the sari series demonstrates powerful knowledge in gentle drapes

the art of sari drapes

In the FAQ for the Sari Series, the founder Malika Verma addresses a question that people must ask her constantly: what are her favorite sari drapes? The answer is succinct and detailed, noting not just the drape of the the traditional garment found in India and South Asian, but the region it comes from: ‘Personal favorites include Boggili Possi from Andhra Pradesh, Yakshangana Kasi from Karnataka, and the Kotapad drape from Orissa.’ Verma, the founder of Border&Fall, an agency dedicated to craft and design that works between India and New York City, began this project over ten years ago with the intention to crystallize knowledge of sari draping and create a freely accessible archive that demonstrated the regional and technical diversity of arranging this garment.

Bhootheyara Sari Drape – Karnataka, India ©Border&Fall

Yakshagana Parvati Kase Sari Drape – Karnataka, India ©Border&Fall

in conversation with malika verma of border&fall

The Sari Series has two main outputs: the first consists of eighty-nine draping videos encompassing fifteen regions in India. The second is three independent short films that capture cultural and aesthetic aspects of the sari. In conversation with designboom, Verma speaks about the research, the impact, and the future of the anthology.

How to Drape a Sari: No.1 No. 1 Venukagundaram Drape – Andhra Pradesh, India, the first video in The Sari Series, modelled by Carol Humtsoe.

Venukagundaram Sari Drape – Andhra Pradesh, India ©Border&Fall

In the first how-to-drape video, Naga model Carol Humtsoe demonstrates the Venukagundaram Drape. The description that accompanies each tutorial gives insight into the technique, region, and materiality of the sari pictured. Here, it’s noted that Humtsoe is creating, ‘an agriculturist’s drape from the north coastal region of Andhra Pradesh.’ When looking at the model, she doesn’t display the typical features one would expect from mainland India. Nagaland, a northeastern state of India which shares a border with Myanmar is often at the periphery of conversations about the country. When talking about the casting, Verma notes that casting Humtsoe ‘was a very intentional choice. When we looked at the whole project and the through line of the agency [Border&Fall], the work that we do is really about shifting perceptions of Made in India.’

how-to-drape video series

In each video, the model begins with a long stretch of fabric, whose exact dimensions are given in the description. She then takes varying steps to tie it around her hips, sweep it between her legs, form pleats by gently working the fabric between her fingers and fastening it with a tuck into the waistband. In each gesture, the garment’s architecture comes to form. Through the process of forming the textile to the body, questions arise about its use, origins, and history.

Hazaribag Sari Drape – Jharkhand, India. ©Border&Fall

Agari Sari Drape – Maharashtra, India ©Border&Fall

Adivasi Sari Drape – Kerala, India ©Border&Fall

This line of thinking is not unfamiliar to Verma, whose own interest in the garment incited the creation of the series. ‘Like a lot of things, it was born from a personal need, desire, or discovery. That was very much the case with me: I’m someone who’s very familiar with saris, but they were very much an occasion kind of garment. Which is true for a lot of people who’ve grown up outside of India, but equally for those in India, especially in urban India.’ Verma points to her upbringing in Canada and her nearly two decades of living and working in India, saying ‘because I lived there, I wanted to look at my changing relationship with the garment.’

Gochi Kattu Sari Drape – Andhra Pradesh, India ©Border&Fall

researching the state of draping 

Verma cites two texts that were fundamental to her own understanding of what sari draping could be. First is ‘Saris: Tradition and Beyond,’ co-authored by textile scholar Rta Kapur Chishti who would go on to be an advisor for the Sari Series. The other is Chantal Boulanger’s ‘An Illustrated Guide to the Indian Art of Draping,’ which was published in 1997. ‘As I continued my own personal journey with it, I thought about how interesting it would be to democratize access to this [knowledge] in a way that actually looks at adoption through the general public,” she notes on laying the groundwork for what would become this vast anthology. “It has that conversation in a wider, more democratic way.’

Border&Fall started by mapping out the landscape of saris and draping. ‘There were one or two Bollywood drapers who would drape the stars,’ Verma remarks on the state of the discourse at the onset of the project in the mid-2010s. ‘In hotels like for weddings too, the drape experts would come in with their 50 pins and drape in one or two ways, but that was really where the conversation of drape was. What’s emerged over the last ten years is a whole new generation of drapers, enthusiasts, people who influence through drape and that’s been amazing to see.’ As of 2026, the official hashtag #TheSariSeries has over 11,000 posts on Instagram. Verma also speaks highly of her collaborators on the project, one of which is the contemporary textile brand Raw Mango, founded by Sanjay Garg, who is also an advisor.

Dhangad Sari Drape – Goa, India ©Border&Fall

Boggili Posi Kattukodam Sari Drape – Andhra Pradesh, India ©Border&Fall

the 10th anniversary of the sari series

Coming up on its tenth anniversary, Verma hints at what’s to come in the celebration of the series. ‘At this stage, The Sari Series feels very global.’ Not only has the reach in India been huge, but it’s been continually referenced and exhibited by international art and cultural institutions. ‘We’re looking at a multi-city activation across the globe. We were very much India first and we still are because the narrative is a homegrown project … but now we are looking much more globally and we have so many partners who are interested in supporting it.’

project info:

name: the sari series

producer & creative director: malika verma 

non-profit project by: border&fall

instagram: @borderandfall

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