, passing the city's homage to Black Sabbath, who'd played their final gig at the weekend.

Our destination was the Midlands Art Centre (the MAC) in Cannon Hill Park in the leafy suburb of Edgbaston, an hour's walk from the city centre.

The park was founded with money and land left to the city's residents by Louise Ryland, a Birmingham philanthropist, in 1873.

Amid this lush tranquility, it was hard to imagine that we were in the UK's second city.

Here's someone not afraid of colourful clothing!

After a pot of tea in the on-site cafe we headed to the exhibition we'd come to see, The Offbeat Sari.

Worn as an everyday garment by some and considered by others to be formal or uncomfortable, the sari has multiple definitions. Conventionally an unstitched drape wrapped around the body, which can be draped in a variety of ways, its unfixed form has enabled it to morph and absorb changing cultural influences.

In recent years, the sari has been reinvented. Designers are experimenting with hybrid forms such as sari gowns and dresses, pre-draped saris and innovative materials such as steel. Young people in cities who used to associate the sari with dressing up can now be found wearing saris and trainers on their commutes to work. Individuals are wearing the sari as an expression of resistance to social norms and activists are embodying it as an object of protest.

Today, the sari in urban India manifests as a site for design innovation, an expression of identity, and a crafted object carrying layers of cultural meanings. The exhibition unravels the sari as a metaphor for the complex definitions of India today.

Bollywood Nostalgia Today by Pero, 2019

That's some talented tying! 

Representing the Gualbi Gang, a social group oppposed to domestic violence. 

Proving that saris can be worn for a multitude of activities - cricket, skateboarding and climbing. 

Representing South Indian queer culture, CHRISSY by Papa Don’t Preach, 2022.

The Lady Gaga sari by Tarun Tahiliani, 2013 

Sari sneakers by The Saree Sneakers, 2019

This X-Ray sequinned sari by Abraham & Thakore experiments with X-ray film from hospital waste, cut into sequins sewn on a sari made from recycled plastic bottles.

A quilted sari was inspired by the bomber jacket and Indian street fashion.

The Metalona Saree by Amit Aggarwal, 2021 created with heat-treated polymer fabric.

Showing that distressed denim has a place in Indian traditional wardrobe, Diksha Khanna uses the “working class fabric”, denim, to create a pallu mixing some “rough” material with an upper class garment. 

An unusual pairing of cold hard metal and fluid silk, this handcrafted sari by Rimzin Dadu comprises a futuristic wave of molten gold, elegantly draped across the body.

And my personal favourite, this stunningly vibrant silk beauty from Delhi based designers, Raw Mango.

We ate at the MAC cafe, enjoying goat's cheese, spinach and red peppers quiche with skin-on fries, salad and coleslaw accompanied with a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio.

Rangoli (the decoration women chalk outside their homes in Northern India) and Tevas.

We walked back inot the city, marvelling at the imposing Blade Runner architecture. 

After popping into Lush so that I could repurchase a Jason & The Argon Oil shampoo bar and a Karma solid parfum stick (and being told we were inspirational style goddesses by the young woman who served me) we had pots of herbal tea in the Edwardian Tea Rooms in Birmingham Art Gallery. 

When I checked the step counter on my phone we'd walked over 17km!  There's life in these old birds yet! 

The Offbeat Sari runs from 28th June until 2nd November, daily from 11am - 5pm. 

Admission is free but donations are welcome.