The Sari and Traditional Dress Under Colonial Rule
The sari remained the primary garment for women across much of South Asia throughout the 19th century, but its draping styles and the contexts in which it was worn shifted considerably. Regional variations flourished — the Nivi style from Andhra Pradesh, the Gujarati seedha pallu, and the Bengali aat poure each reflected local traditions. The six-to-nine-yard unstitched cloth was paired with a fitted choli blouse and a petticoat, a combination that became increasingly standardized during this period partly through colonial influence and the spread of printed fashion illustrations.
For men, the dhoti — an unstitched garment wrapped around the waist and legs — continued as everyday wear across much of the subcontinent. In northern India, the kurta paired with churidar or pajama trousers was common, while Mughal-influenced court dress persisted among the aristocracy. The sherwani, a long structured coat, emerged during this period as a formal garment blending Mughal tailoring traditions with British frock coat influences.
Textile Trade and the Seeds of Resistance
The 19th century was devastating for South Asian textile production. India had been one of the world's great textile exporters, renowned for its muslin, chintz, and calico fabrics. British colonial trade policies systematically redirected raw cotton to Manchester mills and flooded Indian markets with cheap machine-made cloth, destroying local handloom industries. The famed Dhaka muslin, once so fine it was called "woven air," nearly vanished as weavers lost their livelihoods.
Yet cloth also became a vehicle for resistance. The Swadeshi movement of the early 1900s had its roots in late-19th-century calls to reject foreign textiles and support indigenous production. The khadi cloth — hand-spun and hand-woven — would later become the signature fabric of Indian nationalism. Meanwhile, the Parsi community in western India developed distinctive embroidered saris blending European lace techniques with Indian motifs, and the Kashmiri shawl remained one of the most coveted luxury textiles in the world, prized in both South Asian and European fashion.