WOMEN OF THE RAJ WHO INFLUENCED FASHION IN MODERN INDIA

WOMEN OF THE RAJ WHO INFLUENCED FASHION IN MODERN INDIA


The early nineteen hundreds saw a great change in women’s fashion as the influence of the British brought about western influences that helped women to come out of pardha and flaunt their chiffons and diamonds.

In India during the 1900s all the customs and traditions followed by the royal families were adopted by their subjects therefore the royals were the trend setters for the people of India.  some of the maharanis like suniti devi of cooch behar and maharani chimna bai II of Baroda and a few others established schools and fought hard to abolish the pardha system that helped bring about a revolution leading to the empowerment of women resulting in the change of women’s dressing and adornment.

Some of the Indian fashion icons of the 1900s were maharani Indira Devi, Sita Devi of Baroda,  Sita Devi of Kapurtala,  and the most beloved Gayatri Devi of Jaipur. 

Indira Devi

Princess Indira Raje of Baroda who later became maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar and mother to maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur was one of the most ravishingly beautiful and fashionable women in Indian and European society. She was the first Indian woman to popularize the silk chiffon sari teamed with the world famous Baroda pearls that belonged to her family.

She loved everything opulent and spent months travelling around the world and shopped everywhere, her chiffon saris were custom made for her in France, her shoes and bags were made for her by the greatest designers of her time and she bought them by the hundreds.

She loved gambling and always carried a bejeweled tortoise whose shell had been encrusted with diamonds emeralds and rubies as a talisman.  although she was widowed at a very early age and could not wear her brocades and richly woven saris  she still always dressed spectacularly in her chanderis and chiffons always making a fashion statement that is still considered fashionable and worn by most royals even today.

Sita Devi Baroda

Maharani Sita Devi of Baroda also known infamously as the “Indian Wallis Simpson” was the daughter of the zamindar of Pithampur in Andhra Pradesh and was married to the zamindar of vayyur and had three children by him. She fell in love and married the maharaja of baroda  leaving her husband and children and shunning all the opposition that came from all directions  and became the new maharani of Baroda. She started a new colorful life mingling with royalty across the globe and spending millions on her shopping sprees taking large interest free loans from the Baroda treasury along with other priceless jewellery that were considered to be very rare. She and her husband wanted to start a new life in Monte carol where they bought a villa as they feared the integration of the princely states into the Indian union. The maharani was installed in her new villa in Monaco and the maharaja made frequent trips bringing all the treasures and making the maharani the custodian of these treasures. Among them were the four priceless Baroda pearl carpets studded with uncut diamonds and Basra pearls, the famous Baroda pearls, the star of the south diamond necklace and many other such Jewells.

In 1953 the maharani sold a pair of bejeweled anklets to harry Winston they had several large diamonds and emeralds. The jeweler set these into a beautiful necklace that was purchased by the duchess of Windsor. The duchess wore this at a New York ball that was also attended by Sita Devi.  When the necklace was being admired by the other guests the maharani was heard to have said that they looked just as nice on her feet. The embarrassed duchess returned the necklace to harry Winston.

She later divorced the maharaja but kept her title and all the treasures she had taken from the Baroda treasury she lived in luxury for the rest of her life and hobnobbed with the European elite.

Rani Sita Devi Kapurthala

Rani Sita Devi was the daughter of a Zamindar who was married to the younger son of the Maharaja of Kapurthala at the age of thirteen. She was then sent to Europe to be educated in the European ways.  As a young woman she was considered as one of India’s most glamorous, beautiful and fashionable princesses of her time. She was fluent in many European languages and soon became part of Europe’s elite

She had many couturiers fawning over her, one such was Elsa Schiaparelli who was so inspired by her that she had a collection made taking inspirations from her saris. At the age of 19, Vogue magazine called her a secular goddess and Look counted her among the five best dressed women on earth. Her husband lavished her with resplendent jewellery by some of the biggest names like Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels. She was always bedecked in the most stunning jewellery.

Gayatri Devi

A woman of substance, a maharani of Jaipur and a former princess of Cooch Behar acknowledged by UK Vogue as one among the 10 most beautiful women in the world she was truly a timeless diva. She abolished the pardha system that prevailed in her family and was always seen in slacks n sports clothing that she adored,  she went horse riding and drove her Bentley and sported a bob  and all of this was most impossible for women of the upper caste to do during the 1900s as most of them were confined to their zenanas.

Her fairytale life dazzled the nation. She was married to the internationally famous maharaja sawai mansingh of jaipur popularly known as jai. He was said to have had many palaces and a lot more servants and a room full of gold and precious stones apart from the many elephants, camels and horses.  He was her hero and she loved him from the tender age of 7 until the day she died at the ripe old age of 90. Together they built modern day jaipur , travelled the world and entertained guests from all over the world which included heads of states ,royalty and the cream of society.

She was influenced mostly by her very fashionable mother maharani Indira Devi of cooch behar, Her subtle but regal taste was inherited by Gayatri Devi. Their love for silk chiffon and pearls was a very well known. They despised anything gaudy or flashy. All her life she was looked upon as a style icon and revered as a woman of substance.